Zonal value

Zonal value — the BIR’s published per-square-meter valuation for every street and barangay, used as the floor for computing CGT and DST (the “highest of selling price, zonal, or assessed FMV” rule), so under-declaring a price doesn’t cut the tax. Three uses in this course: it sets your real friction bill before signing; it’s a free, crude, sometimes-stale sanity check on asking prices; and in foreclosure shopping, asking-vs-zonal is the ten-second first read on whether a “discount” is real. Distinct from assessed value, the LGU’s much lower RPT base.

First used in: 3.8 · Titles, diligence, and friction