Loss in derivatives is not a speculative loss
I bought a property in a gated community through two agreements with the builder — one for the purchase of land and the other for the construction of a villa. The land was registered in my name in October 2005. The construction of the villa commenced immediately after I bought the land and the work got completed in September 2008.
Now I want to sell the villa. I wanted to know whether I can treat the gain on sale of the land portion as long term capital gain.
I own another apartment which I purchased with my own funds during January 1992. I bought another apartment during March 2009 with a bank loan. Can I claim interest benefit on the loan taken from bank for housing?
K. Vaidyanathan
Via-email
The land has been held by you for more than 36 months and the gain arising on sale will be treated as “long-term capital gain”. However, the gain from the sale of the constructed portion (villa) would be “short-term capital gain” as the property proposed to be sold will be held for less than 36 months.
The interest paid to the bank on housing loan on the house purchased in 2009 can be claimed as a deduction. It may however be noted that only one house property owned by an assessee can be treated as self-occupied and the annual value of that property be taken as nil.
If more than one house property is self occupied, then one of them will be deemed to be let out and rental income may have to be offered to tax.
In the financial year 2008-09 I had a loss from trading in derivatives and I filed a return of income claiming the loss as speculative. In the current fiscal, I have no other income other than interest income from fixed income corporate bonds and post office monthly income scheme. Can I set off the speculative loss incurred in the previous financial year against my current year’s interest income?
Arvind Deshpande
Via-email
You cannot set off the brought forward speculation loss against your current year’s interest income chargeable to tax under the head income from other sources. The loss on speculative transaction cannot be set off against income from any source other than speculative income.
It may be noted that Section 43(5) was amended by the Finance Act 2005 from assessment year 2006-07 to provide for certain eligible transactions in derivatives that will not be treated as speculative and would be treated as a business loss and can be carried forward under Section 72 if the transaction is carried on electronically on screen based systems, through a registered broker or sub-broker.
Even if the loss is treated as a business loss, it cannot be set off against the current year’s interest income char-geable to tax under the head income from other sources. It can be set off only against business income.
(Kamal Rathi is a chartered accountant, representing Rathi & Malani, a Hyderabad-based accounting firm. Readers can mail their queries on income tax tokamalrathi.ca@gmail.com.)
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