Amendments under the head "Capital Gain"

Shifting base year from 1981 to 2001 for computation of capital gains:

The existing provisions of section 55 provide that for computation of capital gains, an assessee shall be allowed deduction for cost of acquisition of the asset and also cost of improvement, if any. However, for computing capital gains in respect of an asset acquired before 01.04.1981, the assessee has been allowed an option of either to take the fair market value of the asset as on 01.04.1981 or the actual cost of the asset as cost of acquisition. The assessee is also allowed to claim deduction for cost of improvement incurred after 01.04.1981, if any. As the base year for computation of capital gains has become more than three decades old, assessees are facing genuine difficulties in computing the capital gains in respect of a capital asset, especially immovable property acquired before 01.04.1981 due to non-availability of relevant information for computation of fair market value of such asset as on 01.04.1981.

In order to revise the base year for computation of capital gains, it is proposed to amend section 55 of the Act so as to provide that the cost of acquisition of an asset acquired before 01.04.2001 shall be allowed to be taken as fair market value as on 1st April, 2001 and the cost of improvement shall include only those capital expenses which are incurred after 01.04.2001. Consequential amendment is also proposed in section 48 so as to align the provisions relating to cost inflation index to the proposed base year.

These amendments will take effect from 1st April, 2018 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2018-19 and subsequent years.

Change in holding period from 36 months to 24 months for immovable property:

Definition of 'short-term capital asset' proposed to be amended to reduce holding period from 36 months to 24 months for immovable property

The existing provision of the Act provide for concessional rate of tax and also indexation benefit for taxation of capital gains arising from transfer of long-term capital asset. To qualify for long-term asset, an assessee is required to hold the asset for more than 36 months subject to certain exceptions, for example, the holding period of 24 months has been specified for unlisted shares.

With a view to promote the real-estate sector and to make it more attractive for investment, it is proposed to amend section 2 (42A) of the Act with effect from assessment year 2018-19 so as to reduce the period of holding from the existing 36 months to 24 months in case of immovable property, being land or building or both, to qualify as long term capital asset.

Special provisions for computation of capital gains in case of joint development agreement

Under the existing provisions of section 45, capital gain is chargeable to tax in the year in which transfer takes place except in certain cases. The definition of 'transfer', inter alia, includes any arrangement or transaction where any rights are handed over in execution of part performance of contract, even though the legal title has not been transferred. In such a scenario, execution of Joint Development Agreement between the owner of immovable property and the developer triggers the capital gains tax liability in the hands of the owner in the year in which the possession of immovable property is handed over to the developer for development of a project.

With a view to minimize the genuine hardship which the owner of land may face in paying capital gains tax in the year of transfer, it is proposed to insert a new sub-section (5A) in section 45 so as to provide that in case of an assessee being individual or Hindu undivided family, who enters into a specified agreement for development of a project, the capital gains shall be chargeable to income-tax as income of the previous year in which the certificate of completion for the whole or part of the project is issued by the competent authority.

• The stamp duty value of his share, being land or building or both, in the project on the date of issuing of said certificate of completion as increased by any monetary consideration received, if any, shall be deemed to be the full value of the consideration received or accruing as a result of the transfer of the capital asset.

• Benefit of this proposed regime shall not apply to an assessee who transfers his share in the project to any other person on or before the date of issue of said certificate of completion. In such a situation, the capital gains as determined under general provisions of the Act shall be deemed to be the income of the previous year in which such transfer took place and shall be computed as per provisions of the Act without taking into account this proposed provisions.

Notes:

 (i)  "Competent authority" means the authority empowered to approve the building plan by or under any law for the time being in force.

(ii)  "specified agreement" means a registered agreement in which a person owning land or building or both, agrees to allow another person to develop a real estate project on such land or building or both, in consideration of a share, being land or building or both in such project, whether with or without payment of part of the consideration in cash.

(iii) "Stamp duty value" means the value adopted or assessed or assessable by any authority of Government for the purpose of payment of stamp duty in respect of an immovable property being land or building or both.'

It is also proposed to make consequential amendment in section 49 so as to provide that the cost of acquisition of the share in the project being land or building or both, in the hands of the land owner shall be the amount which is deemed as full value of consideration under the said proposed provision.

These amendments will take effect from 1st April, 2018 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2018-19 and subsequent years.

It is also proposed to insert a new section 194-IC in the Act so as to provide that in case any monetary consideration is payable under the specified agreement, tax at the rate of ten per cent shall be deductible from such payment. This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2017.

Expanding the scope of long term bonds under 54EC

The existing provision of section 54EC provides that capital gain to the extent of Rs.50 lakhs arising from the transfer of a long-term capital asset shall be exempt if the assessee invests the whole or any part of capital gains in certain specified bonds, within the 6 months from the date of transfer of asset. Currently, investment in bond issued by the National Highways Authority of India or by the Rural Electrification Corporation Limited is eligible for exemption under this section.

In order to widen the scope of the section for sectors which may raise fund by issue of bonds eligible for exemption under section 54EC, it is proposed to amend section 54EC so as to provide that investment in any bond redeemable after three years which has been notified by the Central Government in this behalf shall also be eligible for exemption. This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2018 and will accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2018-19 and subsequent years.

Exemption of long term capital gains tax u/s 10(38)

Under the existing provisions of the Section 10(38) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the income arising from a transfer of long term capital asset, being equity share of a company or a unit of an equity oriented fund, is exempt from tax if the transaction of sale is undertaken on or after 1st October, 2014 and is chargeable to Securities Transaction Tax under Chapter VII of the Finance (No.2) Act, 2004.

It has been noticed that exemption provided under section 10(38) is being misused by certain persons for declaring their unaccounted income as exempt long-term capital gains by entering into sham transactions. With a view to prevent this abuse, it is proposed to amend section 10(38) to provide that exemption under this section for income arising on transfer of equity share acquired or on after 1st day of October, 2004 shall be available only if the acquisition of share is chargeable to Securities Transactions Tax under Chapter VII of the Finance (No 2) Act, 2004. However, to protect the exemption for genuine cases where the Securities Transactions Tax could not have been paid like acquisition of share in IPO, FPO, bonus or right issue by a listed company acquisition by non-resident in accordance with FDI policy of the Government etc., it is also proposed to notify transfers for which the condition of chargeability to Securities Transactions Tax on acquisition shall not be applicable.

This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2018 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2018-19 and subsequent assessment years.

Under the existing provisions of the Act, income chargeable under the head "Capital gains" is computed by taking into account the amount of full value of consideration received or accrued on transfer of a capital asset. In order to ensure that the full value of consideration is not understated, the Act also contained provisions for deeming of full value of consideration in certain cases such as deeming of stamp duty value as full value of consideration for transfer of immovable property in certain cases.

In order to rationalize the provisions relating to deeming of full value of consideration for computation of income under the head "capital gains", it is proposed to insert a new section 50CA to provide that where consideration for transfer of share of a company (other than quoted share) is less than the Fair Market Value (FMV) of such share determined in accordance with the prescribed manner, the FMV shall be deemed to be the full value of consideration for the purposes of computing income under the head "Capital gains".

"Quoted share" means the share quoted on any recognized stock exchange with regularity from time to time, where the quotation of such share is based on current transaction made in the ordinary course of business.'.

This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2018 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2018-19 and subsequent assessment years.