Vested testamentary interests are taxable assets under wealth-tax law, even if possession is postponed and estate administration remains incomplete.

A vested testamentary share, including a residuary interest in the clear residue of an estate, is property belonging to the assessee for wealth-tax purposes and is includible in net wealth on the valuation date. The court noted that the Wealth-tax Act taxes the aggregate value of assets belonging to the assessee, and that "assets" has wide scope. An undivided coparcenary interest crystallised into defined shares on notional partition, while the residuary legatee's right vested in interest on the testator's death even though possession awaited completion of administration. Those transmissible and valueable interests were therefore taxable assets.

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Issues: Whether the properties bequeathed to the assessee under the will constituted assets belonging to him on the valuation dates and were includible in his net wealth under the Wealth-tax Act, 1957.

Analysis: The charging scheme under the Wealth-tax Act brings to tax the net wealth of the assessee, meaning the aggregate value of assets belonging to him on the valuation date less permissible debts. The expression "assets" is of wide amplitude and includes property of every description. On the facts, the assessee took under the will an undivided share in the deceased's coparcenary interest as well as a share in the residue of the deceased's separate estate. In relation to the coparcenary property, the deceased's interest crystallised by the fiction of notional partition under the Hindu Succession Act, and the heirs took defined shares as tenants in common. In relation to the separate estate, the assessee was a residuary legatee whose right to the clear residue vested in interest on the testator's death, though possession was postponed until administration was completed. Such vested and transmissible rights were capable of being treated as property belonging to the assessee and were capable of valuation on the statutory open-market basis.

Conclusion: The properties bequeathed to the assessee were includible in his net wealth, and the question was answered in favour of the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: A residuary or defined testamentary interest that has vested in interest on the testator's death is property for wealth-tax purposes and forms part of the assessee's taxable net wealth even if administration of the estate is incomplete.

Ratio Decidendi: A vested testamentary share, including the right to the clear residue of an estate, is an asset belonging to the assessee within the meaning of the wealth-tax law and is includible in net wealth notwithstanding postponed possession or incomplete administration.

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