9911796707
TMI Blog1983 (3) TMI 63X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 798 being the provident fund amount due from Metro Wood Engg. Works (P.) Ltd. and Victoria Iron Works Co. Ltd. The second is Rs. 33,000 due as gratuity from the above two companies. The assessee claimed exemption with regard to these two amounts. The WTO disallowed the claim on the ground that these two amounts were received by the executor after the death of the testator and that they are, therefore, part of the net wealth of the assessee. 3. Before the AAC it was further contended by the assessee in support of the claim for exemption that the amount of provident fund was lying with the Provident Fund Commissioner under the Provident Fund Act, 1925, and that it is exempt from wealth-tax till the amount was collected. It was also pointe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... become part of the net wealth of the assessee, who is an executor, only when they become payable to him, that the amounts can be treated as having become payable only on the dates on which they were actually paid, that the provident fund was paid on 7-5-1976 and 6-11-1979 and the gratuity amount on 1-1-1976 that all these payments were subsequent to the valuation date of 31-12-1975 and that the executor cannot be equated with an heir of the original assessee. In this connection the learned representative of the assessee also relied upon the ruling of the Bombay High, Court in the case of Bai Hamabal J.K. Mehta v. CIT [1948] 16 ITR 115, wherein it was held that where a beneficiary is assessed to tax under section 9(1) of the 1922 Act, be is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... find anything in section 19A which requires the executor to be treated in the same manner as the deceased person, particularly with regard to the exemptions, which were available to the deceased person. Sub-section (6) of section 19A states that any portion of the estate which has been distributed to, or applied to the benefit of, any specific legatee of the estate prior to that valuation date shall be excluded from the net wealth. This will indicate that the estate has to be assessed to the wealth-tax in the hands of the executor on the basis of the situation obtaining on the relevant valuation date. If there had been no appointment of an executor, the assets of the deceased person would have passed on directly to the legal heirs and it is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed to the exemption. The contention of the learned departmental representative that clause (xvii) will be attracted only as long as the assessee continues to be a salaried employee is, therefore, well taken. It is clear that the amounts in the provident fund will become payable to the estate of the employee as soon as that employee dies in service. The amount has, therefore, become due to the estate of the deceased person immediately on his death and will, therefore, be an asset includible in the net wealth as far as the executor is concerned. We are unable to accept the contention of the learned representative of the assessee that there will be some delay in the processing of the claim and that the amount can be treated as having become du ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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