Income Tax Assessee under the Income Tax Act

The following are the types of ‘Person’ under the Income Tax Act 1961:

1. Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)
2. Individual

1. Company
2. Partnership firm
3. Company
4. Local Authority
5. Body of Individuals (BOI) or Association of Persons (AOP)

1. Artificial Judicial Body

Different Types of Assessee

The following are the types of assessees categorised as per the Income Tax Act:

Normal Assessee

Here are the following conditions under which a person is considered as Normal Assessee:

1. One who is liable to pay income tax during the financial year
2. Liable to pay taxes to the government in the current financial for any income earned or losses incurred year during the previous financial years by every individual 
3. One who is supposed to obtain refund from the government, or will pay interest or penalty

For example, under the Income Tax Act 1961, Mr. Satish will be considered a normal assessee as he has been paying taxes before the due date for the last five years.

Representative Assessee

Here are the following conditions under which a person is considered as Representative Assessee:

1. If tax paid by the individual for the income or losses incurred by a third party
2. Representative will be considered only when the person liable for taxes is a non-resident, minor, or lunatic
3. Representative filing tax can be an agent or guardian

For example, if Mr. B pays tax on behalf of Mr. A, as the latter stays abroad for more than a decade and earns rent from the house property, then Mr. B will be considered as representative assessee who will have provide documents if assessing officer investigate the tax filing.

Deemed Assessee

The legal authority assigns responsibility of paying tax to an individual, then the individual is considered as Deemed Assessee. The following are the individuals who can be a Deemed Assessee:

1. Guardian or a minor or lunatic
2. If a person dies without writing a will, then legal heir or eldest son of the person can be a Deemed Assessee
3. Agent of a Non-Resident Indian earning income from India

1. If a person dies by passing on his or her property to the executor, then the executor or the legal heir of the property can be a Deemed Assessee.

Assessee-in-default

A person who fails to fulfil the statutory obligations is termed as Assessee-in-default.

For example, an employer will be deemed as an Assessee-in-default, if the person fails to deposit the tax deducted from the employee’s salary to the government before the specified due date.

Responsibilities and Duties of an Assessee

Here is the list of responsibilities and duties of an assessee:

1. Tax return for the avoided income for the specific assessment year must be filed immediately after receiving the notice from the department.
2. A request can be submitted to the concerned officer by the assessee asking for additional explanation, in case of rejection of allegation of the assessee.
3. A copy from the assessing officer mentioning the grounds for which the officer issued the notice can be obtained by the assessee after filing the return.
4. Objections can be filed, and legality of the notice can be questioned by the assessee, in case the assessee believes that the grounds in the copy are invalid, and the reasons are unsatisfactory.
5. The legitimacy of the notification can be contested by the assessee by filing a writ petition with the relevant High Court much before the planned assessment or re-assessment is completed.

1. Before filing the objection and querying the government's notification, the assessee must ensure that they have valid reasons to do so.
2. The legitimacy of the notice can be challenged by the assessee by filing a writ petition with the respective High Court even after the completion of the planned assessment.
3. Details relevant to their income returns must be provided by the assessee within 30 days from the date of issuance of the notice (not the date of the receiving the notice).

Note: Details of the income for which tax payment has been avoided and other associated income details should be provided and filed with the concerned authority to avoid complications.