Does Your Wife Have To Pay Taxes On Money Gifted To Her?

If you are an NRI living in foreign countries and on a regular basis you transfer some amount of you earnings into your wife's accounts, then you must be wondering that would it be taxable or not. In this article, we will explain you whether it would be taxable or not and if not then why.

As per the Income Tax Act (I-T), wife is a specified relative and the money gifted to her won't be taxable in India. The money received by her shall not be taxable in your or her hands. However, if she invests this somewhere to earn income, then in that case the income earned from that investments may attract tax.

Amount which attracts tax

In India, there is no specific gift tax, earlier in India there was a provision of tax on gifts under Gift Tax Act 1958, but it was repealed in 1998. As mentioned above, the wife is a specified relative and money gifted to her won't be taxable, similarly gifts received from parents and siblings which too are specific relatives enjoy tax exemption. In case of unspecified relatives, Gifts upto Rs 50,000 are exempted from tax in India and above the said amount the any gifts will be taxable.

If any person received gift of more Rs 50,000, then it will attract taxes. For example, if one received gift worth Rs 80,000 from friend, the entire amount of Rs 80,000 will be taxable considering it as one's income from other sources.

Gifts that are exempted from tax

Gifts from any specified relatives such as spouse, father, mother, brother and sister are exempted irrespective of amount. However, as mentioned above, the income generated from the gift may attract tax under the clubbing of income provisions of the Income Tax Act.

Example

X is a husband and Y is a wife, if Mr X gifts Rs 15 lakh to his wife then Rs 15 lakh won't attract tax and as it is not considered as income of her. However, if the wife generates any income using the gift then that income will be taxable.

Apart from these, there are some other gifts which is not taxable like Gifts which are given under a will or inheritance, Property received from a local authority as defined under section 10(20) of the Income-tax Act, Property received from any fund, foundation, university, other educational institution, hospital or other medical institution, any trust or institution referred to in section 10(23C) and Property received from a trust or institution registered under section 12AA.

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