Dear Sir,
As per section 4 of Indian Partnership Act, 1932, 'partnership' is the relation between two or more persons who have agreed to share the profits of a business carried on by all or any one of them acting for all. - - Under partnership law, a partnership firm is not a legal entity, but only consists of individual partners for the time being. It is not a distinct legal entity apart from the partners constituting it - Malabar Fisheries Co. v. CIT (1979) 120 ITR 49 = 2 Taxman 409 (SC).
The partnership is a relation between two or more persons - the person can be either natural person or a legal person. Thus, individual is a natural person and company is a creature of statue ie., legal person. Hence, a partnership is possible with an individual and a company.
However, partnership firm is not a seperate entity in the eyes of the law.
Thus, whether the assessee may be assessed as a firm or not depends on the test of mutality. It may be assessed as a firm or may also be assessed as AOP. It depends on the constitution.
Regards,
Rohan Thakkar