17/04/2014
Taxability of Gifts received from Relatives & Non Relatives
If you receive a gift from any of your relatives or friends for Christmas or New Year or Pongal or any festival, worth more than Rs. 50000, as per income tax laws, it may be taxable income on your hands in certain situations.
Not only the income, if a person receives a gift, if the value of the gift is exceeding the certain limit then he/she must add it in his income and pay the income tax. There are certain exceptions on declaring the gifts as income.
Gifts received From Relatives
As per the Income tax act, the Gifts received from any of your relatives are fully exempt from tax. Whether you are received the gifts as Cash, Cheque or any goods. You are not liable to pay the tax for these gifts. Here the “relatives” term defines by the Income Tax act as follows :
o Spouse of the individual
o Brother or sister of the individual
o Brother or sister of the spouse of the individual
o Brother or sister of either of the parents of the individual
o Any lineal ascendant or descendant of the individual
o Any lineal ascendant or descendant of the spouse of the individual, Spouse of the person referred to in clauses (ii) to (vi).
Gift of more than Rs. 50,000/- can be received from below mentioned relatives without any taxes.
Tax-Smart 1: Exemption for Marriage Gifts:
Any gift received from any person on occasion of marriage of the gift's recipient will not be liable to income tax at all.
Also there is no monetary limit attached to this exemption, which is provided by Section 56(2) (vi).
Tax-Smart-2: Tax-Exempt Gifts from Other Persons:
Besides gifts received from relatives or on occasion of marriage, following are the other gifts which are completely tax-exempt as provided in Section 56(2)(vi) of the I.T. Act:
1. Gift received from a Will or by way of inheritance;
2. Gift received in contemplation of death of the donor;
3. Gift from a local authority;
4. Gift received from any fund, foundation, university or other educational institution or hospital or any trust or any institution referred to in Section 10(23C); and
5. Gift received from any trust/institution, which is registered as public charitable trust or institution u/s 12AA.
Tax-Smart 3: Gifts in Kind are Tax-Exempt:
Provisions relating to the taxation of gifts from non-relatives & non-specified persons in excess of Rs. 50,000 will be liable to income tax only when the gift is sum of money, by way of cash, Cheque or a bank draft. Gifts in kind like a gift of shares, gift of land, gift of house, gift of units or even mutual funds, jewellery, etc. shall not be liable to any income tax at all.
For example if you are receiving gift of Rs.100000 from your uncle (your mother’s brother), it is fully exempt from the Tax. Whenever you get the gifts please apply the relations in the above list to ascertain whether you are liable to pay any tax for the received gift.
Gifts received From Non-Relatives
Here non-relatives means anyone who doesn't come under the above mentioned relation for you. In this case you are tax exempt up to maximum of Rs.50000 for a financial year. If you receive the gift worth more than Rs.50000, you are liable to pay the tax whatever you received excess of the limit. This rule applies when the gift is a sum of money, whether in cash, by way of cheque, bank draft or any articles which is value more than the Rs.50000.
For example you are receiving a gift of Company Shares from one of your team mate in your company or when you are receiving a gift of Rs.100000 (cheque) for the best performing in your company (not a bonus), Rs.50000 is liable to pay tax
My mother gifted me Rs. X amount. Is this taxable?
The simple answer is “NO”. Any gift in the form of articles, shares or cash are not taxable on your hand. If you want to understand the gift related income tax laws, Under section 56 of the Income-tax Act, any money received without consideration which is exceeding Rs. 50000 is taxable on your hand. But, there is exception on certain situations.
The money is received from a relative, which includes, among others, any lineal ascendant or descendant of the individual is fully tax exempt on your hand. So, it is very clear that money received from your mother or father would be not taxable on your hand.
Another important point, if you want to claim the tax exemption on the gifts, please make sure that you have the gift deed executed and who is gifting signed on the papers. Without that the gift laws are not valid for claiming the exemptions. You may consult a lawyer for the documentation with respect to the gift transaction.
Marriage Gifts
One very happy feature of the provision of taxation of gifts is that any gift received from any person on the occasion of the marriage of the gift’s recipient would not be liable to income tax. There is no monetary limit attached to this exemption. Note that, if you receive any gifts at the time of engagement or the marriage anniversary if liable to pay the tax.
Special Tax Exempt gifts
The following list of gifts are fully exempted from Tax whether the it is received as Cash, or any other form of the material doesn't affect the exemption.
1. Gift received under a Will or by way of inheritance
2. Gift in contemplation of death of the donor; Gift from any local authority
3. Gift from any fund or foundation or university or other educational institution or hospital or any trust or any institution referred to in Section 10(23C)
4. Gift from any trust or institution, which is registered as a public charitable trust or institution under Section 12AA
No stamped document required for gift of movable property,
But it is advisable to keep letter of gift from donor on record!
LIST OF RELATIVES COVERED
Query: Your article states that gifts received by an individual from his relative are treated as exempt, even beyond Rs.50,000 in a year. Can you please elaborate which relatives are covered for this purpose?
Reply: One of the important exceptions provided under Section 56 of the Income-tax Act, in regard to taxing gifts as income, is in respect of sums received by any individual from his/her relative out of natural love and affection. For this purpose, the term ‘relative’ has been defined to include the individual’s spouse, brother or sister of the individual or spouse, brother or sister of either of the parents of the individual, any lineal ascendant or descendant of the individual or spouse and finally the spouse of any of the above-referred persons.
Lineal ascendants of an individual would include his father, mother, grandfather, grandmother and so on. Lineal ascendants of the spouse would include in-laws of the individual in the like category. Similarly, lineal descendants of the individual and the spouse would cover their son, daughter, grandson, grand daughter and so on.
Thus beyond the direct parent-child relationship, Dada-Dadi, Nana-Nani, Pota-Poti etc. all get covered within the meaning of the term ‘relative’ from whom any gift received is treated as fully exempt.
Moreover, apart from the closest members of the immediate family such as parents, children, brothers and sisters, even uncles and aunts (such as Kaka-Kaki, Mama-Mami, Masa-Masi, Foi-Fua) and also in-laws in these categories have been empowered to give tax free gifts without any monetary limits.
However, it needs to be borne in mind that cousins, nephews and nieces have been kept out of the list of ‘relative’ for the above purpose.
GIFT IN KIND FROM NON RELATIVE
Query: I am a Doctor planning to procure an expensive instrument worth Rs.50 lakhs, which has also public health application. A cousin of mine in USA proposes to pay for the same and send the same to me as a gift. Will this attract any income-tax liability in my hands?
Reply: There are two important aspects to be considered under your question. Firstly, whether your ‘cousin’ can be considered as a relative within the meaning of Section 56(2)(vi)? The answer is ‘No’, since ‘cousin’ does not fall within the definition of ‘relative’ for the purpose of gifts being treated as exempt from income-tax.
However, you should note that Section 56(2)(vii) casts income-tax liability only in respect of a ‘gift in kind’ exceeding Rs.50,000 which is covered in the list of nine specified properties, including land & building, shares & securities, bullion, jewellery, archaeological collections, drawings, paintings and any work of art. The gift of the medical instrument, though exceeding Rs.50,000 in value, would clearly fall outside the liability for income-tax, since it does not fall in this list. You may, therefore, go ahead and procure your public health application without any worry or concern.
LEGAL PROCEDURE FOR GIFT
Query: I am a retired Government Officer. I intend to gift some of my investments to my major son so that I can also derive the benefit of income-tax saving, since I am in the maximum tax bracket and he is not having any taxable income. Kindly let me know the legal procedure for the same.
Reply: Under the Transfer of Property Act, while the gift of an immovable property cannot be effective or complete until the ex*****on of a registered gift deed, attested by signatures of two witnesses along with the signature of the donor of the gift, no such requirement is prescribed in regard to a gift of a movable property. Under this law, the only requirement is delivery of possession of the movable property by the donor to the donee and acceptance by the donee of the same.
Accordingly, it is not necessary for you to execute any stamped document in support of the gift you propose to make to your son. It would, however, be advisable for you to address a forwarding letter to your son, stating clearly that you are making a gift to him out of natural love and affection borne by you towards him and also mentioning the details of the gifted property (for example, date and number of the Cheque or draft, name of the bank and amount, etc. as the case may be). This would act as supporting evidence in the case of your son, when in future, he may be required to explain the source of the investment held by him and the income derived there from. Your son should confirm acceptance of the said gift by way of acknowledgement.
In case of gift of shares, units or bonds, it would be necessary for you to execute a transfer form for the said purpose. In case of gift of a fixed deposit, you may prefer to also address a letter to the bank or the financial institution, informing them regarding the gift and requesting them to take the name of the donee on their record.