Gifts From HUF Exempt u/s 56(2)(v) as HUF is a Gorup of relatives – ITAT Rajkot

Vineetkumar Raghavjibhai Bhalodia Vs. ITO (ITAT Rajkot) –From a plain reading of section 56(2)(vi) along with the Explanation to that section and on understanding the intention of the legislature from the section, we find that a gift received from “relative”, irrespective of whether it is from an individual relative or from a group of relatives is exempt from tax under the provisions of section 56(2)(vi) of the Act as a group of relatives also falls within the Explanation to section 56(2)(vi) of the Act. It is not expressly defined in the Explanation that the word “relative” represents a single person. And it is not always necessary that singular remains singular. Sometimes a singular can mean more than one, as in the case before us. In the case before us the assessee received gift from his HUF. The word “Hindu Undivided Family”, though sounds singular unit in its form and assessed as such for income-tax purposes, finally at the end a “Hindu Undivided Family” is made up of ‘a group of relatives”. Thus, in our opinion, a singular words / words could be read as plural also, according to the circumstance / situation.

To quote an example, the phrase “a lot”. Here, the phrase “a lot” remains as such, i.e. plural, in all circumstances and situations, where in the case of “one of the friends” or “one of the relatives”, the phrase remains singular only as the phrase states so that one among st the relatives and at no stretch of imagination it could mean as plural whereas in the phrase “a lot” the words “a” and “lot” are inseparable and if split apart both give distinctive numbers, i.e. “a” singular and “lot” plural and whereas when read together, it can only read as plural in number unlike in the case of “one of the relatives” where “one” is always singular in number whereas “relatives” is always plural in number, but when read together it could read as singular in number. Applying this description with the case on hand, we have already found that though for taxation purpose, an HUF is considered as a single unit, rather, an HUF is “a group of relatives” as it is formed by the relatives. Therefore, in our considered view, the “relative” explained in Explanation to section 56(2)(vi) of the Act includes “relatives” and as the assessee received gift from his “HUF”, which is “a group of relatives”, the gift received by the assessee from the HUF should be interpreted to mean that the gift was received from the “relatives” therefore the same is not taxable under section 56(2)(vi) of the Act, we hold accordingly.