Individual property character of house property determined income assessability as the assessee's personal income

Property acquired by the assessee's father from private funds, with no evidence of family investment in the site or construction, was treated as the father's individual property. The deed transferring the property, though described as a partition deed, was construed as a gift deed and showed the property belonged to the father; there was no surrender of the property to the family. On that construction, the property remained the assessee's individual property after transfer, and the income from it was assessable as his individual income.

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Issues: Whether the house property in question was the individual property of the assessee or family property, and whether the income from it was assessable as his individual income.

Analysis: The property had been acquired by the assessee's father out of private funds, and the record showed no investment of family funds in either the purchase of the site or construction of the houses. The deed by which the assessee received the property, though styled as a partition deed, was read as a gift deed and expressly indicated that the property belonged to the father. On a reading of the document as a whole, the property was treated as the father's individual property and, upon transfer, as the assessee's individual property. There was no case of any surrender of that property to the family.

Conclusion: The property was the assessee's individual property, and the income derived from it was his individual income.

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