Karta's remuneration and commission treated as individual income where earnings arose from personal services, not family funds.

Remuneration and commission received by a karta are assessable as the individual's income, not as the income of the Hindu undivided family, where the receipt is attributable to personal qualifications and exertions rather than to the use of family funds in the business. The decisive test is whether the amount is, in substance, a return on family investment or compensation for services rendered by the individual coparcener. On the Tribunal's factual finding that the earnings arose from the karta's personal efforts and not from family assets, the income could not be attributed to the family.

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Issues: Whether remuneration and commission received by the karta was assessable as the income of the Hindu undivided family or as the individual income of the karta.

Analysis: The decisive test was whether the receipt was, in substance, a return attributable to the investment of family funds in the business or compensation for services rendered by the individual coparcener. The Tribunal's finding was that the remuneration and commission were earned by the karta because of his personal qualifications and exertions and not because of the use of family funds. That finding, being one of fact, could not be displaced in favour of attributing the income to the family.

Conclusion: The remuneration and commission were not assessable in the hands of the Hindu undivided family and were the income of the individual karta.

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