Rent of land not appurtenant to building taxable as income from other sources

Rent of land not appurtenant to building is taxable as income from other sources. Rent only from buildings and land appurtenant thereto is treated as house property income

ABCAUS Case Law Citation:
ABCAUS 3241 (2020) (02) ITAT

In the instant case, an appeal was filed by the assessee against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) in confirming the action of the Assessing Officer (AO) inter alia taxing the rental income under the head other sources instead of income from house property.

The appellant assessee was an individual and was engaged in the business of running a petrol pump. The case of assessee was selected for scrutiny under CASS.

During the assessment proceedings u/s 143(3) of the of the Income Tax Act [Act], the AO noticed that the assessee had shown gross rent on land under the head ‘income from house property’ and also claimed 30% deduction therefrom towards repairs and balance amount was offered to tax.

The AO observed that the depreciation cannot be claimed on vacant land and further that the land on which filling station was functioning was given on lease to Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and since there was no building on the said land, AO held that the amount claimed as rent was to be brought to tax, under the head ‘income from other sources’.

Before the Tribunal, the assessee submitted that he had given the land on rent to Oil Company which had set up the petrol bunk on the said land and had been paying lease rent to the assessee. Therefore, the rental income had to be treated as ‘income from house property’ and 30% claimed by the assessee was the standard deduction under the said head.

On the contrary, the Department submitted that since there was no building on the land given on lease to the BPCL, the rental income there from had to be treated as ‘income from other sources’ and not as ‘income from house property’, as claimed by the assessee.

Taxability of Rent of land not appurtenant to building 

The Tribunal observed that the rental income only from buildings and the land appurtenant thereto can be treated as ‘income from house property’.

The Tribunal noted that in the instant case, admittedly, the rental income was only for the land leased out and therefore it held that the income could not be treated as ‘income from house property’ and AO had rightly treated the same as ‘income from other sources’.

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