Q.1016 Tax incurred when

transferring property to a

relative in India

Question: Sir/Madam I am an NRI and live overseas. I have few properties in India.. unoccupied open lands of 2000 sq ft each , to be exact four of them. I would like to give that to my father as a gift, so he can use it for his retirement expenses. What is the easiest way to do and do i incur any tax for giving it away to my father. Regards sampath govindasamy Answer: Ownership of real estate property can be passed on to family members either by way of gift or under a will. A frequently used method used to transfer property to family member is executing a gift deed in favor of the beneficiary. Property can be transferred through a gift deed under section 122 of the ‘Transfer of Property Act, 1882’. In such cases, even though no monetary transaction is involved, it is still essential to register the gift deed to make the transfer valid. Taxes involved when transferring property by way of gift Tax rules vary in India depending on the State in India where the property is located. As mentioned above property can be transferred by executing a gift deed. This deed should be registered to give it full legal standing in many situations, such as sale of the property by the gift recipient at some point of time. There are costs associated with registration and this cost will depend on where the property is located. For registration stamp duty and registration fee has to be paid.