Incidental delivery charges count in gross turnover, and interest runs from the assessment order creating the tax liability.

Incidental charges such as dami, dalali and mandi are includible in gross turnover under the Haryana Value Added Tax Act, 2003 where they form part of the expenditure necessary for delivery and purchase of agricultural produce. The controlling principle reflected in earlier binding precedent is that delivery-related costs, including packing, labour, stitching, carriage and similar incidental expenses, are part of the purchase aggregate and therefore enter turnover. Interest on the assessed demand is chargeable from the date of the assessment order that determines the tax liability, not from an earlier assessment order in another year. The appeals therefore failed on both turnover and interest.

---

---

Issues: (i) Whether incidental charges such as dami, dalali and mandi are includible in gross turnover under the Haryana Value Added Tax Act, 2003. (ii) Whether interest is chargeable from the date of the assessment order in question or from the date of an earlier assessment order first taxing the incidental charges.

Issue (i): Inclusion of incidental charges in gross turnover depended on whether such charges formed part of the expenditure necessary for delivery and purchase of agricultural produce. The question had already been decided in earlier binding precedent holding that charges incurred for delivery-related activities, including packing, labour, stitching, carriage and similar incidental expenses, are part of the purchase aggregate and therefore fall within turnover.

Conclusion: The issue was answered against the assessee and in favour of the Revenue; incidental charges were held includible in gross turnover.

Issue (ii): The dispute concerned the point of commencement of interest liability. The governing principle applied was that interest becomes payable from the date of the assessment order determining the tax liability, and not from the date of some other assessment order in another year by which the same incidental charges were first taxed.

Conclusion: The issue was answered against the assessee and in favour of the Revenue; interest was held chargeable from the date of the assessment order in question.

Final Conclusion: The appeals failed on both substantive questions, and the impugned determinations on turnover and interest were sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: Incidental charges necessary for delivery of goods form part of gross turnover, and interest on the assessed demand runs from the date of the assessment order that creates the liability.

---