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M’sia to draft property gains tax exemption order

Posted on 27 Oct 2009 | Comments Off

The Finance Ministry is expected to come up with an exemption order on the Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT) this week to clear the confusion surrounding the RPGT proposal.

Under the 2010 Budget, the government proposed a fixed tax rate of 5 per cent imposed on gains from the disposal of real property effective Jan 1 next year. However, based on the Finance Bill, disposal within two years of acquisition will be taxed 30 per cent, 20 per cent in the third year and 15 per cent in the fourth year while disposal within five years and beyond will still be subjected to 5 per cent.

‘As far as the Act is concerned, the rate is still there, which is 5 per cent to 30 per cent. Exemption order has yet to be gazetted but it is coming out very soon, maybe around this week,’ Finance Ministry’s Under Secretary, Tax Analysis Division, Siti Halimah Ismail, said yesterday.

She was speaking to reporters after the 2010 Post Budget Dialogue, jointly organised by the Malaysian Economic Association and University of Malaya’s Faculty of Economics and Administration, and supported by Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd.

Gains from the disposal of property are subject to tax under the Real Property Gains Tax Act 1976 to curb speculative activities in the property sector. However, the RPGT was exempted in 2007 to help the property sector. Continue reading →

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Tagged Malaysia Property, Real Property Gains Tax

Capmark Financial files for bankruptcy

Posted on 27 Oct 2009 | Comments Off

Lender posts Q2 loss of US$1.6b; chalks up consolidated debt of US$21b

Capmark Financial Group Inc, the lender owned by companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc and KKR & Co, filed for bankruptcy protection after posting a second-quarter loss of about US$1.6 billion.

Supply glut: US office vacancies are at a five-year high, apartment vacancies are at a 23-year record, and retail centres are showing the greatest share of empty store-fronts since 1992, according to property research firm Reis Inc

The company listed consolidated debt of US$21 billion and consolidated assets of US$20.1 billion as of June 30, according to Chapter 11 documents filed on Sunday in US Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Some 43 affiliates also sought protection.

Capmark, based in Horsham, Pennsylvania, is one of the largest US commercial property finance companies, with more than US$10 billion in originations, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

The company, formerly known as GMAC Commercial Holding Corp, services more than US$360 billion of debt. It has struggled as the default rate on commercial mortgages held by US banks more than doubled to the highest since 1994.

‘All the businesses will be saved and continue with Capmark or will be sold as going concerns for full value,’ attorney Martin Bienenstock, a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLC in New York, which is handling the bankruptcy case, said in an e-mail.

Capmark asked a bankruptcy judge to approve the sale of its loan-servicing and mortgage business to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc and Leucadia National Corp for as much as US$490 million. Higher bids would be sought at an auction. The deal was announced on Sept 2, the same day Capmark said that it might filed for bankruptcy. Continue reading →