I sold my house in parts and these were registered on different dates between July 2008 and March 2009. What would be the implications of capital gains tax in such transactions? How much would I get to buy a property to save the tax?

Nirod Baran Chatterjee, Burdwan

You shall have to compute capital gains for each transaction separately. The total of all these will be your aggregate capital gains. Your tax liability will be calculated on the basis of the aggregate capital gains. However, you shall have to buy a new house within two years from the date of transfer of the existing house. If you want to build a property with the capital gains from the sale of the existing house, you shall have to complete the construction in three years .

Old age worry

I am 72-years-old and in the current financial year, my total income from pension, post office monthly savings scheme and Senior Citizen Savings Scheme will be Rs 2,38,000.I invested Rs 60,000 in SCSS on April 4 this year. Shall I have to pay any tax and file income tax return?

Ardhendu Biswas, Asansol

Your total income, before any deduction, is more than the basic exemption limit of Rs 2,25,000. So, you shall have to file tax return. However, you can get a deduction of Rs 60,000, the investment in SCSS under Section 80C, from your total annual income. Then, your taxable income will fall below the threshold limit. So, you don’t have to pay any income tax.

For son’s sake

If I open a PPF account on behalf of my 19-year-old son, will it attract any kind of tax now or on maturity?

Dipti Sanyal, Howrah

You cannot open a PPF account on your son’s behalf as he is already an adult. However, he can open a PPF account on his own and you can gift him the money that you are planning to invest in his name. Your son can then deposit the money in his PPF account. While the gift will not attract any tax for any one of you, the interest income as well as the maturity amount from the PPF will be tax-free in your son’s hands under Section 10 of the Income Tax Act.

If you have any queries about investing or taxes or a high-cost purchase you are planning, mail to: btgraph@abpmail.com, or write to: Business Telegraph, 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700 001.