Supreme Court of India
Commissioner Of Income Tax vs Thirumalaiswamy Naidu & Sons. on 27 August, 1997
Equivalent citations: (1998)146CTR(SC)529
JUDGMENT
BY THE COURT :
The question referred in this case is as under :
"Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was justified in deleting the sum of Rs. 1,37,379 from the taxable trading receipt of the assessee for 1974-75 ?"
2. The assessee in the course of sale of its products, collected sales-tax from the purchasers. The assessee, in its turn, was assessed under the Central Sales-tax Act and paid the tax. The sales-tax collected by the assessee has to be treated as its income, according to the ruling of this Court in the case of Chowringhee Sales Bureau Pvt. Ltd. vs. CIT (1973) 87 ITR 542 (SC) Any payment of sales-tax made by the assessee was equally liable to be deducted from the profits made by the assessee. In this case, the assessee had actually made the payment of sales-tax under the provisions of the Central Sales-tax Act. Those provisions were under challenge and ultimately were struck down by the Madras High Court. The assessee got back an amount of Rs. 1,37,379 as refund. The entire amount of sales turnover of the assessee inclusive of the amount of tax collected was clearly includible in the assessees taxable income. If any deduction was given from that income and later the same was refunded back to the assessee, the refund will have the character of revenue receipt. It has to be treated as a receipt on the revenue account and has to be assessed as such. The position has been placed beyond doubt by the express provisions of s. 41(1) of the IT Act.
3. The next question is, if the assessee returns any portion of the amount to its customers, will it still be liable to pay tax on the entire amount. Admittedly, the assessee had not refunded any part of this amount of Rs. 1,37,379 to any one of its customers in the year of account. As and when such refund is made, the assessee will be entitled to claim deduction.
We are of the view that the Tribunal was in error in deleting the amount from the trading receipt of the assessee from the asst. yr. 1974-75. The question is, therefore, answered in the negative and in favour of the Revenue.
The appeal is allowed. There will be no order as to costs.