By Chirag Nangia
My wife and I are owners of a house. The loan is in joint name. Can I declare 50% of the rent in my return. My wife does not file tax return. Is it necessary for her to file return with this 50% income from rent?
– Ajay
Rental income earned from jointly owned property is taxable in the hands of each co-owner, in proportion of the share in property. Consequently, the same shall be required to be disclosed in each of your income tax returns separately. You and your wife shall thus be required to disclose your respective share of the income in your income tax returns. However, if your wife’s total income (including income from all sources) does not exceed the basic exemption limit of Rs 2.5 lakh then she need not file the return of income.
My employer has deducted tax from salary but has not deposited it. What should we do by March, if it does not deposit the tax amount?
—Bhaskar Dua
One must obtain Form 16A (TDS certificate issued by the deductor) and verify the same with Form 26AS. Any mismatch must be brought to the notice of the deductor and a request can be made to get the return rectified to give effect to the deduction/ payment of tax. However, the deductee has no power under the Income Tax Act, to enforce revision of returns in case of any discrep-ancies. If you have TDS certificate or any valid proof to support your claim of tax deduction then you needn’t worry. As per Section 205, if tax has already been deduct-ed on the income under issue, the taxpayer cannot be called upon for payment of tax to the extent to which tax has been deducted from that income. Hence, you shall not be required to pay tax on income where TDS has already been deducted.
What is the capital gains tax I have to pay on a commercial office space which I want to sell to a builder to redevelop the space?
—Manoj Singh
Capital gains arising under a development agreement is taxable as income of the previous year in which the certificate of completion for the whole or part of the project is issued by the competent authority. The sale consideration is equivalent to stamp duty value on the date of issue of completion certificate of your share in land/ building in project plus consideration received in cash (if any). The cost of acquisition of the property must be subtracted from the sale consideration to arrive at the capital gain.
The writer is director, Nangia Andersen Consulting. Send your queries to fepersonalfinance@expressindia.com