There is no gift tax on the person giving. There is an income-tax charge on the person receiving, and it turns almost entirely on the relationship between the two. Understand the definition of relative and most of the questions answer themselves.
The rule
Where a person receives, without consideration, a sum of money or specified property whose aggregate value exceeds ₹50,000 in a financial year, the whole amount is taxable as income from other sources.
It is a threshold, not an allowance. Receive ₹60,000 from a non-relative and ₹60,000 is taxable, not ₹10,000. And the ₹50,000 is aggregate across all such receipts in the year, not per giver.
Who counts as a relative
- Spouse
- Brother or sister, and their spouses
- Brother or sister of the spouse, and their spouses
- Brother or sister of either parent, and their spouses
- Any lineal ascendant or descendant — parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren
- Any lineal ascendant or descendant of the spouse, and their spouses
Gifts from anyone on this list are exempt without limit. Note what is absent: cousins, and a friend however close. Those are non-relatives, and the ₹50,000 rule applies in full.
The other exemptions, and the property rule
- Received on the occasion of your marriage — exempt regardless of who gave it, and this applies to the couple, not to their parents or siblings.
- Under a will or by inheritance — exempt.
- In contemplation of death of the payer.
- From a local authority, or specified funds and institutions.
For immovable property, the measure is the stamp duty value, not what was written on the transfer. Property received for no consideration, or for consideration meaningfully below stamp duty value, brings the shortfall into charge. This is why intra-family property transfers should be papered as gifts to a relative rather than as token-price sales.
Keep the paperwork. A gift deed, or at minimum a written confirmation with the relationship stated and the bank trail, is what answers the question years later — and gifts of ₹20,000 or more should not move in cash, for the reasons in cash transaction limits.
Where we come in
Family transfers, property settlements and loans between relatives all interact with these rules and with the cash limits. We check the position before the money moves — see notice handling if a query has already arrived.
This article is general information, not professional advice. Limits, rates and dates change by notification — confirm the position for your own year before acting on it.