NEW DELHI, April 8 -- Gift a house or flat to your spouse to save tax, and the Income Tax Department may now know about it.

Starting this year, property sub-registrars must report property gift deeds involving assets valued above Rs.45 lakh to the tax department. Until the last financial year, only property sales, not gifts that did not involve a sale, were reported.

"Registrars will now submit a SFT (Statement of Financial Transaction) with details of such transactions and it will reflect in the taxpayer's AIS (Annual Information Statement). These transactions were not visible to the tax department so far, which will now change," said Bhawna Kakkar, chartered accountant and founder, Kakkar & Co., Chartered Accountants.

The disclosure ...