Section 167B does not apply to a registered society; income is taxable at normal slab rates, not the maximum marginal rate.

Section 167B of the Income-tax Act did not apply to a society registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960, because the provision targets associations of persons or bodies of individuals with indeterminate or unknown member shares and expressly excludes a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, or a corresponding law. As the assessee was a registered society, its income was not taxable at the maximum marginal rate but at the normal applicable slab rates. The note also refers to prior acceptance of assessment at normal rates and a coordinate bench view supporting the same position.

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Issues: Whether the assessee-society's income was liable to tax at the maximum marginal rate under section 167B of the Income-tax Act, 1961, or at the normal slab rates.

Analysis: Section 167B applies where the individual shares of members of an association of persons or body of individuals are indeterminate or unknown. The provision expressly excludes a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, or a corresponding law in force in any part of India. The assessee was a society registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960, and its income had earlier been accepted at the normal applicable rates. The cited coordinate bench decision also supported the view that section 167B was inapplicable to such a registered society.

Conclusion: Section 167B did not apply, and the assessee's income was not taxable at the maximum marginal rate.

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