Provisional assessment counts as assessment, so no estimate of income was required under the relevant tax provision.

Section 18A(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 applied only to a person who had not previously been assessed, and "assessed" was read in its ordinary sense to include a provisional assessment under section 23B. Because the assessee had already been provisionally assessed before the relevant financial year, it was outside the class on whom the estimate-of-income obligation was imposed. The operative effect was that no return estimate under section 18A(3) was required from a person already subjected to provisional assessment.

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Issues: Whether an assessee who had already been provisionally assessed under section 23B of the Income-tax Act, 1922 was liable to file an estimate of income under section 18A(3) for the relevant financial year.

Analysis: Section 18A(3) applied only to a person who had not hitherto been assessed. The expression "assessed" was understood in its ordinary sense so as to include a provisional assessment under section 23B. Since the assessee had already been provisionally assessed before the relevant financial year, it did not fall within the class of persons on whom the obligation under section 18A(3) was cast.

Conclusion: The assessee had no obligation to file an estimate of income under section 18A(3), and the question referred was answered in the affirmative.

Ratio Decidendi: A provisional assessment is an assessment for the purpose of section 18A(3), and a person already so assessed is not required to file an estimate under that provision.

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