Under the existing provisions of the Section 10(38) of the Income-tax Act ('the Act') income arising from a transfer of long-term capital asset, being equity share of a company, is exempt from tax if the sale has been undertaken on or after 1st October, 2004 and is chargeable to Securities Transactions Tax (STT).
It has been noticed that such exemption is being misused by declaring unaccounted income as exempt long-term capital gains (LTCG) after entering into sham transactions. With a view to prevent this abuse, Section 10(38) has been amended to provide that exemption shall be available only if the acquisition of share is chargeable to STT. Further, powers have been given to the CBDT to notify transactions which would be eligible for capital gains exemption even if no STT was paid on purchase of such shares. The CBDT then issued the draft notification and brought out the negative list of transactions on which such exemption would not be available. Now the CBDT has issued the final notification considering the representations of various stakeholders for entitlement to the capital gain exemption in genuine cases.
The final notification is similar to the draft notification in terms of prescribing negative list of transaction. However, relaxation has been given in interest of exemption in genuine cases.
Following three type of transactions will not enjoy capital gain exemption under Section 10(38):
a) Acquisition of listed equity share through a preferential allotment in a company whose equity shares are not frequently traded in stock exchange.
b) Acquisition of listed equity shares not through a recognized stock exchange.
c) Acquisition of equity shares of a company during the period of its delisting.
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