Preface
One of the most unregulated sectors so far has been the real estate sector. Builders were taking apartment applicants for a toss. Taking money to carry out a project with lot of promises and then not doing anything was prevalent with the builders. Applicants have seen their money blocking and at the same time were not given possession of the property. The modus operandi was simple. Builder collected money for one project, utilized it elsewhere and then came up with new projects and again collected money. Central Government thus felt a need to regulate the sector and thus brought, Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, commonly known as RERA. This law aims at regulating the sector and specifies the rules to regulate all the three participants, be it the builder, the real estate agent and the allottees. This book provides a commentary on RERA. We have taken note of RERA rules of two States Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Thus, the RERA commentary is ready to use and since Chartered Accountants are entitled to appear before RERA Tribunal it becomes imperative for them to read RERA because it opens a new practice area for them.
Another issue that is related to real estate sector is benami holding of property. To catch this mode of holding properties, the Central Government provided a new lease of life to age old Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 and renamed it as Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988. This Act aims at deterring benami holding of properties and provide for confiscation of benami property. This book provides a detailed commentary on the subject with apt illustrations so as to explain the law in a lucid manner. This law is going to be a big practice area once bureaucracy gets handle over it.
Taxation constitutes the most important part of any transaction and real estate transactions are no exception. Issues arise as to taxation of income associated with the property either as capital gain or as property income or as income from other sources and availability of relief arising as a consequence to transfer of immovable property. We have identified issues related to taxation of incomes associated with real estate, relief available to gains arising from transfer of real estate and discussed them in enough detail. We have also identified various TDS issues relevant to real estate sector and discussed them in detail supplementing the entire discussion with the help of decided case laws and apt illustrations.
Land development agreements are quite prevalent in the real estate sector . Various issues emanate as to taxation of land development agreements. This topic is hardly discussed in any other real estate literature available. We have given the importance to this, which it seriously deserves and have tried to discuss the tax implications of Land Development Agreements in all its facets. This book summarises almost all worth noting case law available on the subject, thus making it easier to find a solution to a given problem. For ease of reference we have divided the entire matter in chapters detailed below :
-- Land Development Agreements Scheme
-- Relevant Provisions
-- Point of Time of Taxation of Gain Arising Due to Land Development Agreement (LDA)
-- Accrual and Nature of Gain under Land Development Agreement
-- Year of Chargeability of Gain Under Land Development Agreement
-- Landmark Land Development Agreement Decisions
-- Issues Allied to Land Development Agreements
-- Sale of Transferable Development Rights (TDR)
-- Sample Land Development Agreements
No book on real estate can be complete without taking into account the implications of section 50C. We have provided detailed commentary thereon. Again we have taken note of almost all available cases on the subject and presented the matter in five convenient chapters as below :
-- Deeming Full Value of Consideration in Case of Land or Building or Both
-- Applicability of Section 50C in Varying Situations
-- Rights in Property and Applicability of Section 50C
-- Extension of Scope of Section 50C to Purchaser
-- Reference to Valuation Officer Vis-a-Vis Section 50C
GST has been introduced in the country since 01.07.2017. Various issues have arisen with regard to applicability of GST on real estate sector. In order to complete the book we have included a separate mini book on GST. This book contains issues relevant to GST on real estate sector. We have discussed the most relevant issues regarding real estate sector and also discussed general provisions relevant to real estate sector.
Last but not the least, we have included a book dealing with general law implications on real estate sector. We have also included FEMA implications of Acquisition and transfer of immovable property. The subject matter is divided in following chapters :
-- Modes of Acquiring Real Estate
-- Title of Real Estate
-- Ownership of Real Estate
-- Acquisition or Transfer of Immovable Property in India by a Person Resident Outside India
-- Acquisition or Transfer of Immovable Property Outside India by Person Resident in India
-- Registration of Real Estate—Pre-requisite to Acquisition
A brief supplement inserted for taking notice of recent developments includes a (i) separate chapter on recent AAR rulings on GST issues regarding land development agreements. The position of this in the main text of the took is a new Chapter 113A; (ii) Further latest important case laws arising under Income Tax Act regarding taxation aspects of land development agreements are also discussed with reference to the place it shall be read in the main text.
With this we present this book to our esteemed readers. We believe this book will come as a handy solution to them for problems arising with regard to real estate transactions in general and taxation issues arising thereto in particular. We as usual are waiting for readers comments about our effort.
|
JODHPUR |
Dr. AVADHESH OJHA |
|
MAKAR SANKRANTI |
CA MANOJ GUPTA |
|
14 JANUARY, 2019 |
CA. SATYADEV PUROHIT |