Separate assessable units under sales tax law: partnership firms with the same partners may be taxed independently.

A partnership firm may be treated as a distinct unit of assessment under sales tax law where the statute defines a firm as a dealer, even though it is not a separate legal person in general partnership law. Applying Supreme Court authority, the court noted that two firms formed by the same partners could be assessed separately for tax purposes. The question whether their businesses were interlaced or interlocked was left for independent examination by the assessing authority. On that basis, the separate assessment of the two firms was upheld and the revenue revisions failed.

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Issues: Whether two partnership firms constituted by the same partners are to be treated as one person or as separate assessable units for purposes of sales tax.

Analysis: A partnership firm may not be a legal entity in the general law of partnership, but tax statutes can treat it as a distinct unit where the statutory definition so provides. The relevant sales tax law included a firm within the definition of dealer, and the controlling Supreme Court authority had already held that, for tax law purposes, a firm is a legal entity or unit of assessment notwithstanding its status in partnership law. On that basis, two firms constituted by the same partners could lawfully be assessed separately. The question of interlacing and interlocking was left to be examined separately by the assessing authority.

Conclusion: The two partnership firms were rightly treated as separate assessable units, and the revisions by the revenue failed.

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