Report No. 12

56. Profit on sale of property used for residences.-

Where a capital gain arises from the sale, exchange, relinquishment or transfer of a capital asset to which the provisions of section 55 [12B(4) (a)] are not applicable, being buildings or lands appurtenant thereto the income of which is chargeable under the head "Income from house property", which in the two years immediately preceding the date on which the sale, exchange, relinquishment or transfer took place, was being used by the assessee or a parent of his mainly for the purposes of his own or the parent's own residence, and the assessee has within a period of one year before or after that date purchased a new property for the purposes of his own residence, then instead of the capital gain being charged to income-tax as income of the previous year in which the sale, exchange, relinquishment or transfer took place, it shall, if the assessee so elects in writing before the assessment is made, be dealt with in accordance with the following provisions of this section, that is to say,-

(i) if the amount of the capital gain is greater than the cost of the new asset, the difference between the amount of the capital gain and the cost of the new asset shall be charged under section 45 [12B(1), main para.] as income of the previous year; or

(ii) if the amount of the capital gain is equal to or less than the cost of the new asset, the capital gain shall not be charged under section 45 [section 12B (1) main para.].

[Section 12B(4)(b)]