Over 750 Office Space Leases in Mumbai to Expire in 2016

The year 2016 is the year for taking up offices on lease basis. As per research conducted by PROPSTACK, a commercial real estate information and analytics company, the sums involved in the lease renewal, consisting of an average period of thirty-six months, will be approximately Rupees 50 Crore a month. Although, 77% of 750 office lease renewal are below 5,000 sq. ft., the leases range from as low as 500 sq. ft. to 2,35,000 sq. ft.

The Information Technology sector (which includes Information Technology enabled Services sector) and Banking, Financial services and Insurance sector continue to dominate the leasing activity in Mumbai. “Mumbai has remained a financial capital hub where IT-ITeS and BFSI companies have continued to dominate the office space take-up. Last year BFSI, manufacturing and pharmaceutical sector played a major role in leasing apart from the technology firms. This trend is expected to continue in 2016 as well,” said the director of PROPSTACK, Raja Seetharaman. 

Value of FSI and TDR not to be included in Land Value u/s 50C of IT Act

Generally, the provisions of Indian tax laws provide that transfers of immovable property must be at a fair valuation. However, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (‘ITAT’), Mumbai Bench, has ruled, in Income-tax Officer v. Shri Prem Rattan Gupta, that the value of TDR and FSI cannot be the subject mattter of section 50C of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Section 50C of ITA not applicable to transfer of Immovable Property held through Co.

In Irfan Abdul Kader Fazlani vs. ACIT (ITAT Mumbai) (Entire order available here) the assessee was the shareholder of a company called Kamala Mansion Pvt. Ltd (KMPL). KMPL owned flats in a building known as Om Vikas Apartments, located at Walkeshwar Road, Mumbai- 400 026. The assessee sold the shares for a sum of approximately  Rupees Thirty Seven Lakhs and Fifty One Thousand Only and capital gains were offered on that basis. The AO & CIT(A) held that by the sale of shares in the company, the assessee had in actual fact transferred the immovable property belonging to him, and it was merely an indirect way of transferring the flats, for lesser consideration

Introduction to Property Tax in India

Property tax in India is not as easy to understand as someone might think. However, if we dissect it into smaller and simpler to understand parts, it will definitely make things a lot easier.

The property tax rates in India have been rationalized to make them easier for public to understand. The changes have been made to make the tax system comply with the international property tax standards. Capital Value System (CVS) has been introduced in Bangalore. Similarly Delhi has set up a website making tax payments a lot easier. However, there are still a lot of misconceptions about property tax in India that need to be cleared. The most important question that often goes unanswered is

SC- Hindu Woman Entitled to Same Property Rights as other Male Siblings

The Supreme Court in the case of Ganduri Koteshwaramma & Anr. vs Chakiri Yanadi & Anr. held that a Hindu lady will have equal property rights as her other male siblings, for partitions made in intestate succession after September 2005.

A Division Bench of Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar upheld the order of the trial court while also setting aside the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s decision which did not recognize the same property rights of Hindu daughters as their brothers. The Apex Court held that

Good WILL Hunting- The Importance of Making a Will - Sample Will Format

How to make a Will document & Sample Will Format:

No one escapes death
The least we can do is prepare for it
Image taken from here

You love your family? Then what are you doing about it? Do you want to leave your wealth and let your loved one’s fight with each other to get their shares. Such cases are very common. I don’t want to take names (<cough>Ambanis).

When a will is not made, the property of the deceased is distributed in accordance with the laws of succession which may not be as per the wishes of the Testator (The person who makes a will), and also such cases frequently land in court or are settled after long negotiations. The end result – separations among your once "undividable" relatives and a waste of all of their time, money and efforts. A common mistaken belief is that