Schedule AL for your ITR

What Schedule AL asks for

Where your total income crosses the specified threshold, your return requires a schedule of assets and liabilities. Immovable property is listed with its cost, along with other specified assets and the liabilities against them.

It is a disclosure, not a tax charge. Completing it accurately costs you nothing. Completing it with an invented figure creates a document that contradicts your own filings later.

Cost, not market value

The schedule works on cost of acquisition. People frequently put today's market value in, which is both wrong and unhelpful, because it can conflict with the cost base they later claim on sale.

Where the property was purchased, cost is what you paid plus capital improvements. Where it was inherited or gifted, you take the previous owner's cost, which means the original deed or, for pre 2001 acquisitions, the 1 April 2001 value.

Why a valuer is involved at all

Because for a great many NRIs the deed is missing, the property came through a grandparent, or the cost was never recorded anywhere the family can find. A registered valuer can establish a defensible cost figure from registry records and the notified rates of the period, and that same figure carries through to your eventual capital gains computation.

Consistency is the point. The number in your Schedule AL should be the number your capital gains computation uses years later. Two different figures invite a question neither you nor your accountant will enjoy answering.

Common errors

• Entering market value instead of cost.
• Omitting an inherited share because no money was paid for it.
• Leaving out property held jointly, rather than disclosing your share.
• Forgetting the liability against the asset, which the schedule also asks for.
• Using a different figure each year for the same property.

What we provide

A written cost figure with the basis stated and the evidence attached, in a form your chartered accountant can rely on and cite if the return is examined. Where the position is genuinely uncertain, the report says so rather than projecting false precision.

Where we stop

We do not file returns or advise on whether the threshold applies to you. That is your accountant's territory. We supply the property number underneath it.

What you get

A signed report from a government approved valuer, based on a real inspection, with the workings shown so the person reading it can follow how the figure was reached. Our registration number is printed on it. If anyone questions it later, the evidence is already in the file.

• An inspection that actually happened. Our engineer stands at the property. Every photograph carries the date, the time and the exact position.
• Comparable evidence, named. Real sales from the relevant area and the relevant period, identified so anyone can check them.
• Method stated openly. Which approach we used and why, with the adjustments set out rather than buried.
• The right date. A valuation is always as at a date. Get the date wrong and the number is useless even if the work is perfect.
• Currency where you need it. Rupees for the Indian side, converted for your side, with the exchange rate and its source stated.

How long it takes

Normally 48 to 72 hours from the site visit, once we have the basic papers. If it is urgent, tell us and we will treat it that way. For anything tied to a sale, start before you sign the agreement rather than after, because some of the biggest savings are only available in advance.

What it costs

It depends on the property type, its size and how far our engineer has to travel. Message us with the basic details and you get a firm figure before any work starts. No surprises later, and five percent off your first report.

What if the papers are missing

Very common, and usually not a problem. A deed from 1974 may simply not exist in the family any more. Records at the sub registrar office, property tax records and the notified rates for the area can normally fill the gap. Tell us what you do have and we will tell you straight away whether it is workable.

Questions people ask

Should Schedule AL show market value?

No. It works on cost of acquisition. Putting today's value in is wrong and can contradict the cost base you later claim on sale.

What cost do I use for inherited property?

The previous owner's cost, or the 1 April 2001 value if they acquired it before that date. A valuer can establish it when the deed is missing.

Why does consistency matter?

The figure in Schedule AL should match the figure your capital gains computation uses years later. Two different numbers invite an awkward question.