HC rules on the meaning of full value when assets attached with liabilities are received by shareholders as proceeds from liquidation

CIT Vs Shri Nayan Arvind Shah (Bombay High Court)= Whether the value of the assets, for the purpose of computation of capital gains in the hands of the shareholders in respect of assets received from the liquidator of a company, should be taken at the fair market value (FMV) or at the FMV as reduced by the liabilities attached to it. It was held that the FMV, as reduced by the liabilities attached to it, forms the basis for computation of capital gains. 

The HC provides useful guidance for computing capital gains in the hands of the shareholders of a liquidating company, where the liquidator undertakes in specie distribution of assets. It concludes that, in case assets are distributed with the liabilities attached to them, the value of the assets less the liabilities attached to them can be considered as ‘full value’ of the assets for the purpose of computing capital gains.

Commissioner of Income Tax ­Vs Shri Nayan Arvind Shah