Sunday, August 8, 2010

What is Cost Inflation Index (CII)?

It is a measure of inflation that finds application in tax law, when computing long-term capital gains on sale of assets.  Section 48 of the Income-Tax Act defines the index as what is notified by the Central Government every year, having regard to 75 per cent of average rise in the consumer price index (CPI) for urban non-manual employees for the immediately preceding previous year.

How does CII help in capital gains computation? Capital Gain, as you know, arises when the net sale consideration of a capital asset is more than the cost. Since “cost of acquisition” is historical, the concept of indexed cost allows the taxpayer to factor in the impact of inflation on cost. Consequently, a lower amount of capital gains gets to be taxed than if historical cost had been considered in the computations.

Formula for computing indexed cost is (Index for the year of sale/ Index in the year of acquisition) x cost.

For example, if a property purchased in 1991-92 for Rs 20 lakh were to be sold  in A.Y. 2009 -10 for Rs 80 lakh, indexed cost = (582/199) x 20 = Rs 58.49 lakh. And the long-term capital gains would be Rs 21.51, that is Rs 80 lakh minus Rs 58.49 lakh.

Cost Inflation Index:- Cost inflation index (CII)as notified by Central Government is as under:
Financial Year(CII)Financial Year(CII)
1981-821001996-1997305
1982-831091997-1998331
1983-841161998-1999351
1984-851251999-2000389
1985-861332000-2001406
1986-871402001-2002426
1987-881502002-2003447
1988-891612003-2004463
1989-901722004-2005480
1990-911822005-2006497
1991-921992006-2007519
1992-932232007-2008551
1993-942442008-2009582
1994-952592009-2010632
1995-962812010-2011711


Read more: http://www.taxguru.in/income-tax/cost-inflation-index-meaning-and-index-for-all-the-years.html#ixzz0vyuLgVZE

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