Advisory determination and printed-goods supply: no appeal lay, and printer-supplied goods were treated as a sale.

A determination under Section 19 was held to be advisory rather than a binding judicial or quasi-judicial order, so no appeal lay against it because the parties could accept or reject it at their own risk in later assessment proceedings. On the substantive sales issue, the supply of printed goods by a printer using his own materials was treated as a sale within Section 2(g), because property in the goods passed to the customer and the transaction fell within the main definition of sale rather than a mere works contract. The appeal was therefore not maintainable and the tax objection failed.

---

---

Issues: (i) whether an appeal lay against the Commissioner's determination under Section 19 of the Act; (ii) whether a contract for supply of printed goods amounted to a sale within Section 2(g) of the Act.

Issue (i): whether an appeal lay against the Commissioner's determination under Section 19 of the Act.

Analysis: Section 19 empowered the Commissioner to determine specified questions otherwise than in a proceeding before a Court. The determination under that provision was not binding in the manner of a judicial order, because the parties remained free to accept or reject it, though at their own risk in later assessment proceedings. Proceedings of that character were not judicial or quasi-judicial in the sense required for an appeal.

Conclusion: No appeal lay against the Commissioner's determination under Section 19 of the Act.

Issue (ii): whether a contract for supply of printed goods amounted to a sale within Section 2(g) of the Act.

Analysis: The definition of sale in Section 2(g) was wider than the category of transfer of property in goods made in the course of execution of a contract. A printer who supplied paper and other materials and delivered printed goods effected a transfer of property in goods within the main clause of the definition. The transaction was treated as a contract of sale in the ordinary sense and not as merely a works contract under Section 2(b) of the Act.

Conclusion: The supply of printed goods in the stated circumstances amounted to a sale within Section 2(g) of the Act.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was not maintainable and the substantive tax objection regarding printed-goods transactions was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: A determination that is merely advisory and not binding does not support an appeal, and the supply of printed goods by a printer using his own materials constitutes a sale where property in the goods passes to the customer.

---