Advance tax shortfall test: post-assessment payment cannot be counted, and revisional correction restoring penalty was upheld.

A payment made after the assessment order could not be treated as advance tax for applying the 15% shortfall test under Section 12-B(4) of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957. The Appellate Authority had wrongly counted that post-assessment payment as advance tax and deleted the penalty on that basis. The Revisional Authority was entitled to correct that factual error under Section 22-A(1) and restore the penalty. The revisional order was therefore upheld, and the penalty under the sales tax law remained in force.

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Issues: Whether the amount paid after the assessment order could be treated as advance tax for determining the 15% shortfall under Section 12-B(4) of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957, and whether the Revisional Authority was justified in correcting the Appellate Authority's error and restoring the penalty.

Analysis: Section 12-B(4) permits penalty where advance tax paid is more than fifteen per cent short of the tax finally assessed. The Appellate Authority committed a factual error by treating a payment made after the assessment order as advance tax and, on that basis, deleted the penalty. Since the post-assessment payment could not be included while testing the statutory shortfall, the Revisional Authority properly exercised jurisdiction under Section 22-A(1) to correct the erroneous appellate order.

Conclusion: The post-assessment payment was not eligible to be counted as advance tax, and the restoration of penalty under the revisional order was upheld in favour of the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the revisional order failed, and the penalty sustained under the sales tax law remained in force.

Ratio Decidendi: A payment made after the assessment order cannot be treated as advance tax for applying the statutory 15% shortfall test, and a revisional authority may correct an appellate order founded on such a factual error.

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