Form 25 declarations are mandatory proof against last-purchase tax, excluding covered turnover from the seller's assessment.

Rule 32(14) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Rules treats Form 25 as the statutory proof that the seller is not the last purchaser where tax is levied at the last purchase point. Once a registered dealer furnishes the prescribed declaration, the seller satisfies the mandatory condition for exemption from assessment of the turnover covered by that declaration. The provision is aimed at collection of tax at the correct point and prevention of evasion, so valid Form 25 declarations exclude the corresponding turnover from the seller's taxable turnover. Turnover covered by accepted declarations was therefore not assessable in the assessees' hands.

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Issues: Whether turnover covered by Form 25 declarations furnished by registered dealers under Rule 32(14) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Rules could be included in the taxable turnover of the selling assessees.

Analysis: Rule 32(14) treats the declaration in Form 25 as the statutory method of proving that the seller is not the last purchaser where goods are taxable at the point of last purchase. The provision is designed to ensure collection of tax at the proper last purchase point and to prevent evasion. Once the prescribed declaration is produced by a registered dealer, the seller satisfies the statutory requirement, and the turnover covered by that declaration cannot be brought to tax in the seller's hands. The cited earlier decisions construing the same scheme were followed in holding that the declaration is mandatory and that its production is the decisive proof for exemption from assessment of that turnover.

Conclusion: Turnover covered by valid Form 25 declarations issued by registered dealers was not includible in the taxable turnover of the assessees; the appeals relating to the rejected declarations failed, while the appeals relating to accepted declarations succeeded.

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