Statutory interest on belated tax payment remains payable even when the dealer pays before assessment proceedings.

Under the taxing scheme, tax and return obligations arise within the prescribed time, and failure to pay in that manner attracts statutory interest. A dealer's voluntary payment of tax after the return period does not erase the earlier default merely because the amount was deposited before assessment proceedings began. The court applied strict construction of the interest provision and declined to read in any implied exemption from interest on the basis of belated suo motu payment. Interest therefore remains payable on delayed payment made after the statutory due date.

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Issues: Whether interest is payable when a dealer makes suo motu payment of tax after the prescribed return period but before assessment proceedings, and whether such belated payment can be treated as payment within time so as to avoid liability under the Act.

Analysis: The liability to furnish return and pay tax arises under Section 26(1), Section 26(2) and Section 26(3), while Section 32(2) requires payment of the tax and interest, if any, before filing the return. Section 26(4)(a) creates the consequence of default, making interest payable where the dealer fails to pay the tax in the prescribed manner, files a revised return showing higher tax, or fails to furnish a return. The statutory scheme shows that once tax is payable within the prescribed time, a later voluntary deposit does not erase the default or the accruing statutory interest. Strict construction of the taxing provision does not permit reading in an exemption from interest merely because payment was made before assessment proceedings began.

Conclusion: Interest is payable on belated suo motu payment of tax made after the prescribed period, and such payment does not absolve the dealer from statutory liability to interest merely because assessment proceedings had not yet commenced.

Ratio Decidendi: Under a taxing statute, where the law expressly fastens interest on failure to pay tax within the prescribed time, later voluntary payment before assessment does not negate the statutory default or the consequential liability to interest.

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