Maneka urges FM to consider amending IT Act

NEW DELHI: Minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi has urged finance minister Piyush Goyal to consider amending the Income Tax Act so that the income accruing from gifted assets gets taxed at the hands of wives and daughters-in law. Gandhi draws attention to section 64 of the IT Act which provides that if a husband gifts an asset to his wife and the asset results in some income to the wife, the income will be added to the taxable income of the husband.

Gandhi took to Twitter on Monday evening to say, “As a society, the onus of ensuring economic empowerment of our women lies on each of us. Following several requests from women, especially wives and daughters-in-law, I have urged finance minister @PiyushGoyal ji to examine and suitably amend Section 64 of the Income Tax Act.”

She went on to explain that “section 64 of the IT Act deals with clubbing of incomes and provides that if a husband gifts an asset to his wife and the asset results in some income to the wife, the income will be added to the taxable income of the husband.”

“The provision was originally formulated in 1960s under the assumption that wives and daughter-in-law would normally not have any independent taxable income. However, today with women leaving an indelible mark in every field, the Act seems to have an adverse effect,” Gandhi stated in her tweet.

She said these concerns came to fore through several pleads which claimed that husbands and fathers-in-law are apprehensive about transferring assets to women in their families because they fear that income accruing from the asset will ultimately become a burden on them.

She concludes that she has raised these concerns with the finance minister urging him to consider amending the IT Act.