Invoice notation as sales tax collection defeats exemption when the assessee fails to prove a different purpose or separate accounting.

Invoices stating that sale prices were "inclusive of sales tax" were treated as evidence of tax collection where the assessee also collected the stated amounts and kept no separate account for sales-tax receipts. The Court held that a claimant for exemption bears the burden of proving entitlement, and the absence of separate book entries did not negate the invoice notation or establish that it was inserted only for the purchaser's benefit. On those facts, the amounts were treated as sales tax collected, and exemption under section 10 of the Central Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1969 was denied.

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Issues: Whether the inclusion of the words "inclusive of sales tax" in the invoices, without separate accounting entries, amounted to collection of sales tax so as to attract liability and deny exemption.

Analysis: The assessment proceeded on the basis of turnover inclusive of tax after applying rule 11(2) of the Central Sales Tax (Registration and Turnover) Rules. The decisive question was whether the assessees had in fact collected tax on the inter-State sales. The Court held that a claim for exemption places the burden on the assessee to establish entitlement to it. On the facts, the invoices expressly stated that the sale price was inclusive of sales tax, the assessees collected the amounts so stated, and they maintained no separate account for sales-tax collections. In those circumstances, the absence of a separate book entry did not displace the effect of the invoice entries or support the plea that the words were used merely to oblige purchasers.

Conclusion: The inclusion of sales tax in the invoices was treated as collection of tax, and the assessees were not entitled to exemption under section 10 of the Central Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1969.

Final Conclusion: The revisions failed because the Court found tax collection on the invoices and sustained the sales-tax liability.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an assessee claiming exemption from sales-tax liability issues invoices showing the price as inclusive of sales tax and fails to maintain separate accounts or prove a different purpose for that notation, the burden of proving exemption is not discharged and the amounts are treated as tax collected.

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