Short-term capital gains arising on other assets, such as jewellery or house property, will continue to be taxed at the applicable income-tax slab rate. The highest slab rate under the new regime is 39% and old regime is 42.7%.
When it comes to the long-term capital gains on listed equity shares and equity oriented mutual funds, the rate stands increased to 12.5% from the current 10%. However, an exemption of up to Rs 1.25 lakh (earlier limit Rs 1 lakh) in aggregate for computing the taxable long-term capital gain is available.
To qualify as long-term capital asset, the holding period for a house property, unlisted shares or foreign securities remains at two years, but it has been reduced from three to two years for other assets like jewellery.
When it comes to the tax-rate amendment on assets like jewellery or house property, it is a mixed bag. While the long-term capital gains tax on such assets now stands reduced to 12.5% from 20%, no indexation benefit is now available on or after July 23. This means that when you sell such a capital asset, either the capital gain component will be higher, or the loss will be lower. The only saving grace, in case of older assets, is that the taxpayer can use the fair market value as of April 1, 2001, as the cost of acquisition.