Single-point sales tax and declaration form requirements governed exclusion of disputed resale turnover from taxable sales

A single-point sales tax regime under Section 3-AAA of the Uttar Pradesh Sales Tax Act treated goods sold to consumers as taxable at the consumer stage, and where no prescribed declaration form 3-A was furnished, the statutory deeming fiction applied. On that basis, bread and biscuits purchased from a registered dealer and resold were not includible in the dealer's taxable turnover. For desi ghee and gur, filed declaration forms and purchase particulars showing purchases from registered dealers supported exclusion from turnover, with no discrepancy found. The disputed sales were therefore excluded from taxable turnover and the revision failed.

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Issues: (i) Whether sales of bread and biscuits purchased from a registered dealer without furnishing form 3-A were liable to be included in the taxable turnover under Section 3-AAA of the Uttar Pradesh Sales Tax Act, 1948; (ii) Whether sales of desi ghee and gur were liable to be excluded from turnover on the basis of the filed declaration forms and supporting purchase particulars.

Issue (i): Whether sales of bread and biscuits purchased from a registered dealer without furnishing form 3-A were liable to be included in the taxable turnover under Section 3-AAA of the Uttar Pradesh Sales Tax Act, 1948.

Analysis: Section 3-AAA created a single-point levy on goods taxable at the point of sale to the consumer. Where a dealer sold such goods to a person other than a registered dealer and did not furnish the prescribed declaration, the sale was deemed to be a sale to the consumer. The assessee had purchased bread and biscuits from a registered dealer without furnishing form 3-A, and the goods were in fact sold onwards. On that footing, the statutory presumption operated and the turnover could not be subjected to further tax at the assessee's hands.

Conclusion: The sales of bread and biscuits were rightly treated as exempt from further taxation and were not includible in the assessee's taxable turnover.

Issue (ii): Whether sales of desi ghee and gur were liable to be excluded from turnover on the basis of the filed declaration forms and supporting purchase particulars.

Analysis: The relevant declaration forms had been filed pursuant to directions and were required to be considered in appeal. The forms showed purchases from registered dealers, and no discrepancy in the details was found. In those circumstances, the materials supported exclusion of the sales from the turnover, and there was no infirmity in the appellate finding.

Conclusion: The exclusion of desi ghee and gur sales from the turnover was justified and is sustained.

Final Conclusion: The revision failed in entirety, and the Tribunal's order excluding the disputed sales from taxable turnover was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute imposes single-point tax at sale to the consumer and the prescribed declaration is not furnished, the statutory deeming fiction governs the tax point; conversely, duly supported purchases from registered dealers may be excluded from turnover when the evidence is accepted and remains undisputed.

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