TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1987 (12) TMI 301
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....s tax assessments for the assessment years 1959-60, 1960-61 and 1961-62 under the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"). They raise a very short but interesting question regarding the entitlement of the assessee to the rebate of tax provided for in section 15 of the Act. At the outset, a reference may be made to the salient portions of certain relevant provisions of the Act. Section 14(1) provides that every registered dealer shall furnish such returns within such period and to such authority as may be prescribed. The prescribed authority is the Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax who is also the assessing authority. Under rule 10 of the Rules framed under the Act, the assessee should file quarterly returns. Su....
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....nditions or restrictions as may be specified therein, enhance or reduce the rate of rebate in respect of registered dealers generally or any class of such dealers." It may be noted that, under the proviso to section 20(2) of the Act, a registered dealer is entitled to deduct from the amount of tax due from him under the Act according to his return any amount which may be admissible as rebate under the provisions of section 15. In the present case, the assessee filed its quarterly returns under section 14(1) of the Act but, except for the second quarter of 1960-61, the returns were all filed belatedly. To illustrate, the returns for the second, third and fourth quarters of 1959-60, were filed by the assessee only on the 7th November, 1....
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....d the tax due before 31st July, 1961, but it actually filed the return only on 1st August, 1961. The assessee was assessed on the basis of the return submitted by it, but its claim for rebate under section 15 of the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1959, was rejected by the taxing authority on the ground that for the purpose of eligibility for rebate under section 15, the assessee must fulfil two conditions, viz., (1) the tax due for the quarter must be paid before the end of the succeeding month, and (2) the return must also be filed by the end of the succeeding month: Held, that the assessee was entitled to the rebate under section 15 for the quarter ending 30th June, 1961. Although the return was submitted one day late, as the assessee was ....
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....ills (Pvt.) Ltd. v. State of Bihar [1968] 22 STC 1 (Pat) is the better view on a proper construction of the relevant statutory provisions. The object of section 15 of the Act is to confer a benefit on an assessee for prompt payment of the tax. In this case there is no dispute that the assessee had paid the tax before the due dates. There is also no dispute that the tax paid accords with the tax due on the basis of returns. The only question is whether the assessee should be penalised by being denied the rebate due to it because there was a short delay in the filing of the returns. The argument on behalf of the Revenue which has appealed to the High Court is this. Section 15 is not a taxing provision but one which confers a benefit or con....
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....he Act three consequences are envisaged where a return is not filed within the prescribed time or extended time: (i) the assessee will lose the benefit of rebate under section 15; (ii) the assessee will run the risk of a penalty under section 14(4); (iii) the assessee will also run the risk of a best judgment assessment under section 16(4). In the present case, the assessing authority has neither levied a penalty nor made a best judgment assessment. The assessment orders, while adverting to the delay in the filing of the returns, do not record a finding that the delay was without reasonable cause. These are circumstances from which, we think, it is reasonable to infer that the returns, though filed belatedly, have been accepted ....
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....s. In these circumstances, he argues, the assessee must be held to have fulfilled the conditions prescribed in section 15. Learned counsel for the assessee referred to certain decisions in support of such a rule of construction. In Commissioner of Income-tax v. Kulu Valley Transport Co. P. Ltd. [1970] 77 ITR 518 (SC) the court had to construe a provision intended to benefit the assessee. Under section 22(2A) of the Income-tax Act, 1922, a return of loss had to be filed within the time prescribed for return under section 22(1) if the assessee wanted to carry forward the loss claimed. It was not so filed but was nevertheless treated as a valid return by reading the provisions of section 22(1) and 22(3) of the Act jointly and giving a liber....