Specific tax entry prevails for magnesium sulphate when its use and composition fit chemical fertiliser classification.

Magnesium sulphate was treated as falling within both a general chemical description and the more specific category of chemical fertiliser. The court applied the rule that a specific tax entry prevails over a general one where the commodity's composition and recognised use answer the specific description. On the materials, magnesium sulphate was shown to supply magnesium to plants and to be used in fertiliser mixtures and magnesium-deficient soils, with no basis to confine it to sale as a chemical only. The assessee therefore succeeded, and the revision was rejected with costs.

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Issues: Whether magnesium sulphate was taxable as a chemical fertiliser or as a chemical under the relevant sales tax notifications.

Analysis: Magnesium sulphate was held to be a chemical of a general description, but chemical fertiliser was the more specific category. The classification had to follow the more specific entry where the commodity's composition and recognised use showed it to be a fertiliser. The material relied upon showed magnesium sulphate to be a source of magnesium for plants and to be used in fertiliser mixtures and in Mg-deficient soils. There was also no material to show that the assessee sold it only as a chemical and not as a fertiliser. In tax classification, a specific entry must prevail over a general entry, and any doubt is to be resolved in favour of the assessee.

Conclusion: Magnesium sulphate was taxable as a chemical fertiliser and not as a chemical; the revision failed.

Final Conclusion: The assessee succeeded, and the Commissioner's revision was rejected with costs.

Ratio Decidendi: For tax classification, a commodity falling within both a general and a specific description must be assessed under the specific entry when its composition and use answer that description, and any residual doubt must be resolved in favour of the assessee.

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