2012 (10) TMI 338

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....of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the amounts actually received as fees by the assessee from students should not be treated as its asset on the ground that he is accounting for the fees spread over the duration of the course? and (ii) Whether the concept of accrual of income will have a bearing on wealth tax assessments, when the assessee has already received and is in possession of the amounts? 2. It is seen from the narration of facts that the assessee is running a tutorial institute. As regards the fee received from students, it is stated that the assessee charged the full fee for the entire course of study which ran to different years. Till 1992-93, the assessee was disclosing the entirety in the year of receipt,....

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....dvance during the various assessment years. Thus, if the receipts were not income, then, the assessee had no accrued right and that could not be treated as an asset to be included in the net wealth of the assessee. Aggrieved by this, the Revenue has filed the appeal before us. 5. Learned Standing Counsel appearing for the Revenue placed reliance on the decision of the Apex Court (CWT v. Vysyaraju Badreenarayana Moorthy Raju [1985] 152 ITR 454, wherein the Apex Court considered the relevance of system of accounting in the matter of wealth tax assessment and also placed reliance on the decision of the Bombay High Court (CWT v. V.M. Shah [1988] 170 ITR 17, which in turn, followed the decision of the Apex Court in Vysyaraju Badreenarayana Mo....

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.... property which constitute the asset. When we speak of the value of a property, on a legal plane, we refer to the value of the rights in, that property. It is apparent that what accrues as a right also falls to be included within the assets of an assessee under the WT Act. That being so, the conclusion is inescapable that even though the accounts of the assessee are maintained on cash basis, interest due on accrual basis, though not realised, on the outstandings of the money-lending business are liable to be included in the net wealth of the assessee'. 7. Learned Counsel for the Assessee however pointed out that the said decision has no relevance to the facts of the case herein as the right of the assessee to hold this amount is just as ....