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2020 (9) TMI 430 - SC - Wealth-taxWealth Tax Liability - Whether Club can be treated as "Association of Person"? - ITAT said No - HC said Yes - What is the meaning of the expression “association of persons” which occurs in Section 21AA? - Whether Bangalore Club is an association of persons and not the creation, by a person who is otherwise assessable, of one among a large number of associations of persons without defining the shares of the members so as to escape tax liability? - HELD THAT:- For the first time from 1st April, 1981, an association of persons other than a company or cooperative society has been brought into the tax net so far as wealth tax is concerned with the rider that the individual shares of the members of such association in the income or assets or both on the date of its formation or at any time thereafter must be indeterminate or unknown. It is only then that the section gets attracted. After 1st April, 2002, as income tax is concerned. It is well-settled that when Parliament used the expression “association of persons” in Section 21AA of the Wealth Tax Act, it must be presumed to know that this expression had been the subject matter of comment in a cognate allied legislation, namely, the Income Tax Act, as referring to persons banding together for a common purpose, being a business purpose in the context of a taxation statute in order to earn income or profits. In order to be an association of persons attracting Section 21AA of the Wealth Tax Act, it is necessary that persons band together with some business or commercial object in view in order to make income or profits. The presumption gets strengthened by the language of Sec. 21AA (2), which speaks of a business or profession carried on by an association of persons which then gets discontinued or dissolved. The thrust of the provision therefore, is to rope in associations of persons whose common object is a business or professional object, namely, to earn income or profits. Bangalore Club being a social club whose objects have been referred to by the Appellate Tribunal in this case make it clear that persons who are banded together do not band together for any business purpose or commercial purpose in order to make income or profits. Whether the club has been created to escape tax liability - Held that:- A perusal of the judgment in ELLIS BRIDGE GYMKHANA AND OTHERS [1997 (10) TMI 2 - SUPREME COURT] would show that Section 21AA has been introduced in order to prevent tax evasion. The reason why it was enacted was not to rope in association of persons per se as “one more taxable person” to whom the Act would apply. The object was to rope in certain assessees who have resorted to the creation of a large number of association of persons without specifically defining the shares of the members of such associations of persons so as to evade tax. In construing Section 21AA, it is important to have regard to this object. The Bangalore Club is an association of persons and not the creation, by a person who is otherwise assessable, of one among a large number of associations of persons without defining the shares of the members so as to escape tax liability. - It is clear that Section 21AA of the Wealth Tax Act does not get attracted to the facts of the present case. Charging provisions under the Income Tax versus under the Wealth Tax - Held that:- For all the reasons, we cannot accede to Shri Banerjee’s argument that being taxed as an association of persons under the Income Tax Act, the Bangalore Club must be regarded to be an ‘association of persons’ for the purpose of a tax evasion provision in the Wealth Tax Act as opposed to a charging provision in the Income Tax Act. Effect of Dissolution / liquidation clause as per section 21AA(2) - Held that:- What has to be seen in the facts of the present case is the list of members on the date of liquidation as per Rule 35 cited hereinabove. Given that as on that particular date, there would be a fixed list of members belonging to the various classes mentioned in the rules, it is clear that, applying the ratio of Trustees of H.E.H. Nizam's Family [1977 (5) TMI 1 - SUPREME COURT] such list of members not being a fluctuating body, but a fixed body as on the date of liquidation would again make the members ‘determinate’ as a result of which, Sec. 21AA would have no application.
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