Best judgment assessment requires a reasonable opportunity to verify the return before assessment or prosecution can stand.

A best judgment assessment cannot be made unless the dealer is first given a reasonable opportunity to prove the correctness and completeness of the return. Mere service of a notice fixing one day for appearance was insufficient where the assessee had explained illness and asked for another chance; the failure to grant a further opportunity meant the statutory condition precedent was not met, and the assessment was invalid. A prosecution for non-payment of tax founded on such an assessment could not be maintained, because it depended on compliance with the safeguard before best judgment assessment.

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Issues: Whether a best judgment assessment could be made when the assessee, after seeking time on the ground of illness, was not given a further reasonable opportunity to prove the correctness and completeness of the return, and whether a prosecution for non-payment of tax based on such assessment could stand.

Analysis: The proviso to section 9 required that the dealer be given a reasonable opportunity to prove the correctness and completeness of the return before the assessing authority could proceed to assess to the best of its judgment. Mere service of a notice fixing one day for appearance did not satisfy that requirement where the assessee promptly explained that he was bedridden and requested another chance. Since no further opportunity was afforded and the assessment was made straightaway, the statutory condition precedent to best judgment assessment was not fulfilled. A prosecution for non-payment of tax founded on an assessment made without compliance with that requirement could not be maintained.

Conclusion: The assessment was invalid and the prosecution could not stand; the acquittal was justified and the appeal failed.

Final Conclusion: The decision affirms that a dealer must receive a genuine and reasonable opportunity to substantiate the return before a best judgment assessment is made, and non-compliance with that safeguard vitiates any prosecution based on the assessment.

Ratio Decidendi: A best judgment assessment is invalid unless the assessee is first given a reasonable opportunity to prove the correctness and completeness of the return, and a prosecution for non-payment cannot rest on an assessment made without such compliance.

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