Remittance of collected sales tax required even without final assessment under the Act and Rules.

Amounts collected by a dealer from purchasers as sales tax were required to be paid over to Government even though no final assessment had been made. The notice did not seek tax on turnover; it only demanded remittance of sums already collected under the guise of tax. Section 11(2) of the Travancore-Cochin General Sales Tax Act and Rule 8(8)(ii) of the Sales Tax Rules impose a duty to remit tax amounts collected from customers by the prescribed date. The dealer was therefore liable to remit the collected sums, and the petition failed.

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Issues: Whether amounts collected by the petitioner from purchasers by way of sales tax were liable to be paid over to the Government notwithstanding that no final assessment had been made.

Analysis: The transactions were treated as immune from sales tax and the provisional assessment was not carried forward to a final assessment. However, the notice in question did not demand tax on the turnover but only required remittance of sums already collected by the petitioner from customers as sales tax. Section 11(2) of the Travancore-Cochin General Sales Tax Act, XI of 1125 obliges every person who has collected any amount by way of tax under the Act to pay it over to Government, and Rule 8(8)(ii) of the Travancore-Cochin General Sales Tax Rules requires payment of the collected amount to Government by the prescribed date.

Conclusion: The petitioner was liable to remit the amount collected as sales tax to the Government, and the petition failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Amounts collected by a dealer as tax are recoverable by the State under the charging and remittance provisions even where no final assessment of tax liability has been made.

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