TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (7) TMI 147
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....ribunal was justified in holding that lump sum tax is payable under the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003 on the turnover of sales of "bread" ?" [2] "Whether in the facts and circumstances of the case, the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Tax had the jurisdiction to undertake the provisional assessment under Section 32 of the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003 ?" [3] "Whether the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Tax was justified in confirming the dues under the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003, simply on the basis of provisional assessment without passing audit assessment or re-assessment order ?" By a separate judgment passed today in Tax Appeal No. 885 of 2014, we have answered the first question in favour of the appellan....
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....as under : "2 [33] "turnover of sales" means the aggregate of the amount of sale price received or receivable by a dealer in respect of such sale of goods made during a given period after deducting the amount of sale price; if any, refunded by the dealer to a purchaser in respect of any goods purchased and returned by the purchaser within the prescribed period." Term "total turnover" is defined in Section 2 [34] as under: "2 [34] "total turnover" means aggregate of the following transactions effected by a dealer : (a) turnover of sales or purchases of goods within the State whether such sales or purchases of goods are taxable or exempt under this Act; (b) turnover of sales of goods in the course of inter- State trade or comme....
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....aler, whose total taxable turnover has not exceeded Seventy Five lakhs rupees in the previous year, to pay lump sum tax in lieu of the amount of tax payable under section 7 of this Act. Provided that the Commissioner shall not grant permission to pay lump sum tax under sub-section [1] to a dealer who - [i] sells the goods in the course of inter-state trade and commerce or exports goods out of the territory of India; [ii] has purchased in the previous year or in the course of inter-State trade and commerce or has imported in the previous year or imports goods from a place out of the territory of India; [iii] dispatches the goods to his branch or his consigning agent outside the State or has received in the previous year or receiv....
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....ment by an order in writing. As per sub-section [3] of Section 14, a dealer who is permitted to pay lump sum tax is not entitled to certain benefits, such as to claim tax credit in respect of tax payable by him on his purchases or charge any tax on his sales invoice in respect of the sales on which lump sum tax is payable. It is in context of this proviso that the Government had issued a Notification dated 31st March 2006 which reads as under : "In exercise of the powers conferred by sub section (2) read with the proviso to clause (iv) of sub section 1 of section 14 of the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003 (Guj. 1 of 2005), the Government of Gujarat hereby specifies the activities of the manufacture mentioned in column (2) of the Schedul....
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....r of his sales". Within less than one month, the Government issued an amendment vide notification dated 29th April 2006 and substituted the words "total turnover" by the words "taxable turnover" in the said notification. In other words, in case of the dealers, who want to pay lump sum tax in lieu of normal tax, the rate of tax prescribed was one-half per cent. This one-half per cent was to be computed as per notification dated 31st March 2006 on the total turnover of the dealer, which was quickly corrected to "taxable turnover" by a later notification dated 29th April 2006. We have noticed that the Statute carries three distinct and different definitions of terms "turnover of sales", "taxable turnover" and "total turnover". If we, however,....
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....arly indicates that when inadvertently in case of other class of dealers, the term in the notification which found place was "total turnover", for clarification and proper implementation of the provisions, it was promptly and quickly changed to "taxable turnover". Harmonious and purposive interpretation even in the taxing statutes is not impermissible when the situation so demands. The Supreme Court in the case of State of Kerala & Ors. vs. A.P Mammikutty, reported in AIR 2015 SC 3009 has observed as under : "15. In our considered opinion, the principle of purposive interpretation of the provision has to be adopted and when such a construction is placed, it serves the legislative intent. To elaborate, a person may have a three-storied bui....