I have a query pertaining to treatment of the amount for Income Tax purposes. We have an ancestral land in our village. A portion of the said land has been acquired by Government for a new highway. Currently the land is in the name of my father (~68 years old), a pensioner. He is likely to receive compensation of around 75 lakhs. He intends to use around 25 lakhs for construction of go-down/ shops for commercial use at village while the balance amount he intends to transfer equally to both his sons (myself & my younger brother). How does my father declare the amount in his Income Tax Return and what sort of tax he needs to pay on the total amount received. What will be the tax liability for us brothers on the amount received from him. Whether all three of us (my father & we two brothers) are free to spend the amount as deemed fit OR are we required to invest it in a particular way only. What happens if the amount is transferred to both his Daughter In Laws (non tax payer). Any other suggestion

Ans: Hi Rajan

As the owner of the land is your father, the taxability would apply to him alone and not to you or your brother.

The query would need further clarity in terms of the following aspects:

Whether this was an agricultural land?
What is the distance of the land from the nearest municipality jurisdiction?
What is the population of the place where the land is located?

In case this is an urban non-agricultural land then you may need to get the valuation report for the land as on April 1, 2001 from an Income Tax approved valuer. This would become your basic cost reference on which you would need to apply indexation. An example is stated below for easy understanding.

Suppose the valuation report brings out a value of Rs. 20 Lakhs as on April 1, 2001

Current Cost Inflation Index (CII) is 331 and base year (2001) index is 100

So indexed cost of acquisition would be Rs. 20 Lakhs x 331 / 100, which is Rs. 66.20 Lakhs

So capital gain would be Rs. 75 Lakhs - Rs. 66.20 Lakhs = Rs. 8.80 Lakhs on which your father would need to pay 20+% of tax.

As this is a regular asset, in case he wants to pay NIL tax then he would need to reinvest the full sale consideration in some eligible asset such as residential house or capital gains bonds (go-downs / shops are not eligible assets).

If he reinvests in eligible asset partially then he would get exemption only proportionately. Taking the same example:

Suppose he reinvests Rs. 50 Lakhs in capital gain bond (say NHAI or REC) then the eligible proportionate exemption would be as follows:

Rs. 50 Lakhs / Rs. 75 Lakhs x Rs. 8.80 Lakhs = Rs. 5.87 Lakhs

He would need to pay the 20+% tax on Rs. 2.93 Lakhs. He would be eligible to marginal relief provisions if his pension income is not substantial. Also, he may end up with Nil tax if his total income is below Rs. 5 Lakhs