TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1979 (9) TMI 53
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....68. He was a broker. The legal representative of the deceased filed two returns, one up to the death disclosing an income of Rs. 30,380 and another return from November 21, 1968, to March 31, 1969, declaring an income of Rs. 15,613. The ITO applied the provisions of s. 159(1) of the Act and held that the amount of Rs. 15,613 was assessable in the hands of the legal representative and assessed it by clubbing it with the income of the deceased up to the date of death. The assessee, i.e., the legal representative, went in appeal against the order of the ITO. The AAC held that, on the facts of this case, s. 168(3) of the Act was applicable and two separate assessments will have to be made and he, therefore, directed that the sum of Rs. 15,613 shall be deleted from the assessment of the assessee. The department preferred an appeal before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal. The Tribunal allowed the appeal, set aside the order of the AAC and restored the order of the ITO. On the application of the assessee, the Tribunal has made this reference. The deceased, Ramnarayan Kakani, left behind him a will by which the entire property of the deceased has been bequeathed to his son, Dr. Raghuna....
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....o pay any sum which the deceased would have been liable to pay if he had not died, in the like manner and to the same extent as the deceased. (2) For the purpose of making an assessment (including an assessment, reassessment or recomputation under section 147) of the income of the deceased and for the purpose of levying any sum in the hands of the legal representative in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1),-- (a) any proceeding taken against the deceased before his death shall be deemed to have been taken against the legal representative and may be continued against the legal representative from the stage at which it stood on the date of the death of the deceased ; (b) any proceeding which could have been taken against the deceased if he had survived, may be taken against the legal representative ; and (c) all the provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly. (3) The legal representative of the deceased shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be an assessee... " This section provides that where a person dies his legal representative shall be liable to pay any sum which the deceased would have been liable to pay if he had not died, in the ....
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....Estate of late A.V.Viswanatha Sastri [1979] 10 CTR (Mad) 143 ; [1980] 121 ITR 270 Shri A. V. Viswanatha Sastri, a former judge of the Madras High Court and later a senior advocate of the Supreme Court died on January 4, 1966, after executing a will on January 2, 1966, appointing his son, Shri V.Ratnam, to be the executor of the will. Shri Ratnam collected the arrears of professional fees due to the deceased after his death during the four subsequent assessment years. Shri V. Ratnam filed returns of income in his capacity as the executor of the estate of the deceased offering for assessment the income from properties, dividends and interest due to the said estate. However, the amounts realised by him as arrears of professional fee payable to the deceased were not offered for assessment. The ITO and the AAC held that the provisions of s. 168 of the Act were applicable and the arrears of fees realised by the executor were also included in the assessment. The Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, however, held that the provisions of s. 168 of the Act were not attracted to the facts of the case. On these facts, the High Court agreed with the Tribunal and held that the arrears of professional f....
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....the estate and the estate had devolved upon the heirs of the assessee on the death of the deceased no agricultural income or arrears of agricultural income due to the deceased was realised by the legal representatives. Thus, this case is not helpful for the determination of the question whether the arrears of brokerage due to the deceased and realised by Dr.Raghunath was income of the estate of the deceased. On the view which we have taken that the arrears of brokerage due to the deceased and realised by Dr. Raghunath is not the income of the estate of the deceased, and s. 168 of the Act is not applicable, the income of the deceased received up to his death and the income due to the deceased and realised by Dr. Raghunath after his death and up to the end of the previous year has to be clubbed and assessed together under the provisions of s. 159 of the Act. Section 159 of the Act creates a fiction and provides that where a person dies his legal representative shall be liable to pay any sum which the deceased would have been liable to pay if he had not died, in the like manner and to the same extent as the deceased. Therefore, although the assessee was dead, a fiction is created w....