My father purchased a residential property (say X) in 1990.
Now I have bought an under-construction residential property (say Y) with a home loan. Registration & agreement for the new property has been completed in March 2024 while possession of said property is expected to come through in April 2025.
We want to sell property X and re-invest the proceeds in new property Y without having to pay capital gain tax.
Following plan of action was on our mind:
1) My father will gift me the old residential property X (vide a gift deed) by Dec 2024.
2) I will sell property X (within 5-6 months from receiving the gift) by June 2025.
3) I will re-invest the entire revenue received from sale of property X into property Y by pre-paying the home loan.
Is the above transaction eligible for capital gain tax exemption under section 54?
Areas of specific interest for me:
1) After receiving property X as a gift, do I have to hold the property for a minimum period of 2 years (or any other period) before selling it off, to ensure capital gain tax exemption?
2) Under section 54, the capital gain tax is not payable if the (entire) proceeds received from sale of property are reinvested in another house property within 1 year before or 2 years after the sale date. I wanted to know which date is considered to be the benchmark for re-invested property's transaction - is it the date of possession of property (in the above example - April 2025) or registration date (in the above example - March 2024)?
3) After receiving property X as a gift, when I sell it off, which value is considered as the 'benchmark purchase price'? Is it the 1990 price of original agreement (after calculating indexation) or the ready reckoner price which is used for executing the gift deed? I need to understand this as capital gain will be calculated on the difference between sale price minus the 'benchmark purchase price'.
Thanks for your help :)
CAclubindia
