Law:

Section:

Section 5(1)(iv), read with section 21, of the wealth-tax act, 1957-Exemption-Residential house-Building vested in trustee to be held by him in trust-One of the beneficiaries allowed to occupy said building-assessee-trustee did not use the same for residential purposes himself-assessee-trustee was denied exemption under section 5(1)(iv) on the ground that building was not used by him for his own residential purposes-Whether assessee-trustee was rightly denied exemption-Held, on facts, no Facts The assessee was Official Trustee of the West Bengal for Trust Murshidabad Estate. For the assessment years 1964-65 to 1971-72, the WTO allowed exemption under section 5(1)(iv) up to Rs. 1 lakh, in respect of a part of the building, holding that it was partly used for the residential purpose of the beneficiaries. The AAC, however, held that the assessee was not entitled to the exemption as the building in question vested in the trustee to be held by him in trust and, hence, did not belong to the beneficiary residing therein, so that the condition laid down in section 5(1)(iv) had not been satisfied. In appeal, the Tribunal reversed the AAC's order. On reference, the revenue's case was that since the Official Trustee, i.e., the assessee, to which the building belonged, did not reside therein, exemption under section 5(1)(iv) could not be allowed to it. Held A trustee is assessed under the scheme of the Act as only a representative assessee, although for certain purposes of the Act, a trustee is an assessee. Section 21 makes it dear that wealth-tax shall be levied upon and be recoverable from a trustee in the like manner and to the same extent as it would be leviable upon and recoverable from the person on whose behalf or for whose benefit the assets are held. Section 21(2) also provides that the WTO can make a direct assessment on the beneficiary and recover the tax from the beneficiary in respect of the assets held under trust. The WTO has, therefore, an option either to assess the beneficiary directly or to assess the trustee in respect of the assets held under trust. The Act, however, does not envisage that when assessment is made on a trustee, the incidence of tax will…

Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /home/digixyei/sldsystempk.com/view/master-layout/view_case.php on line 492