Protective assessment :

The Supreme Court has also pointed out in Lalji Haridas v. ITO (1961) 43 ITR 387 (SC) that “in cases where it appears to the income-tax authorities that certain income has been received during the relevant assessment year but it is not clear who has received that income and prima facie it appears that the income may have been received either by A or by B or by both together, it would be open to the relevant income-tax authorities to determine the said question by taking appropriate proceedings both against A and B.” It is also expressly provided by section 161(2) that in every case where assessment has to be made on any person as representative assessee he should not be in respect of that income be assessed under any other provision of the Income-tax Act, 1961 in other words, the status of the assessee in his representative capacity for the non-resident cannot be ignored and the income of the non-resident cannot just be added to the other income of the representative assessee which may be made on him in his individual or other representative capacity.