Dwelling Place Test under income tax residency rules: mere occasional occupation is not enough; right of home matters.

A dwelling place under section 4A(a)(ii) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 means more than a house or temporary residence; it must be a home available to the assessee with a sense of permanency and an enforceable right of occupation. Ownership alone is immaterial, and occasional residence by the assessee or family members is insufficient. The decisive question is whether the premises were set apart and maintained for the assessee so that he could live there as of right without needing permission. On the facts, the house remained the father's dwelling house and was not shown to have been maintained for the assessee as his home; the answer was therefore in the negative.

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Issues: Whether, on the facts, the assessee maintained or had maintained for him a dwelling place in the taxable territories within section 4A(a)(ii) of the Income-tax Act, 1922, so as to be treated as resident for the assessment year 1947-48.

Analysis: The expression "dwelling place" was held to mean more than a mere house or temporary residence; it imports a place which is available to the assessee as a home with a sense of permanency and attachment. Ownership by itself was held to be immaterial. What mattered was whether the assessee had a right to occupy premises which were set apart and made available for him, so that he could live there as of right without needing permission from anyone. Mere occasional residence by the assessee, his wife, or his children was not enough. On the facts, the house remained the father's dwelling house, and there was no evidence that it was set apart or maintained for the assessee as his home.

Conclusion: The assessee did not maintain, and had not maintained for him, a dwelling place in the taxable territories within section 4A(a)(ii); the question was answered in the negative.

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