Sales tax collected under statutory authority falls outside turnover and cannot be taxed again as part of sales receipts

Sales tax collected by a dealer under statutory authority is not part of the sale price or aggregate turnover, because it is recovered separately after the bargain and does not belong to the seller. Including such collections in turnover would amount to taxing tax without support in the Act or the Rules. The dealer's sales tax receipts were therefore excluded from turnover, and the assessment excluding them was sustained.

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Issues: Whether sales tax collected by a dealer from purchasers under Rule 5(7) of the Turnover and Assessment Rules could be included in the dealer's turnover and taxed again.

Analysis: The definition of turnover was held to cover only the aggregate amount realised as the price of goods sold, and not amounts recovered by way of sales tax. Sales tax is not part of the consideration for the sale; it arises only after the bargain is struck and is separately collected under statutory authority. The provisions requiring the seller to collect and remit the tax show that such collections do not belong to the seller and cannot be treated as part of his trading turnover. Including the tax collection in turnover would amount to taxing tax, which was found to have no basis in the Act or the Rules.

Conclusion: Sales tax collected by the dealer is not includible in turnover and cannot be subjected to tax again; the revision failed.

Final Conclusion: The amount collected by way of sales tax was held to be outside the assessee's turnover, and the assessment order excluding it was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: Amounts collected by a dealer as sales tax under statutory authority are not part of the sale price or turnover and therefore cannot be taxed again as turnover.

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