Assessable value of dyes must reflect the form actually sold at clearance, not the intermediate wet cake stage.

Assessable value for excisable dyes was to be fixed at the stage at which the goods were actually cleared and sold, not at the wet cake stage. Although both wet cake and formulated dyes were marketable, the relevant excisable goods were the formulated dyes sold in wholesale trade. The correct valuation therefore had to reflect the product in the form and at the time of removal. Refund claims based on valuation at the wet cake stage could not be sustained once assessment was made on the formulated product.

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Issues: Whether the assessable value of the dyes was to be determined at the wet cake stage or at the stage of formulated dyes sold in wholesale trade, and whether the refund claims based on valuation at the wet cake stage were sustainable.

Analysis: The wet cake form and the formulated form were both marketable, but the goods actually cleared from the factory and sold were the formulated dyes. The decisive question was therefore not whether formulation constituted a separate manufacture, but what was the correct value of the excisable goods at the time and place of removal for purposes of assessment. On that footing, the value had to be taken as the value of the product in the form in which it was sold, namely the formulated dyes. The refunds claimed on the contrary premise could not survive once the correct assessable value was taken to be the formulated product.

Conclusion: The assessable value was correctly taken at the formulated stage, and the Revenue's appeal succeeded.

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