HON’BLE SUPREME COURT · SOURCE-REVIEWED NOTE
Turner Morrison & Co. Ltd. v Commissioner of Income-tax, West Bengal
Civil Appeal No. 41 of 1952
[1953] SCR 520 ·
Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, sections 3, 4(1)(a), 4(1)(c), 42 and 43
Sources & disclosures includedDownload original judgment / order
4-judge bench · Mehr Chand Mahajan J. · S. R. Das J. (author) · Vivian Bose J. · N. H. Bhagwati J.
Assessment years: 1943–44, 1944–45
01 · Facts of the case
The Indian agent sold salt manufactured in Egypt by a non-resident association, collected sale proceeds in India, deducted expenses and commission, and remitted the balance to Egypt. It argued that only the deemed-accrual provisions, with their associated apportionment, applied.
Source: Primary report: SCR 522–525
02 · Discussion by the Hon’ble Court
Whether the profits embedded in the sale proceeds were actually received in India on behalf of the non-resident and assessable under section 4(1)(a), notwithstanding sections 42 and 43. The agent performed substantial selling and collection functions, not mere transmission. The proceeds belonged to the principal despite the agent’s rights of retainer and lien. Any profits ultimately established by accounts and attributable to those proceeds were received when the proceeds were collected. Actual Indian receipt attracted section 4(1)(a), which applied to residents and non-residents; recourse to section 42’s deeming fiction was unnecessary. Appointment under section 43 was for all purposes of the Act, not exclusively section 42.
03 · Judicial decision
The appeal was dismissed with costs, affirming the High Court’s income-tax answers. The High Court’s separate excess-profits-tax ruling was not appealed by Revenue and was outside this appeal.
Source: Primary report: SCR 525, 533
04 · Outcome / in whose favour
The appeal was dismissed with costs, affirming the High Court’s income-tax answers. The High Court’s separate excess-profits-tax ruling was not appealed by Revenue and was outside this appeal.
Source: Primary report: SCR 525, 533
05 · AKHB REVIEW POINT
Distinguish actual receipt from deemed accrual and verify an intermediary’s authority and ownership of receipts. Gross receipts are not themselves equated with net taxable profit. Modern treaty and statutory attribution rules are not decided here.
Source: Primary report: SCR 528–533
Source & verification
Download original judgment / order · Open cited source rendition
PDF 1–14 / SCR 520–533. Target ends before Nalinakhya Bysack caption on SCR 533.
Statutory scope
Historical statutory text and assessment period only. Present statutory equivalence and later judicial treatment are not cleared.
Later treatment
Source checked 2026-10-18. Subsequent treatment and current-law applicability have not been comprehensively checked.
Page references identify the supplied PDF; paragraph references identify the judgment unless stated otherwise.
AI disclosure & professional disclaimer
This AKHB research note was prepared with AI assistance from an identified primary report. Independent human review is not represented.
General legal and tax research only; not legal or tax advice. Verify the complete judgment, applicable statutory version and subsequent treatment before reliance. The AKHB REVIEW POINT is editorial analysis, not the Court’s holding. No current-law clearance is claimed.