Advance tax liability on partitioned Hindu undivided family under section 18A(3) was upheld despite a pending partition claim.

A Hindu undivided family that came into existence on an admitted partition was treated as a person not hitherto assessed and, for the relevant assessment years, fell within section 18A(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1922, requiring an advance-tax estimate and instalment payments. Section 25A(3) was held not to postpone that obligation merely because an application under section 25A(1) was pending; it applies only where no claim is made, the claim is rejected, or no order recording partition is made. On that basis, the family remained liable to comply with advance-tax requirements and the penalties for non-payment were exigible.

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Issues: Whether the assessee Hindu undivided family was liable to pay advance tax under section 18A(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1922, and whether penalties imposed for non-payment were exigible when a claim under section 25A(1) regarding partition of the larger family was pending at the time of default.

Analysis: The assessee's own case was that the larger Hindu undivided family had disrupted on 7 May 1950, and on that footing the assessee family came into existence from that date. For assessment years 1952-53 and 1953-54, it was a person not hitherto assessed and therefore fell within section 18A(3), which required filing of an advance-tax estimate and payment of instalments. Section 25A(3) was held not to cover a merely pending claim under section 25A(1); it applied where no claim was made or the claim was rejected and no order recording partition was made. Once an order was eventually passed recording partition on the date found, the partition took effect from that date, and the assessee family was liable accordingly.

Conclusion: The assessee was liable to comply with section 18A(3), and the penalties imposed for failure to pay advance tax were exigible. The answer to the referred question was in the negative and against the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A Hindu undivided family that comes into existence on the date of an admitted partition is a person not hitherto assessed and is liable to advance tax under section 18A(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1922; section 25A(3) does not defer that liability merely because an application under section 25A(1) is pending.

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