Tax on REITs: A modern tax on housing and capital markets

Since a few years ago, many countries have realized the unique and exceptionalrole of taxes as the only global instrument for making economical the investmentson housing markets within the capital market through the vehicle of REITinvestment and as such, they establish their REIT markets one after another.Through making use of the modern financial institution of REIT (i.e., through theapplication of modern REIT technology to Iranian markets) with all its fiscal andfinancial characteristics, it will be possible to organize tax categories for housingmarkets and to tax the transactions of their securities in the capital markets. It isalso possible to improve the working of the existing tax system through thestandardization of processes and monitoring in both the capital and housingmarkets. The critical role of taxes in improving business environments in thehousing market through the REIT financial instrument and in decreasing theinvestment risks both in the capital market and in Tehran Stock Exchange can notbe ignored. The present paper is aimed at introducing the REIT financialinstrument and at presenting the results of a field-comparative study being done onthe topic of “investing on the housing market through the capital market” focusingon “its advantages and opportunities for the Iranian tax system”.