Section 31 - Amendment of Section 4 - Finance (No. 2) Act, 1971

CHAPTER IV WEALTH-TAX 31. Amendment of Section 4 In section 4 of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (27 of 1957) (hereinafter referred to as the Wealth-tax Act), with effect from the 1st day of April, 1972, - (a) in sub-section (1), - (i) in the proviso to clause (a), for the words, figures and letters after the 31st day of March, 1964 , the words, figures and letters after the 31st day of March, 1964, but before the 1st day of April, 1972 shall be substituted; (ii) in clause (b), for the words member of an association of person , the words and brackets member of an association of persons (not being a co-operative housing society) shall be substituted; (b) after sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely :- (1A) Where, in the case of an individual being a member of a Hindu undivided family, any property having been the separate property of the individual has, at any time after the 31st day of December, 1969, been converted by the individual into property belonging to the family through the act of impressing such separate property with the character of property belonging to the family or throwing it into the common stock of the family (such property being hereinafter referred to as the converted property), then, notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act or in any other law for the time being in force, for the purpose of computing the net wealth of the individual under this Act for any assessment year commencing on or after the 1st day of April, 1972, - (a) the individual shall be deemed to have transferred the converted property, through the family, to the members of the family for being held by them jointly; (b) the converted property or any part thereof, in so far as it is attributable to the interest of the individual in the property of the family, shall be deemed to be assets belonging to the individual and not to the family; (c) any part of the converted property in so far as it is attributable to the interest of the spouse or any minor child of the individual in the property of the family and where there is a partition (partial of total) amongst the members of the family, the converted property or any part thereof which is received by the spouse or minor child on such partition shall be deemed to be assets transferred indirectly by the individual to the spouse or minor child and the provisions of sub-section (1) shall, so far as may be, apply accordingly : Provided that the property referred to in clause (b) or clause (c) shall, on being included in the net wealth of the individual, be excluded from the net wealth of the family or, as the case may be, the spouse or minor child of the individual. ; (c) after sub-section (6) and before the Explanation, the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely :- (7) Where the assessee is a member of an association of persons, being a co-operative housing society, and a building or part thereof is allotted or leased to him under a house building scheme of the society, the assessee shall, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any other law for the time being in force, be deemed to be the owner of such building or part and the value of such building or part shall be included in computing the net wealth of the assessee; and, in determining the value of such building or part, the value of any outstanding instalments if the amount payable under such scheme by the assessee to the society towards the cost of such building or part and the land appurtenant thereto shall, whether the amount so payable is described as such or in any other manner in such scheme, be deducted as a debt owed by him in relation to such building or part. ; (d) in the Explanation, - (i) in clause (a), the word and occurring at the end shall be omitted; (ii) after clause (b), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely :- (c) the expression property includes any interest in property, movable or immovable, the proceeds of sale thereof and any money or investment for the time being representing the proceeds of sale thereof and where the property is converted into any other property by any method, such other property; and (d) the expressions interest of the individual in the property of the family and interest of the spouse or any minor child of the individual in the property of the family mean, respectively, the proportion in which the individual or, as the case may be, the spouse or minor child would be entitled to share the property of the family if there had been a total partition in the family as on the valuation date of the family relevant to the assessment year for which the individual is to be assessed under sub-section (1A). .