C. - Procedure for assessment in special cases
Representative assessee
170. (1) For the purposes of this Code, "representative assessees" in respect of an assessee means-
(a) the agent of a non-resident, if the assessee is a non-resident;
(b) the guardian, or manager, of a minor, lunatic or idiot, if the assessee is a minor, lunatic or idiot;
(c) the Court of Wards, the Administrator-General, the Official Trustee, any receiver or manager (including any person, whatever be his designation, who manages property on behalf of the assessee) appointed by, or under, any order of a court, if such person receives, or is entitled to receive, income on behalf, or for the benefit, of the assessee;
(d) a trustee appointed under an oral trust, or a trust declared by a duly executed instrument in writing whether testamentary or otherwise, if the assessee is a trust;
(e) the legal representative, or the executor, if the assessee dies;
(f) a participant, or the legal representative of the deceased participant, in the case of dissolution of an unincorporated body; and
(g) the liquidator appointed under section 448, or section 490, of the Companies Act, 1956 in the case of a company.
(2) The "agent" in relation to a non-resident includes -
(a) any person in India -
(i) who is employed by, or on behalf of, the non-resident;
(ii) who has any business connection with the non-resident;
(iii) from, or through, whom the non-resident is in receipt of any income, whether directly or indirectly; or
(iv) who is the trustee of the non-resident;and
(b) any other person who has acquired, by means of transfer, a capital asset in India from the non-resident.
(3) A broker in India who, in respect of any transactions, does not deal directly with, or on behalf of, a non-resident principal but deals with, or through, a non-resident broker shall not be deemed to be an agent under this section in respect of such transactions, if the following conditions are fulfilled, namely:-
(a) the transactions are carried on in the ordinary course of business through the first mentioned broker; and
(b) the non-resident broker is carrying on such transactions in the ordinary course of his business and not as a principal.
(4) The "executor" in relation to the estate of a deceased person means -
(a) an individual, if such individual is the only executor; or
(b) an association of persons comprising all the executors, if there are more than one executor.
(5) No person shall be treated as the agent of a non-resident unless he has had an opportunity of being heard by the Assessing Officer as to his liability to be treated as such.
