Turnover includes sale-time recovery of duty and fee; escaped-assessment reassessment is valid without proof of concealment.

Amounts recovered from customers at the time of sale, even if separately described as excise duty or vend fee and previously paid by the dealer, were held to form part of turnover because they entered the sale transaction and the dealer's circulating funds. Reassessment under section 21 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act was held competent where such turnover had escaped assessment, as the provision was treated as wide enough to cover omission arising from mistake of fact, mistake of law, or mere omission without proof of concealment or fresh material. The reference was answered against the assessee.

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Issues: (i) Whether excise duty and vend fee paid in respect of rectified spirit and denatured spirit, but recovered from customers at the time of sale, formed part of the assessee's turnover for sales tax purposes; (ii) whether reassessment could be made under section 21 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act on the footing that part of the turnover had escaped assessment.

Issue (i): Whether excise duty and vend fee paid in respect of rectified spirit and denatured spirit, but recovered from customers at the time of sale, formed part of the assessee's turnover for sales tax purposes.

Analysis: The amount was paid in advance by the assessee and recovered from purchasers when the goods were sold. The Court treated the recovery as part of the sale transaction and not as a separate amount retained outside the sale price. The reasoning followed the principle that where amounts realised at the time of sale enter the dealer's business funds, they constitute part of the turnover.

Conclusion: Yes. The excise duty and vend fee recovered from customers were includible in the assessee's turnover.

Issue (ii): Whether reassessment could be made under section 21 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act on the footing that part of the turnover had escaped assessment.

Analysis: Section 21 was treated as wide enough to cover omission of turnover, whether due to mistake of fact, mistake of law, or mere omission, and it was held unnecessary to show concealment or discovery of fresh material. Since the amount in question had not been assessed though it formed part of the turnover, the conditions for escaped assessment were satisfied.

Conclusion: Yes. Reassessment under section 21 was competent.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered against the assessee and the disputed amount was held taxable as part of turnover, with reassessment upheld under the escaped-assessment provision.

Ratio Decidendi: Amounts recovered from customers at the time of sale, even if separately described as duty or fee and previously paid by the dealer, are part of turnover when they form part of the sale transaction and enter the dealer's circulating capital; escaped assessment provisions may be invoked for omission of such turnover without proof of concealment.

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