Representative assessee liability: authorities may use the same remedies against property under a representative's control to recover tax dues.
Clause 304(5) of the Income Tax Bill, 2025, mirrors Section 167 by empowering the Assessing Officer to exercise the same remedies in the same manner against all property vested in, or under the control or management of, a representative assessee as would be available against a person directly liable for tax, covering all kinds of property and applying regardless of whether the tax demand is raised against the representative or the beneficiary.

Direct assessment empowers tax authorities to bypass representative assessees and pursue beneficiaries directly, preserving recovery powers.
Clause 304(3) (Income Tax Bill, 2025) and Section 166 (Income tax Act, 1961) are non obstante provisions empowering the AO to directly assess and recover tax from the person entitled to income, irrespective of the existence of a representative assessee; these powers are discretionary, cover both assessment and recovery, preserve procedural safeguards for the beneficiary, and operate as alternative (not cumulative) mechanisms to prevent revenue loss due to procedural technicalities or representative non cooperation.

Proportional apportionment clarifies how beneficiaries' trust distributions are computed for tax using a statutory formula.
Clause 304(4) prescribes that where only part of a trust's income is chargeable, the taxable portion of a beneficiary's receipts is determined by multiplying the beneficiary's receipt by the ratio of the trust's chargeable part to its whole income (A x C / B), thereby codifying proportional apportionment and imposing related recordkeeping and reporting obligations on trustees and representative assessees.

Representative assessee liability clarified: apportionment formula and direct beneficiary assessment enhance tax recovery powers.
Representative assessees are treated as if represented income were received beneficially by them, making them liable to assessment and recovery in their name in a representative capacity; a bar on double assessment applies. The Assessing Officer may directly assess or recover tax from the beneficiary, and may use the same remedies against property under the representative's control as against property of any taxpayer. For partly chargeable trust income the Clause prescribes a formula to apportion each beneficiary's taxable share, while omitting the prior maximum marginal rate rule for trustees' business income.