How to Calculate Registry Fee and Transfer Costs

Working Out Your Real Transfer Costs

Registry and transfer costs are made up of several separate charges, not one number — which is exactly why buyers are often surprised by the final total. Here’s how the pieces add up.

The Components

• Stamp duty — 5% of the DC/FBR-notified property value
• Registration fee — a flat PKR 500 or 1,000 depending on property value
• Withholding tax (236K) — buyer-side, rate depends on filer status
• Mutation/Intiqal fee — a separate charge to update land records after registration

A Worked Example

Take a property with an FBR-notified value of PKR 15 million (note: this may differ from the actual agreed sale price). Stamp duty at 5% comes to roughly PKR 750,000, plus the flat registration fee, plus withholding tax at whatever rate applies to your filer status. Mutation adds a further, smaller charge. Adding these up before you commit avoids an unpleasant surprise at the registrar’s office.

Who Typically Pays What

Convention (not law) generally has the buyer covering stamp duty, registration, and their own withholding tax (236K), while the seller covers their side (236C). This can be negotiated as part of the deal, so confirm it explicitly rather than assume.

For the full process this fits into, see our property registration process guide, or get a quick estimate with our income tax calculator.

FAQs

1. Is stamp duty based on the price I actually paid? No — it’s based on the DC/FBR-notified valuation for the area, which is often lower than actual market price.
2. Can transfer costs be negotiated between buyer and seller? The tax obligations themselves are fixed by who the law assigns them to, but who ultimately bears the cost in the deal price is negotiable between the parties.
3. Is mutation included in the registration fee? No — mutation (Intiqal) is a separate step with its own fee, done after registration to update the land record itself.