Shri Pradeep Kumr O Bhala Vs. ITO (ITAT Mumbai) – The submission is considered and the decisions are perused. There is no denying fact that, the gift has come through banking channel, the donor has filed return showing taxable income, however, the fact that has not been denied by the appellant is that, he is not aware of anything about the donor. Neither the donor is available at the address given nor has he been produced for examination. The appellant is not even aware of the activities of the donor and his age. The donor is not related to the appellant. Owning of Pan and filing of return is not a conclusive proof that, the gift is genuine. Payment through banking channel cannot be a conclusive proof of the genuineness of the gift.

Rajinder Mohan Lal v. DCIT (ITAT Chandigarh) – impugned gifts cheques were in the name of the assessee and not in the name of the assessee’s daughter, whose marriage was solemnized and the quantum of such gifts were credited by the assessee to his bank account. It is also a fact that the sum of money received by the assessee were not transferred to the bank account of his daughter, whose marriage was solemnized. In view of the above legal and factual discussions and clear findings of the lower authorities, we do not find any infirmity in the order of the CIT(A) and, hence, the same are upheld. This ground of appeal of the assessee is dismissed.

Brief facts of the case are that the assessee received a gift of Rs.30,00,000/- from Mrs. Chandra Hingorani. The genuineness of the gift was examined by the Assessing Officer by considering the various documents including taking statements of the assessee which was recorded on 19.12.2006.

The issues involved in this appeal are that ld. CIT(A) confirmed the additions in respect of gifts claimed to have been received by the assessee for Rs.1,00,000/- each from Smt. Sushilaben and Smt. Manjulaben. During the assessment year in question the assessee has shown to have received following gifts:-

In the absence of link or connection between the gift made by the devotees and the profession or avocation carried on by the assessee, a religions head, the personal gift cannot be termed as income taxable under the Act

Genuineness of the gift transactions cannot be determined without looking into the human probability aspects, surrounding circumstances such as relationship of the donor and donee and if assessee fails to establish any of these facts, the gift transaction cannot be treated as genuine.

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, in consultation with Medical Council of India, has recently taken more stringent steps to curb malpractices resorted to by the doctors by amending the Indian Medical Council (Professional conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, on 10.12.2009.

The Gift tax was abolished with effect from October 01,1998. Thereafter, the practice of bogus foreign gifts itself had started with Government offering immunity for such gifts as part of disclosure scheme, but then the practice continues even after the amnesty period had expired. Unaccounted income found its way in many ways as in acquisition of immovable property, new constructions pretended borrowings and unreal gifts.

Clause (vii) has been inserted in section 56(2) by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2009. Under this clause if an individual or a HUF receives on or after October 1, 2009 a gift (which falls in any of the following five categories), it is chargeable to tax in the hands of the recipients under the head “Income from other sources”.

Sum of money:-As per the provisions of the I-T Act, 1961 (the Act), any sum of money received by an individual or a Hindu undivided family in a particular financial year, without consideration, the aggregate value of which exceeds Rs 50,000 is taxable.