The structure your CA floated at dinner, tested against Delhi’s actual numbers: stamp duty, the 25% corporate rate, the dividend layer waiting at the exit, the perquisite trap in the living room — and the narrow cases where the company genuinely wins.
For a home you will live in, no — buying property in a company name in Delhi means 6% stamp duty (companies get no 4% woman’s concession), no self-occupied tax shelter, a taxable perquisite when a director occupies it, and a second layer of dividend tax (up to ~35.9%) whenever the money comes out — on top of the company’s own 12.5% capital gains. For a rental portfolio or business premises, the case exists: rent is taxed at ~25.17% inside the company against personal slabs of up to ~31–39%, liability is ring-fenced, and succession moves by shares. Rule of thumb: homes in personal names — a woman’s name saves 2% outright; yield assets can justify the company.
Every second HNI conversation in this market eventually reaches the same idea: “should the floor go into the company?” The idea survives because half the comparison — the 25% corporate rate — is quoted without the other half: the entry duty, the exit layer, and the compliance tail. Therefore, here is the whole ledger, line by line, for a Delhi purchase in 2026 — consistent with the stamp duty rules and capital gains regime the rest of this site details.
| Line | Personal name | Company name |
|---|---|---|
| Stamp duty | 6% man / 4% woman / 5% joint (+1% transfer +1% registration) | 6% flat (+1% +1%) — the full 8% stack, always |
| Rental income tax | Slab — up to ~31.2% (higher with surcharge); 30% standard deduction; details in our rental tax guide | ~25.17% under Section 115BAA, after the same 30% deduction |
| Self-occupation | Nil annual value for up to two self-occupied homes | No such shelter; director’s occupation is a taxable perquisite, a vacant house risks deemed rent |
| Capital gains on sale | 12.5% LTCG (+ surcharge/cess); Section 54/54EC reinvestment relief | 12.5% (+7–12% surcharge + cess) — and no Section 54 relief |
| Getting money out | It’s already yours | Dividend at your slab — up to ~35.9% — the second layer |
| Loan interest | Deductible against rent; loss set-off capped | Deductible against rent inside the company |
| 80C stamp-duty deduction | Available (₹1.5 lakh cap) | Not available |
| Liability & succession | Personal; moves by will/succession | Ring-fenced; moves by share transfer |
| Compliance | Your return | ROC filings, audit, board minutes — every year, forever |
Sell a ₹10 crore floor held personally with a ₹4 crore gain: ~₹58–60 lakh of LTCG tax (12.5% plus surcharge and cess) and the balance is yours — or fully sheltered by Section 54 reinvestment. The same sale inside a company pays a similar first layer with no Section 54, and then the proceeds sit in the company: paying them out as dividend costs up to ~35.9% more at your slab. The oft-cited escape — selling the company’s shares instead of the property (share-transfer stamp duty is a rounding error) — is real in commercial deals but rarely clean for homes: the buyer inherits every liability in the company, tax law values the shares off the property’s stamp-duty value for Sections 56(2)(x)/50CA, and diligence discounts accordingly. Structures are judged at exit; price the exit first.
Several floors held for yield, profits reinvested rather than withdrawn: the 25.17% rate compounds meaningfully against a 31–39% personal slab, interest is absorbed cleanly, and the double layer bites only on what you actually pay out.
An office or guest facility the business genuinely uses belongs on its books — with the GST reverse-charge and perquisite rules from our rental tax guide applied honestly, not creatively.
Where liability isolation or share-based succession across branches of a family is the true objective, the company (or LLP) earns its compliance cost — that is a governance decision, not a tax dodge.
A home to live in belongs in a personal name: the woman’s 4% rate saves 2% on day one — ₹20 lakh on a ₹10 crore floor — self-occupation is tax-free, Section 54 guards the exit, and our all-in cost guide already prices the whole cheque.
A company is a fine place for a portfolio and a poor place for a home. The tax code wrote that sentence, not us.
Two footnotes complete the picture. NRIs weighing an Indian company as the vehicle add FEMA and FDI conditions to everything above — the direct personal route in our NRI buying guide is usually simpler and cheaper. And whichever name goes on the deed, the mechanics of the purchase — duty on the higher of price or circle value, TDS, registration — are identical; the entity changes the rates, never the process.
Yes — a company can hold residential property if its charter permits, with the board authorising the purchase. The question is never can it; it is whether the tax ledger above says it should.
As house-property income with the same 30% standard deduction, at the corporate rate — effectively ~25.17% under the concessional regime. That beats top personal slabs, which is the entire honest case for the structure.
Physically, yes; fiscally, it is a taxable perquisite in your hands as director/employee, valued under the perquisite rules — and the arrangement invites exactly the scrutiny it sounds like it would. Companies get no self-occupied nil-value shelter.
Long-term gains are taxed at 12.5% plus the corporate surcharge (7% or 12%) and cess, with no Section 54 reinvestment relief — and distributing the proceeds costs dividend tax at shareholders’ slabs, up to ~35.9%. The double layer is the structure’s defining cost.
On paper — share-transfer stamp duty is negligible against 8% conveyance. In practice the buyer inherits the company’s entire history, tax rules value the shares off the property’s stamp-duty value (Sections 56(2)(x)/50CA), and lenders and lawyers discount accordingly. It works in commercial portfolios; it rarely survives diligence on a single home.
No — the ₹1.5 lakh Section 80C claim for stamp duty and registration is for individuals and HUFs. Companies capitalise the duty into the asset’s cost instead.
An LLP shares the ring-fencing and files lighter, and profit withdrawal works differently from dividends — but the entry duty, the perquisite logic and the no-54 exit are the same family of problems. Model both with your CA against plain personal ownership before choosing either.
An Indian company with NRI shareholding can hold property subject to FEMA/FDI conditions on the entity and its business — real estate trading is restricted territory. For a home or a floor or two, the direct personal route under FEMA’s NRI rules is almost always simpler and cheaper.
No — and it should not. Beneficial-ownership disclosure, the companies registry and benami law all point through the veil; a structure chosen for opacity is a liability, not a plan. Choose entities for liability, succession and tax arithmetic that survives daylight.
Bring us the asset and the objective; we’ll run entry duty, yield tax and the exit math on all three structures with your CA — before the deed is drafted in the wrong name.
Positions reflect law in force in July 2026 — Delhi stamp duty of 6% for company purchasers (4% woman / 5% joint concessions being for individuals) within the 6–8% all-in stack, corporate taxation of rental income at ~25.17% under the concessional regime after the 30% standard deduction, corporate LTCG at 12.5% plus 7–12% surcharge and cess without Section 54 relief, dividend taxation at shareholder slabs with surcharge capped at 15% (~35.9% top), perquisite valuation for director-occupied premises, and share-valuation rules under Sections 56(2)(x)/50CA referencing stamp-duty values. Section numbering migrates under the Income-tax Act, 2025; substance is unchanged. Verify entity law at mca.gov.in and model your specific numbers with your CA before structuring.
SOUTH DELHI FLOORS
Clean Deals Only · Since 1984
Second-generation consultants for South Delhi’s finest builder floors, farmhouses and independent homes. Four decades of clean, verified transactions.
+91 99990 04511Explore
Prime Localities
Enquire Now
Tell us what you are looking for and a senior consultant will get back to you.
Owning a home is a keystone of wealth… both financial affluence and emotional security.
Please enter the 6-digit OTP sent to your email.
Time remaining: 05:00
