Case Laws & Commentary · Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) · bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Live on the statute book but spent in practice. The last section of Chapter XIV. It requires the Assessing Officer, where a registered firm (or an unregistered firm assessed under clause (b) of section 183) is assessed for the assessment year commencing on 1 April 1992 or any earlier year, to notify the firm in writing of its total income assessed and the apportionment thereof between the partners.
FA 2026: No amendment by the Finance Act, 2026.
Spent: Confined by its own terms to assessment year 1992-93 and earlier; rendered otiose by the new scheme of taxation of firms (Finance Act, 1992) under which a firm is taxed as a separate unit and a partner's share in its total income is exempt under section 10(2A).
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
Section 158 belongs to the old scheme of firm taxation that prevailed up to assessment year 1992-93, under which a registered firm's income was assessed but the tax was substantially borne by the partners on their shares, and an unregistered firm could be assessed either as a unit or (under the then section 183(b)) in the manner most beneficial to the revenue. The section obliged the Assessing Officer to intimate the firm of its assessed total income and the apportionment of that income among the partners, so that the partners' individual assessments could proceed on the share income.
With the overhaul of firm taxation by the Finance Act, 1992 (w.e.f. assessment year 1993-94) — under which a firm is taxed as a distinct taxable entity, the registered/unregistered distinction was abolished (sections 184-185 now governing the manner of assessment), and the partner's share of the firm's income is exempt in his hands under section 10(2A) — the apportionment-and-intimation mechanism of section 158 ceased to have any prospective operation. The section survives only as a closing, transitional provision for the pre-1993 years and has no live application today.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced from the local Act (base text to the Finance Act, 2025).
158. Whenever, in respect of the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 1992, or any earlier assessment year, a registered firm is assessed, or an unregistered firm is assessed under the provisions of clause (b) of section 183, the Assessing Officer shall notify to the firm by an order in writing the amount of its total income assessed and the apportionment thereof between the several partners.
C. AUTHORITIES
Candour rule: section 158 is spent and there is no live merits authority on it; the relevant context is the change in the scheme of firm taxation.
1. Context and approach
Spent transitional provision — no live authority
Position: Section 158 applies only to assessment year 1992-93 and earlier. After the Finance Act, 1992 recast the taxation of firms (firm taxed as a unit; section 10(2A) exempting the partner's share; sections 184-185 governing assessment), the intimation-and-apportionment requirement became redundant. No current dispute arises under it; it is reproduced for completeness as the closing section of Chapter XIV.
Cognate principle: The change effected by the Finance Act, 1992 — taxation of the firm as a separate entity and exemption of the partner's share under section 10(2A) to avoid double taxation — is the backdrop that rendered section 158 otiose; the present manner of assessing firms is governed by sections 184 and 185.
Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text reproduced from the local Act (base text amended up to the Finance Act, 2025), with the publisher footnote apparatus and amendment-marker brackets removed. Citations are stated as reported. Where a section is spent or has no direct merits authority, that is stated candidly and the nearest governing principle is given. For professional reference; not legal advice.
CHAPTER XIV — PROCEDURE FOR ASSESSMENT
Section 158 — Intimation of Assessment of Firm
Case Laws & Commentary · Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) · bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Live on the statute book but spent in practice. The last section of Chapter XIV. It requires the Assessing Officer, where a registered firm (or an unregistered firm assessed under clause (b) of section 183) is assessed for the assessment year commencing on 1 April 1992 or any earlier year, to notify the firm in writing of its total income assessed and the apportionment thereof between the partners.
FA 2026: No amendment by the Finance Act, 2026.
Spent: Confined by its own terms to assessment year 1992-93 and earlier; rendered otiose by the new scheme of taxation of firms (Finance Act, 1992) under which a firm is taxed as a separate unit and a partner's share in its total income is exempt under section 10(2A).
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
Section 158 belongs to the old scheme of firm taxation that prevailed up to assessment year 1992-93, under which a registered firm's income was assessed but the tax was substantially borne by the partners on their shares, and an unregistered firm could be assessed either as a unit or (under the then section 183(b)) in the manner most beneficial to the revenue. The section obliged the Assessing Officer to intimate the firm of its assessed total income and the apportionment of that income among the partners, so that the partners' individual assessments could proceed on the share income.
With the overhaul of firm taxation by the Finance Act, 1992 (w.e.f. assessment year 1993-94) — under which a firm is taxed as a distinct taxable entity, the registered/unregistered distinction was abolished (sections 184-185 now governing the manner of assessment), and the partner's share of the firm's income is exempt in his hands under section 10(2A) — the apportionment-and-intimation mechanism of section 158 ceased to have any prospective operation. The section survives only as a closing, transitional provision for the pre-1993 years and has no live application today.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced from the local Act (base text to the Finance Act, 2025).
158. Whenever, in respect of the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 1992, or any earlier assessment year, a registered firm is assessed, or an unregistered firm is assessed under the provisions of clause (b) of section 183, the Assessing Officer shall notify to the firm by an order in writing the amount of its total income assessed and the apportionment thereof between the several partners.
C. AUTHORITIES
Candour rule: section 158 is spent and there is no live merits authority on it; the relevant context is the change in the scheme of firm taxation.
1. Context and approach
Spent transitional provision — no live authority
Position: Section 158 applies only to assessment year 1992-93 and earlier. After the Finance Act, 1992 recast the taxation of firms (firm taxed as a unit; section 10(2A) exempting the partner's share; sections 184-185 governing assessment), the intimation-and-apportionment requirement became redundant. No current dispute arises under it; it is reproduced for completeness as the closing section of Chapter XIV.
Cognate principle: The change effected by the Finance Act, 1992 — taxation of the firm as a separate entity and exemption of the partner's share under section 10(2A) to avoid double taxation — is the backdrop that rendered section 158 otiose; the present manner of assessing firms is governed by sections 184 and 185.
Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text reproduced from the local Act (base text amended up to the Finance Act, 2025), with the publisher footnote apparatus and amendment-marker brackets removed. Citations are stated as reported. Where a section is spent or has no direct merits authority, that is stated candidly and the nearest governing principle is given. For professional reference; not legal advice.