CBDT circular 8 December 1982
Circular No. 352
1540. Additional relief to property in respect of which gift-tax has been paid and estate duty has also been levied - Notification issued under sub-section (2) granting reduction in estate duty
What this is
Circular No. 352 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 8 December 1982. Its subject is 1540. Additional relief to property in respect of which gift-tax has been paid and estate duty has also been levied - Notification issued under sub-section (2) granting reduction in estate duty.
What it does
Reproduces the Central Government's direction under section 33(2) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 reducing estate duty by the amount of gift-tax already paid on the same property. The class of property covered is narrow: property on which tax was paid under the Gift-tax Act, 1958 before the commencement of the Estate Duty (Amendment) Act, 1958, and on which estate duty was then levied because the property was included in the donor's estate as property passing under the Estate Duty Act. In such a case the estate duty levied is to be reduced by an amount equal to the gift-tax paid on that property.
Why it was issued
The Central Government took the view that circumstances were such that relief should be given to this class of property, which had borne both gift-tax in the donor's hands and estate duty on his death.
Who it reaches
- Accountable persons in estates where gifted property was brought back into the estate
- Donors' legal representatives who had paid gift-tax on the same property
- Officers computing estate duty on property caught by the passing provisions
The provisions it speaks to
Left, the provision of the Income-tax Act, 1961 as the instrument itself names it. Right, the section of the Income-tax Act, 2025 that the department’s own concordance maps it to — which is where the same ground is now covered.
| Under the 1961 Act | Now |
|---|
| s.33 | no counterpart recorded |
The instrument, as the Board published it
The words below are the department’s own, reproduced from its published text. Where the department’s copy carried a publisher’s notes after the instrument, those are not reproduced.
1540. Additional relief to property in respect of which gift-tax has been paid and estate duty has also been levied - Notification issued under sub-section (2) granting reduction in estate duty
Whereas the Central Government is of opinion that circumstances are such that relief should be given in respect of the following class of property, namely, any property in respect of which tax has been paid under the Gift-tax Act, 1958 (18 of 1958), before the commencement of the Estate Duty (Amendment) Act, 1958 (3 of 1958), and in respect of which estate duty has been levied under the Estate Duty Act, 1953 (34 of 1953) by virtue of the inclusion of that property in the estate of the donor concerned as property passing under the said Estate Duty Act ;
Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 33 of the said Estate Duty Act, the Central Government hereby directs that any estate duty so levied be reduced by an amount equal to the amount of gift-tax paid in respect of any such property under the Gift-tax Act.
Notification : No. GSR 657, dated 4-6-1960.
What to watch
- This is an Estate Duty measure notified under section 33(2) of that Act, not an income-tax circular, and the underlying notification is No. GSR 657 dated 4 June 1960.
- The relief is confined to gift-tax paid before the commencement of the Estate Duty (Amendment) Act, 1958; gift-tax paid afterwards is outside it.
- The reduction is a rupee for rupee credit of the gift-tax paid, not an exemption of the property.
- Both the Estate Duty Act and the Gift-tax Act have since been repealed, so the relief bears only on estates of the period in which both levies ran.
Where you meet it
An estate duty assessment in which gifted property was included in the deceased donor's estate although gift-tax had already been paid on it.
On the same provision
Other instruments in this library that name the same provision of the 1961 Act. They are not necessarily still operative, and a later one may have replaced an earlier one without saying so.
- Circular No. 443 — 1537. Additional relief to property bequeathed to educational institutions and hospitals - Notification issued under sub 13 December 1985
- Notification No. GSR 83 — 1534. Additional relief to property forming part of trust created for promoting advancement of science, etc. - Notificat 6 January 1985
- Circular No. 396 — 1539. Additional relief of gold, gold coin, gold ornament tendered within 6 months of the date of death of deceased as s 28 September 1984
- Circular No. 381 — 1538. Additional relief to any one building in occupation of de-recognised Ruler declared as his official residence - No 1 May 1984
- Circular No. 377 — 1535. Additional relief to property bequeathed to Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Fund - Notification issued under sub-sectio 21 February 1984
- Circular No. 343 — 1538. Additional relief to any one building in occupation of de-recognised Ruler declared as his official residence - No 29 May 1982
A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. The Board issues a circular to its own officers. An assessee may hold the department to a circular that helps him; the department cannot hold an assessee to one that hurts him, and the Tribunal and the courts decide the law for themselves.
Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.
