Section 303 — Representative assessee. Successor to s.160 of the 1961 Act.
Section 303 is in Chapter XVII — Special Provisions Relating to Certain Persons, which runs from section 302 to section 355.
Sub-section (1) defines "representative assessee" in five limbs: clause (a), the agent of a non-resident, including a person treated as an agent under section 306, for the income of a non-resident specified in section 9; clause (b), the guardian or manager entitled to receive, or in receipt of, the income of a minor or of a person mentally ill or of unsound mind; clause (c), the Court of Wards, Administrator-General, Official Trustee, and any receiver or manager — including any person, whatever his designation, who in fact manages property on behalf of another — appointed by or under an order of a court; clause (d), a trustee under a trust declared by a duly executed instrument in writing, whether testamentary or otherwise, including a wakf deed valid under the Mussalman Wakf Validating Act, 1913; and clause (e), a trustee under an oral trust.
Sub-section (2) deems a trust not declared by a duly executed written instrument to be so declared where a statement in writing signed by the trustees, setting out the purposes of the trust and the particulars of the trustees, beneficiaries and trust property, is forwarded to the Assessing Officer — within three months from 1 June 1981 where the trust was declared before that day, and otherwise within three months from the date of declaration.
Sub-section (3) defines an "oral trust" as one not declared by a duly executed written instrument and not deemed under sub-section (2) to be so declared. Sub-section (4) deems every representative assessee to be an assessee for the purposes of the Act.
Income often reaches the person entitled to it through someone else's hands, and that person may be a minor, incapable, absent from India or merely a beneficiary. The section identifies through whom the Act will operate in each situation and, by sub-section (4), gives that person the full status of an assessee so the ordinary machinery works. Sub-section (2) supplies a route by which an unwritten trust can be put on the same footing as a written one.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to forward the written statement for a pre-1981 trust | Three months | From 1 June 1981, where the trust was declared before that day | Sub-section (2)(a) |
| Time to forward the written statement in any other case | Three months | From the date of declaration of the trust | Sub-section (2)(b) |
Sub-section (4) carries the consequence: a representative assessee is an assessee for the purposes of the Act, so notices, assessment and the rest of the machinery run against him for the income he receives on another's behalf. Which limb applies matters, because clauses (d) and (e) treat written and oral trusts differently and sub-section (2) is the only bridge — a signed statement carrying the purposes, trustees, beneficiaries and trust property, delivered to the Assessing Officer within three months. Miss that window and the trust stays an oral trust. Clause (c) is broader than its named officers suggest, reaching anyone who in fact manages property for another under a court's order.
A trust is declared orally and, within three months, the trustees forward to the Assessing Officer a signed statement setting out its purposes, the trustees, the beneficiaries and the trust property. Under sub-section (2) it is then deemed to be declared by a duly executed written instrument, so the trustee falls under sub-section (1)(d) rather than (1)(e). Four months later, and sub-section (3) leaves it an oral trust.
A representative assessee receives notices and is assessed in his own name for income he holds for another, because sub-section (4) makes him an assessee for all purposes. Agents of non-residents come to it through section 306; trustees when filing and answering for the trust; and sub-section (2) is met as a statement forwarded to the Assessing Officer.
Every representative assessee shall be deemed to be an assessee for the purposes of this Act
including any person, whatever his designation, who in fact manages property on behalf of another
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.
See the circulars index.