54 f union budget 2014

This query is : Resolved

Querist : Anonymous

Querist : Anonymous (Querist)

13 July 2014 Capital gains exemption in case of investment in a residential property under Section 54: Capital gains tax on selling property was exempt if the money was invested in a residential property in India or abroad. This was interpreted as buying more than one flat in an apartment building. It has now been clarified that exemption from capital gains would be restricted to only one house and within India.

whether use of the word one house is unambiguous?

Nikhil Kaushik

Nikhil Kaushik (Expert)
Follow

13 July 2014 before this amendment (which is yet to be enacted) the word a house was an ambiguous term which was interpreted differently by different judicial forums. on several occasions investment in multiple houses within a same building were allowed as deduction. In one case even investment outside India was allowed.

The amendment now restricts the investment in one single house unit thus eliminating the ambiguity related to interpretation of word "a"