Residence for tax purposes depended on the date income accrued abroad, making the assessee taxable in British India.

Residence for charging income under Section 4(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 was determined by reference to the date when the profits and gains accrued outside British India, not merely the dates of remittance or assessment. On the facts, the assessee was held to be residing in British India at those material dates because he owned a house there, his second wife and children lived there, he stayed there whenever he came, and he was physically present in British India when the income accrued. The income was therefore taxable in British India.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was resident in British India at the material dates so as to be chargeable to tax under Section 4(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 on profits and gains accruing outside British India.

Analysis: The references turned on the meaning of residence for the purpose of taxing income accrued or arisen outside British India. The relevant date was held to be the date when the profits and gains accrued in Ceylon, not merely the dates of remittance or of assessment. On the facts, the assessee owned a house in British India, his second wife and children lived there, and he stayed there whenever he came to British India. He was physically present in British India when the profits accrued in all the three cases, and was therefore properly describable as residing there within the statutory meaning.

Conclusion: The assessee was resident in British India at the material dates and the income was taxable under Section 4(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1922.

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