If the spouse has not invested in a property and is merely a co-holder, then on sale of such property, she cannot be liable for tax on capital gains, the Mumbai Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has recently ruled. The ITAT order will help many taxpayers as married couples are increasingly opting for property registration in joint names, even if only one of them is the investor. Anil Harish, an advocate specializing in real estate, said: "Co-holding of property is popular. Often the name of a spouse (say wife) is added to provide a sense of comfort, to ensure ease of succession on death of the partner or other reasons such as facilitating voting in a general body meeting of the housing society." The ITAT gave the order on Wednesday while hearing a case of a medical professional, Vandana Bhulchandani. An income-tax (I-T) officer, based on information in his possession, noted that Bhulchandani had not disclosed the capital gains arising from the Rs 2.12-crore sale of a...