Any gift received after 1-10-2009 is taxable in the hands of the receiver. The value of the gift will be treated as income under “Other Sources” and will be added to other taxable income, if any, and hence the gift becomes liable to regular income tax. However a gift received from mother is exempted from tax.
Mr. Jyoti Kundra obtained the gift in February, 2011. It was not taxable at the time of receipt of the gift as it was from his mother.
If it was gifted by a non-relative, the value would have been considered as income for the year 2010 – 11. If so logically the date of acquisition should be considered as February, 2011 and any capital gain on account of its sale in August, 2011 would be short term capital gain. Whether it will be still so, if gift tax was exempted in February, 2011 or it should be considered as long term capital gain indexed from the date of acquisition by his mother, which was 1983, has to be ascertained.
Before 1-10-2009 and after 1-10-1998 there was no gift tax. Then the cost of acquisition of the previous owner based on the date of acquisition by the previous owner, in this case the mother, would have been the cost of acquisition.
It can also happen that tax on short term capital gain is less than indexed long term capital gain.