House property income applies when building amenities are integral and inseparable from the letting, without separate hire charges.

Rental receipts from a building let with partitions, electrical fittings, lifts, fans and water arrangements are assessable under the head income from house property where the amenities are integral to the premises and inseparable from its ordinary enjoyment. The correct head of income must be determined under the Income-tax Act, 1961, and cannot be altered by the assessee's description of the receipt. Because the tenant took the entire building and no separate service charge or independent hire for the amenities was shown, the facilities were treated as incidental to the letting, not as a distinct letting of plant, machinery or furniture. The resulting classification was income from house property, not income from other sources.

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Issues: Whether rent received from letting out a building with facilities such as partitions, electrical fittings, lifts, fans and water arrangements was assessable as income from house property or as income from other sources.

Analysis: Under the scheme of section 14 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, income must be assessed under the correct head and cannot be shifted by the assessee's description of the receipt. On the facts, the correspondence and the lease deed showed that the tenant took the entire building, while the facilities provided were integral to the use and enjoyment of the premises and did not constitute separate letting of plant, machinery or furniture. The authorities relied on by the assessee were distinguishable because they involved separable or separately charged amenities, whereas here no separate service charge or independent hire was shown. The governing principle applied was that where the building alone is let and the amenities are merely incidental and inseparable from its proper enjoyment, the receipt falls under house property.

Conclusion: The income was correctly assessable as income from property and not as income from other sources.

Ratio Decidendi: Rental receipts from a building let with amenities that are integral to and inseparable from its ordinary enjoyment are taxable under the head income from house property, unless there is a distinct and separable letting or independent service charge for the amenities.

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