Refund of sales tax on country liquor not barred absent admission in returns or proceedings under the trade tax law.

Refund of sales tax on country made liquor was held not to be barred under section 29(3) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 because there was no finding that the dealer had admitted the tax liability in its returns or at any stage of the proceedings under the Act. The authorities had rejected the claim on the assumption that the sale price included tax, but the Tribunal found the price was fixed by the Excise Department and did not include sales tax during the relevant years. In the absence of the statutory precondition for the refund bar, the revisional court upheld rejection of the objection and dismissed the revision applications.

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Issues: Whether refund of sales tax on country made liquor could be denied under section 29(3) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 in the absence of any finding that the tax liability had been admitted in the returns filed or at any stage of the proceedings under the Act.

Analysis: The refund claim was rejected by the authorities below on the footing that the sale price of country made liquor included tax. The Tribunal found that the liquor was sold at a price fixed by the Excise Department and that the fixed price did not include sales tax, since no sales tax was payable during the relevant assessment years. The revisional court noted that section 29(3) bars refund only where the turnover of sales or purchases has been admitted by the dealer in the returns or at any stage in proceedings under the Act, and that no such finding existed in the orders of the Assessing Officer or the Appellate Authority.

Conclusion: The refund was not barred under section 29(3), and the revision applications were dismissed.

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