Income tax return (ITR) for the financial year 2023-24 (assessment year 2024-25) has to be filed by July 31, 2024. While filing ITR, you need to keep many things in mind. One of these is to give correct information about the gifts you have received. While filing ITR, information about gifts received on Diwali, Birthday, Anniversary or any other occasion also has to be given. In such a situation, you will have to keep this in mind while filling ITR. If you do not do this then you may get a notice from the Income Tax Department. Chartered Accountant (CA) Anand Jain (Indore) is telling you about the tax applicable on gifts. Gifts are considered as income from other sources. Under the rules of Income Tax, if you have received gifts worth more than Rs 50 thousand in a financial year, then you will have to pay tax on it. Income tax on gifts is not imposed on any single gift, but on the total gifts received in a financial year. Gifts received on Diwali or any other occasion are considered income from other sources. This is added to your total income (gross income). That is why this information has to be given while filing Income Tax Return (ITR). Tax has to be paid on this as per your tax slab. How is gift tax calculated? Under Section 56(2)(x) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, tax liability arises on gifts received by the taxpayer. Gifts that come under the ambit of tax include: Tax is not levied on gifts received from relatives. If you receive gifts from your family members with whom you have blood relations, then you do not have to pay any tax on it. You can give or take gifts of any value from your family members. It is not taxable. The gifts that come under the ambit of this exemption are as follows – Tax is also levied on gifts received from the employer. Any gift received by you from the employer up to Rs 5,000 in a financial year is tax free, but if the value of the gift is more than Rs 5,000 then The extra amount received from your salary as wedding gifts is completely tax free. Whatever gifts you receive at your wedding are completely tax free. However, you have to give information about these gifts while filing ITR. Apart from this, you will have to provide proof of marriage like wedding card and wedding photos. Do not take cash gift of more than Rs 2 lakh. According to section 269ST, if a person receives an amount of Rs 2 lakh or more in cash, then a penalty will be imposed on that person. That is, in this section the penalty will be imposed on the person receiving the amount in cash and not on the person paying the amount. So if you are taking an amount of Rs 2 lakh or more as a gift, then take it only through banking channels, like:- A/C Payee cheque, or A/C Payee bank draft, or through electronic clearance system. Transfer from to bank. If the payment is being received through self cheque, it will also be treated as a cash transaction and penalty will be imposed.
