Freight and sale price: separate freight charges may be excluded when not part of the agreed sale consideration.

Freight forms part of sale price only when it is included in the agreed consideration for the sale and not kept separate from the price. Bills showing freight separately are relevant evidence of the parties' arrangement, but they are not conclusive and can be rebutted by other material. The decisive question is whether the dealer and purchaser agreed to treat freight as part of the sale price or as a separate charge. On that basis, railway freight deducted in the bill was held not to form part of the sale price under the M.P. General Sales Tax Act.

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Issues: Whether railway freight deducted in the bill forms part of the sale price under section 2(o) of the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958.

Analysis: Sale price includes amounts payable as consideration for the sale, but freight is excluded where it is not part of the agreed sale consideration and is not separately charged as part of the total price. Bills showing freight separately are relevant evidence of the parties' arrangement, but they are not conclusive and may be rebutted by other material. The decisive matters are the agreement between the dealer and the purchaser and whether freight was in fact charged as part of the sale price or was kept separate.

Conclusion: The railway freight deducted in the bill was not part of the sale price.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered in favour of the assessee and against inclusion of the freight amount in taxable sale price.

Ratio Decidendi: Freight is excluded from sale price when it is not separately charged as part of the agreed consideration and the contrary indication in bills is rebuttable by other evidence.

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