The one term that you read often in any of the sections of the Income Tax Act is the ‘person’. As per income tax act, person includes an individual, a HUF, a company, a firm, an AOI/BOI, a local authority, etc.
Section 2 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 provides the definitions of all the major terms used throughout the Acts for example definition of advance tax, agriculture income, other incomes, who is a resident, capital gains, dividends, a nonresident, and also who qualifies as a person.
Let’s Define Person Under Section 2(31) of the Income Tax Act 1961
A person is someone who qualifies for the following traits as per section 2(31) of the IT Act, 1961
- An individual
- A Hindu undivided family,
- A company,
- A firm,
- An association of persons or a body of individuals can be incorporated or not,
- A local authority, and
- Every artificial juridical person, not as per any of the preceding sub-clauses.
Now, that we know of the types of persons in the Income Tax Act, we will discuss each one briefly.
An Individual:
Any human being including a minor, deceased, mentally ill or unfit in any form comes under this category. In the case of mentally challenged or unfit persons, their guardian will act as their assessee to perform the duties of taxes if there is any source of income under their name. In case of a deceased, the assessee will be their successor.
Hindu Undivided Family
Any family consisting of the male lineage of a common ancestor. The daughters and wives are also included as a part of the HUF. The head of the HUF is called Karta and the members are called Coparceners.
Company:
A company includes an artificial person registered under the Indian Company Act of 1956. A company includes both foreign and domestic companies.
A Firm:
An entity formed by a group of people under an agreement for sharing profits of a business. A partnership firm can be of two types: one that fulfils the conditions defined under section 84 and one which doesn’t.
Association of People/Body of Individuals:
An AOP can be formed by a group of people to build a joint enterprise. They can have firms, companies and other individuals or associations under them.
A BOI can’t have other associations/ firms as its members, but only individuals.
Local Authority
All the local governing bodies like panchayat, municipal corporations, trusts etc are some examples of the local authority.
Artificial Juridical Person:
Any public corporation registered under the legislative Act, and has a group of people or a body as a juridical person falls in this category. An example of this type of person can be Universities.
What are Person and Assessee in Income Tax?
We have discussed what a person means as per the IT Act above. Now, while filing an ITR or doing any type of Income Tax related paperwork the term ‘Assessee’ is used. Who is an assessee?
An assessee is a person who is liable to pay taxes. The tax can be for the income he earns, or even for the income others earn from him as a salary. To make it more clear see the points mentioned below.
An individual who assesses
- His/her income
- The income of any other person in respect of which he/she is assessable
- The loss suffered by him/her or by such other person
- The amount of refund due to him/her or such other person
- Also, include any person who is by default an assessee or is made an assessee through any of the provisions under the IT Act.
FAQ- As Per Income Tax Act Person Includes
1. Who is a Person According to Income Tax Act?
A person according to the Income-tax Act can be an individual, a HUF, or any local authoritative body/organization like a panchayat. It can be any company like Reliance or TCS, or it can be any artificial juridical person like Universities and also any AOI/BOI like Markfed, etc.
2. Who is Included in Person?
There are seven categories under section 2(31) of the IT Act defining a ‘Person’. They are an individual, HUF, AOI/BOI, a company, a firm, a local authority, and a juridical person. Check out the full article to know more about them.
3. How Many Types of Person are there in Income Tax?
There are seven types of persons classified in the Income Tax Act under section 2(31). They are a HUF, an association of persons/body of individuals, a firm or corporation, a company, a local authority and a juridical person. For more details on them, check out the full article here.
4. As Per Section 2(31) the Following is Not Included in the Definition of Person.
Any person who does not fall in any of the above categories classified under section 2(31) of the IT Act is not counted as a person.
Conclusion
As per income tax act, person includes the seven categories discussed in this article. We hope the next time you read any of the sections of any act, there won’t be any confusion between an assessee and a person. For more such informative articles remember us!