Composite boarding-house charges cannot be severed to tax meals separately where lodging and food form one indivisible service.

A composite boarding-house tariff that combines lodging and meals as one indivisible daily charge cannot be split by the revenue into separate components to treat the food element as a taxable sale under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941. Where the accommodation arrangement is a single service and no rebate is allowed if a boarder skips a meal, the meal component remains incidental to the overall boarding service. On that principle, the food element is not separately assessable as a distinct sale of food-stuffs.

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Issues: Whether the boarding house charges, which included meals as part of the consolidated daily tariff, could be split up and assessed as a sale of food-stuffs under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941.

Analysis: The charge for residence in the boarding house was a single inclusive amount covering lodging and meals, and no rebate was admissible if a boarder did not take a meal. On the governing principle that a hotelier or boarding establishment provides boarding as an integrated service with meals as an incidental amenity, the revenue cannot sever the composite charge into separate components for lodging and food merely to bring the food element to tax. Where the arrangement is one of service and the bill is indivisible, there is no taxable sale of meals capable of independent assessment.

Conclusion: The assessment was unsustainable, as the board and meal charges formed part of one composite service and could not be separately taxed as a sale of food-stuffs.

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