Year-based surcharge levy extends to full turnover for the assessment year, even where part predates commencement.

The Kerala High Court considered whether surcharge under section 3(1) of the Kerala Surcharge on Taxes Act, 1957 applied to the full turnover for the year 1957-58, including transactions made before the Act commenced on 1 September 1957. It held that the surcharge was linked to the tax payable for the relevant year, with the year functioning as the unit of levy. Because the charging provision operated on the tax for the whole assessment year, pre-commencement transactions were not excluded. The Court also stated that the levy was not retrospective merely because part of the factual base arose before commencement.

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Issues: Whether the surcharge under section 3(1) of the Kerala Surcharge on Taxes Act, 1957 applied to the entire turnover for the year 1957-58, including transactions prior to the Act coming into force on 1 September 1957.

Analysis: The surcharge was linked to the tax payable for the relevant year under the sales tax law, and the statutory scheme treated the year as the unit for levy. Since the Act operated on the tax payable for the whole year 1957-58, the fact that part of that year preceded the commencement date did not exclude those transactions from the surcharge. This did not make the Act retrospective, because a statute is not retrospective merely because some factual ingredients for its operation arise from an earlier time.

Conclusion: The surcharge was chargeable on the entire turnover for 1957-58 and the challenge to levy on the pre-commencement transactions failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a surcharge is imposed on the tax payable for an year, the levy applies to the whole year's turnover once the charging provision operates for that year, and the statute is not retrospective merely because part of the turnover arose before commencement.

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