In February I sold some gold jewellery gifted to me earlier by my mother. While preparing the ITR for FY25-26, I realised that I had to give the purchase price as the FMV as on 01.04.2001
It's not possible to get the valuation done now as the jewellery was already melted down and sold (a total of about 24 grams of 22 karat gold)
What should I mention in the ITR? There are no bills or invoices since this is jewellery my mother would have received in the 1980s/90s
Since the original purchase price is unknown for gold inherited and originally acquired before 2001, you should obtain a retrospective valuation certificate from an income tax-registered valuer to determine the FMV as of April 1, 2001. Use this FMV as your "Cost of Acquisition" to calculate the indexed cost and report the resulting Long-Term Capital Gains in your ITR.
Is it possible to find a list of registered valuers online? I'm based in Bangalore
I enquired with a jewellery appraiser nearby, but they mentioned that without the physical jewellery present, they cannot provide a valuation. How should I proceed?
For inherited gold jewelry sold without original purchase bills, here is the approach under the Income Tax Act:
The cost of acquisition for inherited property is the cost paid by the ORIGINAL OWNER (the person from whom you inherited), under Section 49(1) of the ITA 1961.
If the original owner purchased the gold BEFORE April 1, 2001, you have the option to use the Fair Market Value of the jewelry as on April 1, 2001 as the cost of acquisition. This is often more beneficial because gold prices have risen significantly since 2001.
If the original owner purchased AFTER April 1, 2001, the actual purchase price paid by the original owner is the cost.
Since the jewelry is already melted and sold, a formal registered valuer assessment of the original jewelry is not possible. However, you can establish FMV through:
KEY POINT: The weight of gold is the critical variable. If you have any record of the total gold weight from the sale or from the jeweller who melted it, you can compute FMV using the published gold price on April 1, 2001.
For the capital gains computation on gold and other inherited assets, including how to fill Schedule CG in ITR-2: https://www.taxgarden.in/blog/capital-gains-tax-india-ltcg-stcg-ay-2026-27
Tax Garden can prepare your ITR-2 or ITR-3 with the inherited gold capital gains schedule and support documentation guidance: https://www.taxgarden.in/services/itr-filing
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