Sukkaran Kalaiselvi Vs ITO (ITAT Chennai)
Equal Owners, Equal Tax – Stamp Duty Difference to Be Shared Equally in case of joint purchase- Stamp Duty Difference Cannot Be Taxed Fully in One Buyer’s Hands – ITAT Chennai Restricts Addition to ¼ Share
Chennai ITAT partly allowed the appeal by holding that addition on account of difference between guideline value & registered sale consideration cannot be taxed entirely in one co-owner’s hands, but only to the extent of her share.
Assessee, deriving income from milk vending, purchased property jointly with her husband, son & a third party for ₹8.25 lakh, while stamp valuation authority determined guideline value at ₹15.30 lakh. AO reopened assessment u/s 147 r.w.s. 144B & added entire difference of ₹7.05 lakh in Assessee’s hands, enhancing her income from ₹3.23 lakh to ₹10.28 lakh. CIT(A) confirmed the addition.
Before Tribunal, it was contended that sale deed clearly recorded four purchasers as joint owners, each holding ¼ share & consideration was paid through RTGS in equal contribution. There was no evidence that Assessee alone funded the entire purchase. Hence, taxing whole difference in her hands was unjustified.
Tribunal observed that AO failed to refer matter to Departmental Valuation Cell despite guideline value dispute & wrongly attributed entire addition to Assessee. Since sale deed established equal ownership of four parties, addition could be sustained only to the extent of Assessee’s ¼ share i.e. ₹1.76 lakh, while balance ₹5.29 lakh deserved deletion. Accordingly, ITAT restricted addition to ¼ share & deleted the rest.
