Commission agent exemption does not shift sales tax liability where sales belong to the disclosed principal.

Liability to sales tax under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 attaches to the dealer whose business gives rise to the taxable turnover. Where a commission agent sells goods for a disclosed principal under an exemption based on acting for known principals, and the sale proceeds are included in the principal's turnover with the agent receiving only commission, the principal remains the real dealer. In that arrangement, the agent is treated as the principal's extended hand in effecting the sale, so the exemption does not shift the tax burden away from the principal. The taxable turnover is therefore referable to the principal, and sales tax is leviable on the principal's sales.

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Issues: Whether sales tax on goods belonging to the assessee and sold through an exempted commission agent acting for disclosed principals is leviable on the assessee as the real dealer.

Analysis: Liability to sales tax under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 attaches to the dealer whose business results in the taxable turnover. The definition of dealer, read with the scheme of section 4(2) and the exemption notification, shows that a commission agent obtaining exemption on the footing that he sells for known principals, with the sale proceeds included in the principal's turnover and remuneration confined to commission, is relieved from tax burden in respect of those transactions. In such a case, the taxable turnover is referable to the principal, because the agent acts only as the principal's extended hand in effecting the sale. The exemption granted to the agent does not transfer the tax liability away from the real seller where the goods belong to the principal and the principal includes the sale price in his own turnover.

Conclusion: The sales were treated as sales of the assessee through the exempted commission agent, and sales tax was held leviable on the assessee, not on the agent.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a commission agent sells goods of a disclosed principal under an exemption under section 4(2), and the sale proceeds are included in the principal's turnover, the principal remains the dealer liable to sales tax on those sales.

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