Cash discount abatement allowed across the scheme even when individual buyers did not use the cash-payment facility.

A declared maximum cash discount under a sales scheme was treated as deductible from assessable value even where individual buyers did not actually avail the cash-payment facility. The reasoning followed earlier precedent of the same Bench, which approved abatement for the discount once the scheme was made known to buyers, and rejected the contrary view that deduction should be confined only to actual cash payers. The attempted distinction from prior authority was not accepted, and the discount was recognised as allowable across the scheme.

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Issues: Whether the cash discount scheme was deductible from the assessable value across the board, even in cases where individual buyers did not actually avail the cash payment facility.

Analysis: The issue was treated as covered by the earlier decision of the same Bench and by the approval accorded to the principle that a declared maximum cash discount, once made known under the scheme, is allowable as an abatement irrespective of whether every buyer actually receives or utilises it. The contrary view taken by the Commissioner (Appeals) was not accepted, and the attempted distinction from prior precedent was rejected.

Conclusion: The cash discount was held allowable as an abatement without restricting it only to buyers who actually paid in cash, and the appellant succeeded.

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