The Mumbai ITAT tribunal ruled that a woman’s 10 kg of gold and silver seized during a tax search may be retained, citing that the assets were lawfully acquired.
The search uncovered 427.71 g of gold jewellery, 258 g of pure gold, 161.33 g of diamond‑studded gold and 11.200 kg of silver‑mix articles, all labelled as unexplained.
She said the pieces had accumulated over 35 years through marriage gifts, inheritance and customary presents, and she furnished family income statements totaling roughly ₹4.55 crore across five assessment years.
The tribunal noted that CBDT Instruction 1916 sets indicative limits—500 g for a married woman, 250 g for an unmarried woman and 100 g for a male—yet these are benchmarks, not absolute thresholds.
It found it inconsistent to treat pure gold as unexplained while accepting jewellery, and stated that absence of purchase receipts alone does not negate lawful ownership.
The decision clarifies that the instruction does not confer tax‑free status, and it will inform how future tax searches assess gold and silver holdings.