The income tax appellate tribunal's (ITAT) Mumbai bench has held that the absence of a formal gift deed cannot, by itself, justify treating a property purchase as an 'unexplained investment' when the source of funds is clearly identifiable. Under I-T laws, if income or an asset is treated as unexplained, it is subjected to a steep punitive tax rate. The ITAT held in its May 27 order that a man purchasing a property in his daughter's name out of natural love and affection cannot be treated as a suspicious transaction merely because no formal gift deed was executed. The daughter, a Mumbai-based homemaker with no independent source of income, came under the tax department's scanner after information surfaced that she had purchased an immovable property valued at Rs 1.1 crore in 2015-16.