Self-assessment tax due date controls interest liability; revised return cannot postpone statutory interest under sales tax law.

Under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act and Rules, tax in self-assessment cases became due on the 20th of the succeeding month, and the return with proof of full payment had to be filed by that date. A dealer could not defer the statutory due date by filing an original or revised return later, and interest under section 24(3) applied automatically to any tax remaining unpaid after the prescribed date. The court also distinguished J.K. Synthetics Ltd. because the Rajasthan provisions considered there were materially different. The differential tax therefore attracted interest from the statutory due date until actual payment.

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Issues: Whether, under section 13(2), section 24(1) and section 24(3) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 read with rule 18(2) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Rules, 1959, a dealer who filed an original return with part payment of tax and later filed a revised return paying the differential tax could contend that the differential tax became due only on the date of the revised return and that no interest was payable under section 24(3).

Analysis: The statutory scheme fixed the due date for payment of tax in self-assessment cases as the 20th of the succeeding month, and rule 18(2) required the return and proof of full payment to reach the assessing authority by that date. Section 24(3) imposed interest automatically on any amount remaining unpaid after the specified date. The Court held that the dealer could not vary the due date for payment by filing a return or revised return later, and that the liability to interest arose from the default in not paying the full tax due on the actual turnover by the statutory due date. The reliance placed on the decision in J.K. Synthetics Ltd. was rejected because the Rajasthan provisions considered there were materially different.

Conclusion: The differential tax was due on the statutory due date and interest under section 24(3) was payable from that date until actual payment; the contention that interest arose only on the revised return date was rejected.

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