Sir, i am retiring shortly from govt services, please let me know if i want transfer all my retirement benefits(may be around 60 lakhs+) to my wife as one time gift, will there be any tax implication on gift given to my wife. please let me know the procedure for gifting

Ans: Dear Prasanna,

Firstly, congratulations on your upcoming retirement. It's a significant milestone, and I'm here to help you navigate the financial aspects of it.

Now, coming to your question about transferring your pension benefits to your wife. As per the Income Tax laws in India, any gift received from specified relatives, such as a spouse, is not treated as income. Therefore, it is fully exempt from income tax. So, if you decide to give your pension benefits to your wife as a one-time gift, there won't be any immediate tax implications for her.

However, there's an important aspect to consider. While the gift itself is tax-free, any income generated from this gift (for example, if your wife invests this amount and earns interest or dividends) would be clubbed with the income of the giver, i.e., you, and taxed accordingly. This is known as the clubbing of income.

In conclusion, gifting your pension benefits to your wife could be a good idea if the aim is to let her manage the funds. However, the income generated from the gifted amount would still be taxable in your hands.

I hope this clarifies your query.

Best,
Hardik

Ans: Whenever any asset is transferred to spouse without consideration and spouse earn income from it, income is clubbed in the hands of transferrer. Thus, in given case income will be clubbed in the hands of husband.

Ans: Income from asset (including money) transferred to spouse without consideration is clubbed in the hands of the transferor. However, amount transferred to spouse will not be subject to tax.

Ans: The tax implications of transferring retirement benefits to a spouse in India:-

Gift tax: Gifts between spouses are exempt from gift tax, so you will not have to pay any gift tax when you transfer your retirement benefits to your spouse.

Clubbing provisions: All the income arising from the assets gifted to your spouse will be clubbed with your income and taxed in your hands. This means that you will be taxed on the interest income, capital gains, etc, arising from the investments made with the gifted amount.

All-in-all, you may not find much benefit of transferring the money to your spouse with an added headache of showing spouse’s income from such assets in your name when the TDS etc would have been deducted in her name.
We do not recommend you to do it.