Friday, May 5, 2017

ITAT allows Sec. 54 relief for property purchased jointly with brother

Facts:

a) Assessee was co-owner of flat jointly with his wife. He sold said flat and invested his share in another property and claimed long-term capital gain exemption under section 54. 

b) While making assessment, Assessing Officer (AO) observed that the new property purchased was in the name of two persons, namely, the assessee and his brother. He restricted deduction u/s 54 to the extent of 50% value of new property,

c) On appeal, CIT(A) disallowed entire exemption. Aggrieved-assessee filed the instant appeal before Tribunal.

Tribunal held in favour of assessee as under:-

1) In the given case, the name of the assessee's brother was added in the Agreement of new property so purchased for the sake of convenience. The entire investment for the purchase of new property along with stamp duty and registration charges were paid by the assessee.

2) There was no justification in the AO's action, in so far entire investment was made by the assessee and only for the safety reason he had included the name of his brother. 3) The issue was also covered by the decision of hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of CIT v. Ravinder Kumar Arora [2011] 15 taxmann.com 307 (Delhi) wherein High Court held that the assessee was entitled to full exemption u/s. 54F when the full amount was invested by the assessee, even though the property was purchased in the joint names of the assessee and his wife.

4) Therefore, assessee was entitled to full exemption under section 54, even though property was purchased in joint names of assessee and his brother. - [2017] 81 taxmann.com 16 (Mumbai - Trib.)

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