Capital gains exemption for legal heir

[Sandeep Saini]

An Assessee and her husband sold a long term asset being agricultural land in April 2012. To claim exemption the assesee bought a residential plot in her name in March 2013 (she did not have another residential house) intending to construct house on it. Unfortunately she died in June 2013 before opening the Cap Gains account with a bank which was to be used for construction costs.

Would the spouse be able to get the exemption which the assesse was entitled to for both the plot and the construction costs and on whose name can the cap gains account be opened if that is possible?

[Sandeep Saini]

Above query should be read as not being agricultural land as the land was in urban limits.

AI Summary

Capital gains exemption: whether surviving spouse can claim exemption for deceased purchaser's residential plot and construction costs.
The query concerns whether a surviving spouse as legal heir may claim the capital gains exemption that the deceased assessee intended to claim for a purchased residential plot and for construction costs when the assessee died before opening the capital gains account required for construction funds. The factual clarification provided states the original asset sold was urban (not agricultural), but no adjudicative conclusion on entitlement or on whose name the capital gains account may be opened is supplied.