Found gold in mother's locker after she died. How it will be taxed if I sell
1 min read . Updated: 30 Jan 2023, 12:39 PM IST
Premium- If the gold jewelry was genuinely found in her locker and it can reasonably be proved that she might have accumulate/acquired so much of gold jewelry during her life time you should face any problem
My mother has just passed away. We found some gold ornaments in her locker. She was a non-tax payer. Now what if I sell the gold and deposit the cash in my account will I face any problem?
Answer: The answer to your question will depend on evaluation of various factors. For example, what is the total value of the gold jewelry found in your mother’s locker? Any inheritance received by her? Whether your father was a tax payer and what income he had declared in his ITR? What was her age at the time of her death? Though she was not a tax payer, did she have any income? You will not face any problem if the value of gold jewelry found in her locker was reasonable.
What is reasonable will depend on the consideration of all the above factors together. So if the gold jewelry was genuinely found in her locker and it can reasonably be proved that she might have accumulate/acquired so much of gold jewelry during her life time I do not think you should face any problem. However, if you are not able to convince the assessing officer about possibility of your mother having accumulated that much gold jewelry during her life time, you are likely to face tax at 60% plus interest and may also face penalty proceeding. So if you are planning to convert your black money into white using this mechanism, I would sincerely urge you to refrain from doing this.
Balwant Jain is a tax and investment expert and be reached on jainbalwant@gmail.com and at @jainbalwant on his Twitter handle.
