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High Court of Madras
Commissioner of Income-tax
v.
George
R. Jayasimha Babu and Mrs. A. Subbulakshmy, JJ.
Tax Case No. 95 of 1996
November 23, 1998
Section 4 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Association of persons - Assessable as - One of lottery tickets jointly purchased by a group of 12 persons won a cash prize - Assessing Officer held that there was a common aim involved in joint venture and each person had common interest in all tickets to earn income - Commissioner (Appeals) and Tribunal held that they should be considered as co-owners of ticket and assessed as such individually and not jointly in status of
A group of 12 persons jointly purchased lottery tickets and one of the tickets won the second prize. The Assessing Officer held that there was a common aim involved in the joint venture and had common interest in all the tickets to earn income. On appeal, the Commissioner (Appeals) held that those persons should be considered as co-owners of the ticket and assessed as such individually and not jointly in the status of
On reference :
Held
The Madras High Court in the case of CIT v. A.U. Chandrasekharan [1998] 229 ITR 406 has held that in the case of several persons entering into a written agreement for purchase of lottery tickets from contributions, the winnings have to be equally distributed and the prize money is assessable in the status of association of persons. Since the two conditions for assessing the income under the status of an association of persons, viz., (a) that there must be joint venture, and (b) that the object of the joint venture must be to earn income, had been satisfied, the assessees were assessable in the status of AOP.
CIT v. A.U. Chandrasekharan [1998] 229 ITR 406 (Mad.).
C.V. Rajan for the Applicant.
Subbulakshmy, J. - At the instance of the revenue, the following question has been referred to us :
“Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was right in law in holding that P. George and eleven others who won the lottery of Rs. 11 lakhs were not assessable to income-tax in respect of the said lottery winning in the status of
2. A group of 12 persons jointly purchased lottery tickets and one of the tickets won the second prize. The Assessing Officer held that there was a common aim involved in the joint venture and had common interest in all the tickets to earn income. On appeal, the Commissioner held that the persons who won the ticket should be considered as co-owners of the ticket and, hence, they should be assessed as co-owners individually and not jointly in the status of
3. This Court in the case of CIT v. A.U. Chandrasekharan [1998] 229 ITR 406 has held that in the case of several persons entering into a written agreement for purchase of lottery tickets from contributions, the winnings have to be equally distributed and the prize money is assessable in the status of association of persons under section 2(24) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, since the two conditions for assessing the income under the status of an association of persons (a) that there must be joint venture, and (b) that the object of the joint venture must be to earn income, had been satisfied and, therefore, the assessees were assessable in the status of association of persons.
4. In the instant case, the two conditions are satisfied and, therefore, following the above decision and for the reasons stated therein, we answer the question in favour of the revenue and against the assessees, holding that the assessees are assessable as an association of persons. No costs.
regards,
ratan