John Beaumont, C J - (1.)This is a reference under Section 66(2) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, in which the Commissioner raises this question : " In view of the provisions of Section 16 read with Section 14(2) (b) of the Act, has the Income-tax Officer correctly included in the computation under Section 16 of the Act, of the total income of the assessee for the purposes of his 1932-33 assessment, his share of Rs. 1,14,812 in the income of the Imperial Movietone Company for the calendar year 1931 ? " The reason for raising that question requires some explanation.
(2.)The assessee is a gentleman named Abubaker Abdul Rehman, and the year of assessment is the year 1932-33, that is, the year ending March 31, 1933. The assessee is a partner in two different firms, one Abubaker Abdul Rehman & Co., and the other the Imperial Movietone Company. He also has certain property which produces income, apart from his interest in the firms. The accounts of the assessee and of the firm of Abubaker Abdul Rehman & Co., are made up to Diwali, that is, in the case of the previous year in respect of the year of the assessment, November 9, 1931. But the Imperial Movietone Company makes up its accounts to December 31. That firm was only started on January 1, 1931, so that, it is the first accounting period which ends on December 31, 1931, In the return of the assessee for income-tax purposes, he included his property received from outside sources, and deducted a loss in respect of the firm of Abubaker Abdul Rehman & Co., and he was assessed on February 3, 1933, on an income of Rs. 26,262, nothing being included in that income in respect of any profits of the Imperial Movietone Company. The accounts of that Company were made up to December 31, 1931, and the share of the assessee in the profits of that firm was assessed at Rs. 1,14,812, The Income-tax Officer contended that that sum had escaped assessment within Section 34. Income-tax had been paid direct by the Imperial Movietone Company, and therefore no income-tax was payable by the assessee on his share of the profits, having regard to Section 14(2) (b) of the Act. But the Income-tax Officer was of opinion that the income had escaped assessment, and was liable for super-tax under Section 55 of the Act, and his decision was upheld on appeal by the Assistant Commissioner. The assessee, on the other hand, contends that the income which he received as a member of the Imperial Movietone Company was received by him after the year for which he was assessed, and that those profits will have to be brought into the next year of assessment, and have not escaped assessment.
(3.)The question involves a consideration of certain sections of the Income-tax Act. In the first place, it is necessary to notice that according to the decision of the Calcutta High Court in Behari Lal Mullick, In re (1927) I.L.R. 54 Cal. 630, the tax payable in the current year is not charged on the income of that year, but on the income of the previous year, that is to say, the tax under the Indian Act is actually levied on the income of the previous year, and not, as in England, levied on the income of the current year, though that income may be, and often is, estimated by reference to the income of the previous year, since in England the return has to be made before the current year has expired. That decision of the Calcutta High Court was apparently approved by the Privy Council in the Commissioner of Income-tax V/s. Tehri-Garhwal State (1933) L.R. 61 I. A. 1 though whether the full implications of the doctrine are realised by the Income-tax Authorities in India may be doubted. If that is the basis on which income-tax is levied, it is obviously of great importance to ascertain what the " previous year " is; and "previous year" is defined by Section 2(11) of the Income-tax Act in these terms :- Previous year " means- (a) the twelve months ending on the 31 day of March next preceding the year for which the assessment is to be made, or, if the accounts of the assessee have been made up to a date within the said twelve months in respect of a year ending on any date other than the said 31 day of March, then at the option of the assessee the year ending on the day to which his accounts have so been made up. Then there is a proviso that the assessee is not to be entitled to change the meaning of the expression " previous year " when once fixed by him, without the consent of the Income-tax Officer. There is, I think, nothing in that definition to suggest that an assessee can fix more than one date which determines the previous year. If an assessee has two businesses with different accounting periods for those two businesses, he cannot, I think, fix two different dates, which will give him two separate previous years for the purpose of the Income-tax Act. But, on the other hand, I can see no reason why an assessee should not fix one date for himself, whilst a firm of which he is a member with others fixes another date. "Assessee" is defined in Sub-section (2) of Section 2 as meaning a person by whom income-tax is payable; and under Section 3 income-tax is charged not only on every individual but on every Hindu undivided family, company, firm, and other association of individuals. So that, in my opinion, a firm is clearly an assessable unit, and therefore, an assessee under the Income-tax Act. The position which arises in this case is that the assessee has fixed for himself as the " previous year " the year ending on November 9, 1931, whilst the Imperial Movietone Company, in which the assessee is a member, has fixed as the " previous year " the year ending on December 31, 1931.