Revocable securitisation trusts retain pass-through treatment where beneficiaries have determinate interests without joint income-earning activity.

A securitisation trust with identifiable security receipt holders and determinate interests may be treated as a revocable pass-through trust under sections 61 to 63 of the Income-tax Act. Multiple beneficiaries alone do not create an Association of Persons; that classification requires a voluntary combination pursuing income through common design, joint management or concerted action. Where the trust deed permits revocation of contributions and recovery of assets, the transfer may satisfy the requirements for revocable-transfer treatment. The stated analysis supports assessment of such a trust on a pass-through basis rather than as an Association of Persons.

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Issues: Whether the securitisation trust was assessable as a revocable determinate pass-through trust under sections 61 to 63 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, or as an Association of Persons.

Analysis: The trust was constituted under the securitisation framework, its security receipt holders were identifiable beneficiaries, and their interests were determinate. Mere participation by multiple beneficiaries did not establish an Association of Persons; such status required a voluntary combination pursuing income through common design, joint management or concerted action. No material established that the security receipt holders jointly managed the trust or undertook a common enterprise. The trust deed conferred rights enabling revocation of contributions and reclamation of assets, satisfying the requirements of a revocable transfer. Consistent decisions concerning similarly placed securitisation trusts supported pass-through assessment.

Conclusion: The assessee is a valid revocable determinate securitisation trust assessable under sections 61 to 63 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and is not assessable as an Association of Persons.

Ratio Decidendi: Multiple beneficiaries of a securitisation trust do not constitute an Association of Persons absent voluntary combination, common design, joint management or concerted income-earning activity; a determinate trust with a revocable transfer is governed by pass-through taxation under sections 61 to 63.

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