Separate sales tax collections by a registered dealer fall outside turnover and are not assessable as sale consideration.

Where a sales tax statute permits a registered dealer to collect tax separately from the purchaser, that collection is treated as distinct from the sale price and does not form part of turnover. Section 2(k), read with the deduction machinery in the rules and Section 11, shows that such separately collected tax is collected under a statutory privilege subject to accounting conditions, not as consideration for the goods. The separate tax collection is therefore outside the dealer's assessable turnover and is not liable to sales tax as part of turnover.

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Issues: Whether sales tax collected by a registered dealer from the purchaser forms part of the dealer's turnover and is therefore assessable to sales tax under the Travancore-Cochin General Sales Tax Act, 1125.

Analysis: Section 2(k) of the Act defines turnover as the aggregate amount for which goods are bought or sold. Rule 7(1) of the Travancore-Cochin General Sales Tax Rules, 1950, read with the deduction machinery under the Rules, and Section 11 of the Act together show that a registered dealer is statutorily permitted to collect sales tax separately, subject to conditions and accounting obligations. The collection so made is not part of the price for the goods, but an amount collected under a statutory privilege distinct from the dealer's sale consideration. The separate tax collection therefore stands outside the turnover liable to assessment.

Conclusion: Sales tax collected separately by a registered dealer does not form part of turnover and is not liable to sales tax as part of the dealer's assessable turnover.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed, and the assessment theory that separate sales tax collections must be included in turnover was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the sales tax law authorises a registered dealer to collect tax separately from the purchaser, such collection is extraneous to the sale price and cannot be included in the dealer's turnover for assessment.

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