Gain arising on transfer of capital asset is charged to tax under the head “Capital Gains”.
Income from capital gains is classified as “Short Term Capital Gains” and “Long Term
Capital Gains”. In this part you can gain knowledge about the provisions relating to tax
on Short Term Capital Gains.
Meaning of Capital Gains
Profits or gains arising from transfer of a capital asset are called “Capital Gains” and are
charged to tax under the head “Capital Gains”.
Meaning of Capital Asset
Capital asset is defined to include:
(a) Any kind of property held by an assesse, whether or not connected with business or
profession of the assesse.
(b) Any securities held by a FII which has invested in such securities in accordance with
the regulations made under the SEBI Act, 1992.
However, the following items are excluded from the definition of “capital asset”:
i. any stock-in-trade (other than securities referred to in (b) above), consumable
stores or raw materials held for the purposes of his business or profession ;
ii. personal effects, that is, movable property (including wearing apparel and
furniture) held for personal use by the taxpayer or any member of his family
dependent on him, but excludes—
(a) jewelry;
(b) archaeological collections;
(c) drawings;
(d) paintings;
(e) sculptures; or
(f) any work of art.
“Jewellery” includes—
(a) ornaments made of gold, silver, platinum or any other precious metal or any alloy
containing one or more of such precious metals, whether or not containing any
precious or semi-precious stones, and whether or not worked or sewn into any
wearing apparel; [As amended by Finance (No. 2) Act, 2014]
(b) precious or semi-precious stones, whether or not set in any furniture, utensil or
other article or worked or sewn into any wearing apparel;
iii. Agricultural Land in India, not being a land situated:
a.Within jurisdiction of municipality, notified area committee, town area committee,
cantonment board and which has a population of not less than 10,000;
b.Within range of following distance measured aerially from the local limits of any
municipality or cantonment board:
i. not being more than 2 KMs, if population of such area is more than 10,000 but not
exceeding 1 lakh;
ii. not being more than 6 KMs , if population of such area is more than 1 lakh but not
exceeding 10 lakhs; or
iii. not being more than 8 KMs , if population of such area is more than 10 lakhs.
Population is to be considered according to the figures of last preceding census of
which relevant figures have been published before the first day of the year.
iv. 61/2 per cent Gold Bonds,1977 or 7 per cent Gold Bonds, 1980 or National
Defence Gold Bonds, 1980 issued by the Central Government;
v. Special Bearer Bonds, 1991;
vi. Gold Deposit Bonds issued under the Gold Deposit Scheme, 1999.
Following points should be kept in mind:
– The property being capital asset may or may not be connected with the business or
profession of the taxpayer. E.g. Bus used to carry passenger by a person engaged in
the business of passenger transport will be his capita asset.
– Any securities held by a Foreign Institutional Investor which has invested in such
securities in accordance with the regulations made under the Securities and Exchange
Board of India Act, 1992 will always be treated as capital asset, hence, such securities
cannot be treated as stock-in-trade.
I
llustration
Mr. Kumar purchased a residential house in January, 2014 for Rs. 84,00,000. He sold the
house in March, 2014 for Rs. 90,00,000. In this case residential house is a capital asset
for Mr. Kumar and, hence, the gain of Rs. 6,00,000 arising on account of sale of
residential house will be treated as capital gains and will be charged to tax under the head
“Capital Gains”.
Illustration
Mr. Kapoor is a property dealer. He purchased a flat for resale. The flat was purchased in
January, 2014 for Rs. 84,00,000 and sold in March, 2014 for Rs. 90,00,000. In this case,
Mr. Kapoor is dealing in properties is his ordinary business. Hence, flat so purchased by [As amended by Finance (No. 2) Act, 2014]
him would form part of stock-in-trade of the business. In other words, for Mr. Kapoor flat
is not a capital asset and, hence, gain of Rs. 6,00,000 arising on account of sale of flat
will be charged to tax as business income and not as capital gains.
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