Hindu undivided family exemption applies where a cash allowance from an impartible estate is paid out of family income.

Cash allowance paid to a coparcener from the holder of an impartible estate is exempt if it is received in the capacity of a member of a Hindu undivided family. The income-tax scheme taxes income unless expressly excluded, and Section 14(1) protects sums received by a family member in that capacity. A person may remain a member of a joint Hindu family even where the estate is impartible and held by one member alone. The relevant enquiry is whether the payment is attributable to joint family property, and the burden is on the assessee to show that connection. On the stated facts, the allowance was treated as paid out of family income and not assessable in the assessee's hands.

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Issues: Whether the cash allowance received by a coparcener from the holder of an impartible estate was exempt from tax under Section 14(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 as income received as a member of a Hindu undivided family.

Analysis: The income-tax scheme taxed all income unless expressly excluded, while Section 14(1) exempted sums received by a member of a Hindu undivided family in that capacity. A person may remain a member of a joint Hindu family even where the estate is impartible and is held exclusively by one member. The decisive question was whether the allowance was received as family income in the hands of the family, and the burden lay on the assessee to show that the receipt was attributable to joint family property. The finding that the assessee remained joint with his brother was legally sustainable, and the material before the Court showed that the allowance was paid out of family income.

Conclusion: The allowance was not assessable to income tax in the hands of the assessee and was exempt under Section 14(1).

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