Regular assessment under excess profits tax law includes appellate-effect orders, keeping interest payable until refund is made.

For section 14A(7) of the Excess Profits Tax Act, 1940, an order giving effect to appellate directions can still constitute a "regular assessment" if it is made or modified under section 14. On that reading, where excess tax paid under provisional assessment is refunded pursuant to the later assessment order, interest remains payable from the date of payment of the excess tax until the date of refund. The provision's compensatory purpose supports this interpretation, and the refund is not excluded merely because it follows appellate proceedings.

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Issues: Whether, for the purpose of section 14A(7) of the Excess Profits Tax Act, 1940, an order of refund passed while giving effect to appellate directions is an order made on "regular assessment" so as to attract interest on the refunded excess tax.

Analysis: Section 14A(7) provides for interest where tax paid under provisional assessment exceeds the tax found payable on regular assessment, and the interest runs from the date of payment of excess tax to the date of refund. The expression "regular assessment" is used in section 14A to distinguish assessment under section 14 from provisional assessment under section 14A. The Act contemplates provisional assessment followed by regular assessment, and there is nothing in its scheme to confine regular assessment to only the first assessment order. An assessment order passed or modified in pursuance of appellate directions remains an order under section 14 for this purpose, and the refund made pursuant to such order is therefore within section 14A(7). The compensatory object of the provision also supports payment of interest until the refund is actually made.

Conclusion: Interest under section 14A(7) is payable on the amount refunded pursuant to the later assessment order passed in consequence of appellate directions, and the assessee succeeds.

Ratio Decidendi: For section 14A(7) of the Excess Profits Tax Act, 1940, "regular assessment" includes an assessment order made or modified under section 14 in compliance with appellate directions, and interest is payable on excess tax refunded on that basis until the date of refund.

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