Clarification regarding liability and status of Official Assignees under the Income-tax Act

Official Assignee status: treated as artificial juridical person, not representative assessee; each estate must file separate ITR.

Official Assignees do not qualify as Representative Assessee under section 160(1)(iii) because they do not manage property or receive income on behalf of the debtor after adjudication; instead they must be treated as an artificial juridical person under section 2(31)(vii), obtain a separate PAN for each insolvent estate, file the applicable ITR electronically for artificial juridical persons, and have the estate income taxed at rates applicable to such juridical persons.