Assessee sold a land owned by it and invested sale consideration in construction of a residential property and claimed exemption under section 54F. Assessing Officer rejected claim as assessee had not furnished any documents with regard to investment in residential property. CIT(A) also declined to allow exemption under section 54F on the ground that evidentiary documents produced in support of construction expenses were merely on plain paper. On appeal, the Tribunal held that the assessee had in fact undertaken construction of a residential property and had incurred substantial expenditure towards said construction out of sale consideration received. Further, upon perusal of the bank account statements of assessee, it was found that there were significant cash withdrawals as well as payments made towards construction. Since sufficient bank transactions comprising both withdrawals and payments were demonstrably available in support of the claim, exemption could not be disallowed solely on the ground that supporting vouchers or bills were on plain paper or not in preferred form. Therefore, the Assessing Officer was directed to grant exemption under section 54F for said sum and to recompute long-term capital gains chargeable to tax after giving effect to the same. (AY. 2014-15)
Natesan Ekambaram. v. DCIT (2025) 214 ITD 615 (Chennai) (Trib.)
S.54F: Capital gains-Investment in a residential house-Sale of land-Investment in construction of a residential property-Bank transactions comprising both withdrawals and payments were demonstrably available in support of claim-Exemption could not be disallowed solely on the ground that supporting vouchers or bills were on plain paper or not in preferred form.[S. 45]
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