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How to calculate taxes from capital gains and combine them with your other income

This article talks about understanding capital gains tax calculations and computing offsets vs other income.

How to calculate taxes from capital gains and combine them with your other income


Posted on 28 Jan 2022 • Updated on: 02 Feb 2023
Author: Sayan Sircar
18 mins read
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This article talks about understanding capital gains tax calculations and computing offsets vs other income.

How to calculate taxes from capital gains and combine them with your other income

Originally published: 28-Jan-2022

Updated: 02-Feb-2022 - updated post the Union budget in Feb-2022

Updated: 29-Jun-2022 - declaration of CII for FY 2022-23

Updated: 02-Feb-2023 - updated post the Union budget in Feb-2023

Updated: 23-Jul-2024 - updated post the Union budget in Jul-2024 for changes in capital gains taxation

Disclaimer: Taxation is a dynamic concept and the content of this article is valid on the date of publication and any subsequent updates. Always consult a professional tax advisor before doing anything that leads to taxes being due.

This article is a part of our detailed article series on the concept of mutual fund taxation in India. Ensure you have read the other parts here:

📚 Topics covered:

Understanding capital gains and their offsets

Capital gains come from selling a capital asset like shares, mutual funds or real estate. Tax on capital gains depends on the holding period (short or long, leading to STCG and LTCG). The tax rate is considered ‘tax on special rates’, which is separate from slab-based tax on income.

Capital gains are taxed as

  • listed shares and mutual funds with more than 65% domestic equity: 15% tax for STCG (<1 year) or 10% tax on LTCG (with grandfathering) above ₹1 lakh. No tax if this LTCG is less than a lakh
  • all other mutual funds: tax at slab rate for STCG (<3 year) or 20% tax after indexation on LTCG
  • real estate: tax at slab rate for STCG (less than 2 years) or 20% tax after indexation on LTCG (before 23-Jul-2024). Post Union Budget 2024, indexation has been removed and LTCG rate changed to 12.5%

Cess at the applicable rate (currently 4%) should be added to the tax.

Related:
This article explains how grandfathering reduces taxes on selling equity.

This article assumes that the investor understands the basics of capital gains taxes for selling shares and mutual funds as per this article: How is tax calculated on selling shares/MFs and how do to do tax harvesting?. For real estate, the holding period is short-term for less than two years, and otherwise, it is long-term.

Capital assets for the purpose of this article are shares, mutual funds, bonds(SGB, corporate, State government and RBI bonds), and real estate. However, suppose the asset is sold as a part of a business function, for example, a real-estate investor who buys and sells property via their company. In that case, it is considered stock-in-trade and not a capital asset.

Capital gains must be considered using data from the point of purchase or construction (like that of a house) by the original owner. This means that even if the property is transferred (by inheritance) or gifted, the original owner’s costs will be used to calculate capital gains.

The tax on long-term capital gains is lowered by the concept of indexation. Indexation allows you to benefit from depreciation in the value of the asset and inflation by adjusting the purchase price upwards by a factor, published yearly by the Income Tax department, called Cost Inflation Index (CII). In general, assets with indexation benefit on the purchase price, irrespective of appreciation, will lead to lower taxes the longer they are held. Of course, you should not keep capital blocked solely to have the benefit of indexation but a bit of planning is important.

FAQs on capital gains for real estate

What is the purchase date of the property for capital gains calculation purpose?

The purchase date of the property for capital gains calculation purpose is the date of the allotment letter. There could be multiple options for choosing the start date like allotment letter date, registration date or possession date. However, the correct option is the allotment letter date.

What is the calculation method for capital gains from selling land?

Capital gains are calculated in the same way on selling land like property.

Related:
Complete Tax Guide for Resident Indians Selling Land in India

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Using the Cost Inflation Index (CII) to calculate LTCG

Cost Inflation Index (CII) table

Serial # Financial Year CII %ch Worth of ₹1000
1 2001-02 100 0.00% 1000
2 2002-03 105 5.00% 952
3 2003-04 109 3.81% 917
4 2004-05 113 3.67% 885
5 2005-06 117 3.54% 855
6 2006-07 122 4.27% 820
7 2007-08 129 5.74% 775
8 2008-09 137 6.20% 730
9 2009-10 148 8.03% 676
10 2010-11 167 12.84% 599
11 2011-12 184 10.18% 543
12 2012-13 200 8.70% 500
13 2013-14 220 10.00% 455
14 2014-15 240 9.09% 417
15 2015-16 254 5.83% 394
16 2016-17 264 3.94% 379
17 2017-18 272 3.03% 368
18 2018-19 280 2.94% 357
19 2019-20 289 3.21% 346
20 2020-21 301 4.15% 332
21 2021-22 317 5.32% 315
22 2022-23 331 4.42% 302
23 2023-24 348 5.14% 287
24 2024-25 363 4.31% 275

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Indexed purchase price calculation using CII table

As the above table shows, it is easy to calculate the indexed purchase price. In the table above, an asset purchased in FY 2008-09 (CII = 137) and being sold in FY 2017-18 (CII = 272), will have an indexed purchase price of ₹198.54.

Always refer to the latest CII table from here for the calculation of LTCG.

LTCG example using a mutual fund

We take the example of a debt mutual fund purchased in 2015 and sold in 2020

  • CII at purchase is 254, CII at sale is 301
  • Purchase value is ₹10,000
  • Sale value is ₹15,000
  • Indexed purchase price is ₹10,000 * (301/254) = ₹11,850
  • LTCG = ₹15,000 - ₹11,850 = ₹3,150

Here we see that the LTCG is lower than the simple profit of ₹5,000 due to the benefit of indexation. In the case of real estate, under Section 50C, the sale value is the maximum of the actual sale price and fair market value of the property determined using circle rates or similar means. Also, the buyer of the property has to deduct 1% of the sale value as TDS and deposit that to the income tax authorities in case the sale proceeds exceed ₹50 lakhs. The seller has an option of claiming this amount while filing tax return.

If you are interested in understanding how the 20% indexation rule fares vs. the 10% taxation rule for equities, read this: Which mutual fund has lower tax - international funds at 20 percent vs domestic at 10 percent?.

LTCG example using real estate purchased after 2001

We take the example of an apartment purchased in 2010 and sold in 2018

  • CII at purchase is 167, CII at sale is 280
  • Purchase value is ₹15 lakhs
  • Sale value is ₹40 lakhs
  • Indexed purchase price is ₹15 * (280/167) = ₹25.15 lakhs
  • LTCG = ₹40 - ₹25.15 = ₹14.85 lakhs

The LTCG can be adjusted downwards by any additions and alteration expenses which is called the “Cost of improvement”

LTCG example using real estate purchased before 2001

The CII starts at 100 for the FY 2001-02. So we need to know the house price in 2001 by using the services of a government-approved assessor. Once that is done, we can proceed in the same way as the previous case with one change: Cost of improvement expenses that have taken place before 2001 will not be considered.

We take the example of a house constructed in 1995 and sold in 2018

  • CII in 2001 is 100, CII at sale is 280
  • Assessed value of the house is ₹30 lakhs (irrespective of the money spent on construction and improvements up to 2001)
  • Original owner died in 2008 and the property was passed on to their legal heir, who sold the house in 2018
  • Renovation done in 2010 is ₹5 lakhs
  • Sale value is ₹1 crore
  • Indexed purchase price is ₹30 * (280/100) = ₹84 lakhs
  • Indexed renovation cost is ₹5 * (280/167) = ₹8.4 lakhs
  • LTCG = ₹100 - ₹84 - ₹8.4 = ₹7.6 lakhs

Tax on this LTCG is to be paid by the seller. Zero tax will be paid if ₹7.6 lakhs is invested in Sec54EC eligible bonds for 5 years (see below)

Impact of Union Budget 2024 on capital gains tax calculation

In a surprise move, Union Budget 2024 removed the concept of indexation and dropped the capital gains tax rate from 20% for 12.5% for all property sales on or after 23-Jul-2024.

Read more here: Budget 2024: A Surprise in Real Estate Sales due to Indexation Benefit Removal: Is it good or bad?

Lowering capital gains tax in case of a property sale

Section 54 of the income tax allows tax to be saved if:

  • you have purchased another house either a year before or two years after selling this property and do not sell it for three years
  • you invest a part of the sale proceeds (up to ₹50 lakhs) in eligible Sec54EC bonds for five years

Related:
This article discusses the Section 54EC exemption available for property sale: conditions applicable and worked-out examples.

Also read
How can children help their retired parents to set up their finances?

Capital gains offset and carry forward

Offsetting allows you to reduce the net tax payable as per these rules

  • Long term capital loss is allowed to be offset only against LTCG
  • Short term capital loss is allowed to be against either LTCG or STCG
  • You can carry forward both short and long term capital losses for eight years as long as you keep filing yearly returns (typically in ITR2 or above, not ITR1)

This concept of offsets allows you to reduce taxes in future years. For example, you have ₹5 lakhs loss from selling a house in 2020. You can keep using that loss against profits in the following years as long as:

  • you keep filing returns every year
  • the loss is offset using the two rules above (LTCL vs LTCG, STCL vs both LTCG/STCG)
  • eight years have not passed
  • you have not exhausted the loss amount. This means that if in 2021 you are offsetting ₹3 lakhs of LTCG, only ₹2 lakhs can be carried forward from that point onwards

Capital gains and no other income

Imagine the situation of an investor with only capital gains from stocks/MF as taxable income. Salary, interest income and other income are taxed at the slab rate, and capital gains are taxed at special rates as discussed above. However, the basic ₹2.5 lakhs exemption limit (₹3 lakhs for senior citizens) applies here as well.

You do not pay any tax if total income plus taxable capital gains (after all offsets within capital gains and losses) does not exceed ₹2.5 lakhs. Taxpayers should also check if they are eligible for a rebate under Section 87A to reduce their taxes by a further ₹12,500 if their total income is under ₹500,000.

This same rule is useful for investing in the name of children for their goals: Should you invest in the name of your children?

In the ₹7.6 lakhs LTCG example, if the assessor is a senior citizen (60+ age) with ₹1 lakh income from interest and no other income, then the tax will be like this:

  • Basic exemption limit is ₹3 lakhs
  • Adjust ₹1 lakh interest income against this first. ₹2 lakh limit is left
  • Adjust the ₹2 lakh against the LTCG of ₹7.6 lakhs, and LTCG tax will now be payable only on ₹5.6 lakhs

NRIs cannot offset capital gains against the basic exemption limit.

Understanding tax deferment

Capital gains is better than income due to favourable taxation laws. Income like interest, rent or dividends are taxed at slab unlike capital gains from mutual funds and real estate. We explain the concept in detail here: Understanding tax deferment: how this concept improves your investment returns?.

Exemption, gifts and income clubbing

A caveat on using basic exemption limit to reduce taxes:

Investments made in the name of family members in lower tax brackets fall under income clubbing rules though gifts are tax-free. For example, if you give ₹5 lakhs to your parent as a gift and that amount is invested. The parent has no other income. After five years, the asset is sold, and LTCG is ₹2 lakhs. Here, the proper practice from a taxation perspective is to consider this income be clubbed with yours and not eligible for exemption in the parent’s name.

More situations and references are available here from incometaxindia.gov.in website:

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This post titled How to calculate taxes from capital gains and combine them with your other income first appeared on 28 Jan 2022 at https://arthgyaan.com


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