Assessee filed his return claiming deduction under S. 54F in respect of capital gain arising from transfer of capital assets. AO held that at time of transfer of capital asset, assessee was owner of two residential houses out of which one he had jointly purchased with his wife. Accordingly denied the exemption. On appeal the Tribunal held that word ‘own’ in S. 54F would include only case where a residential house is fully and wholly owned by assessee and, consequently, would not include a residential house owned by more than one person. Since a residential property was co-jointly owned in name of assessee and his wife, he could not be treated as absolute owner of said property and, thus, deduction under section 54F could not be denied. Followed Seth Banarsi Dass Gupta v. CIT (1987) 166 ITR 783 (SC) (AY. 2010 -11)
Ashok G. Chauhan. v. ACIT (2019) 176 ITD 717/ 200 TTJ 659/180 DTR 94 (Mum.)(Trib.)
S. 54F : Capital gains- Investment in a residential house–Property was co-jointly owned in name of wife–Could not be treated as absolute owner–Exemption cannot be denied. [S. 45]