- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -(i)"Agriculture" with all its grammatical variations cognate expressions, includes floriculture, horticulture, the raisin of crops, grass or garden produce, and also grazing; but does not include dairy farming, poultry farming, stock breeding, the mere cutting of wood or grass, gathering of fruit, raising of man made forest or rearing of seedlings or plants;(ii)"Agriculturist" means a person (not being a company or a firm) or society including a co-operative society or association of individuals whether incorporated or not, who cultivates land personally, for the purpose of agriculture.(iii)"Appellate Tribunal" means the Appellate Tribunal appointed under section 4;(iv)"Assessee" means any person by whom tax or any other sum of money is payable under this Act and includes every person in respect of whom any proceedings under this Act have been taken for the assessment of tax payable by him;(v)"Assessing authority" means any person authorized by the Commissioner to perform the functions of an assessing authority under this Act;(vi)"Assistant Commissioner" means any person appointed to be an Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes under sub- section (3) of section 3;(via)"Assistant Commissioner(Appeals)" means any person appointed to be an Assistant Commissioner(Appeals) under sub section(3) of section 3.(vii)"Awarder" means any person who awards any works contract to a contractor for execution"(viii)"Books of accounts" include ledgers, day book, cash book, account books and other records whether kept in the written form or as print outs of data stored in a floppy, disc, tape or any other forms of electromagnetic data storage device."(ix)"Business" includes -(a)any trade, commerce, manufacture or any adventure or concern in the nature of trade, commerce or manufacture, whether or not such trade, commerce, manufacture, adventure or concern is carried on with a motive to make gain or profit and whether or not any profit accrues from such trade commerce, manufacture, adventure or concern; and(b)any transaction in connection with, or incidental or ancillary to such trade, commerce, manufacture adventure or concern;(x)"Capital goods" means plant, machinery, equipments including pollution / quality control, lab and cold storage equipments used in manufacture, processing, excluding for job works or rendering of services, packing or storage of goods in the course of business and delivery vehicles but shall not include such goods and civil structure as may be notified by Government.(xi)"Casual trader" means a person who whether as principal, agent or in any other capacity, has occasional transactions involving buying, selling, supplying or distributing goods in the State, whether for cash or for deferred payment, or for commission, remuneration, or other valuable consideration.(xii)"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes appointed as such by the Government;(xiii)"Commercial Tax Officer" means any person appointed to be a Commercial Tax Officer under sub-section (3) of section 3;(xiv)"Contractor" means any person who undertakes any works contract for execution and includes a sub-contractor.(xv)"dealer" means any person who carries on the business of buying, selling, supplying or distributing goods, executing works contract, delivering any goods on hire-purchase or on any system of payment by installments; transferring the right to use any goods or supplying by way of or as part of any service, any goods directly or otherwise, whether for cash or for deferred payment, or for commission, remuneration or other valuable consideration not being an agriculturist and includes: -(a)a casual trader;(b)a commission agent, a broker or a delcredere agent or an auctioneer or any other mercantile agent, by whatever name called, of such dealer;(c)a non-resident dealer or an agent of a non-resident dealer, or a local branch of a firm or company or association or body of persons whether incorporated or not situated outside the State;(d)a person who, whether in the course of business or not, sells(i)goods produced by him by manufacture or otherwise; or(ii)trees which grow spontaneously and which are agreed to be severed before sale or under the contract of sale;(e)a person who whether in the course of business or not:(i)transfers any goods, including controlled goods whether in pursuance of a contract or not, for cash or for deferred payment or for other valuable consideration;(ii)supplies, by way of or as part of any service or in any other manner whatsoever, goods, being food or any other articles for human consumption or any drink (whether or not intoxicating), where such supply or service is for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration;Explanation I. - A society (including a co-operative society, club or firm or an association or body of persons, whether incorporated or not) which whether or not in the course of business, buys, sells, supplies or distributes goods from or to its members for cash or fordeferred payment, or for commission, remuneration or other valuable consideration, shall be deemed to be a dealer for the purposes of this Act;Explanation II. - The Central Government or a State Government, which whether or not in the course of business, buy, sell, supply or distribute goods, directly or otherwise, for cash or for deferred payment, or for commission, remuneration or other valuable consideration, shall be deemed to be a dealer for the purposes of this Act;(f)a bank or a financing institution, which, whether in the course of its business or not sells any gold or other valuable article pledged with it to secure any loan, for the realization of such loan amount;Explanation I. - Bank for the purposes of this clause includes a Nationalized Bank or a Schedule Bank or a Co- operative Bank.Explanation II. - Financing Institution means a financing institution other than a bank;(xva)`declared goods' mean goods declared by section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (Central Act 74 of 1956) to be of special importance in inter-state trade or commerce;(xvi)"Deputy Commissioner" means any person appointed to be a Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes under sub-section (3) of section 3;(xvii)"Deputy Commissioner (Appeals)" means any person appointed to be a "Deputy Commissioner(Appeals) under sub section (3) of section 3(xviii)"Document" includes written or printed records of any sort, title deeds and electronic records as defined in Clause (t) of sub-section (1) of Sec.2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000);(xviiiA)"Empowered Committee" means the Empowered committee of State Finance Ministers constituted by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India on the basis of the resolution adopted in the conference of the Chief Ministers on 16th November, 1999.(xix)"Foreign liquor" means and includes wine, brandy, champagne, sherry, rum, gin, whisky, beer, cider, cocoa brandy and all other distilled or spirituous preparations other than arrack and medicines and drugs;(xx)"Goods" means all kinds of movable property (other than newspapers, actionable claims, electricity, stocks and shares and securities) and includes live stock, all materials, commodities and articles and every kind of property (whether as goods or in some other form) involved in the execution of a works contract, and all growing crops, grass or things attached to, or forming part of the land which are agreed to be severed before sale or under the contract of sale;(xxi)"Government" means the Government of Kerala;(xxii)"Importer" means any person who obtains or brings any taxable goods from any place outside the state or country whether as a result of purchase or otherwise for the purpose of business.(xxiii)"Input Tax" means the tax paid or payable under this Act by a registered dealer to another registered dealer on the purchase of goods in the course of business and includes the tax paid on the purchase of materials for the research and development in relation to any goods.(xxiv)"Joint Commissioner" means any person appointed to be a Joint Commissioner under sub-section (3) of section 3;(xxv)"Local authority" means a Panchayat constituted at any level under the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (13 of 1994), or a Town Panchayat, a Municipal Council, or a Municipal Corporation, constituted under the Kerala Municipality Act,1994 (20 of 1994) or a Cantonment declared under the Cantonments Act, 1924 (Central Act 2 of 1924);(xxvi)"Manufacture" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions means producing, making, extracting, altering, ornamenting, finishing, assembling or otherwise processing, treating or adapting any goods, and includes any process incidental or ancillary to such activities but does not include any process or mode of manufacture as may be prescribed;(xxvii)"Motor spirit" means any substance which, by itself or in admixture with other substances is ordinarily used directly or indirectly to provide reasonably efficient fuel for automotive or stationary internal combustion engines and includes petrol, diesel oil and other internal combustion oils, but does not include kerosene, furnace oil, coal or charcoal;(xxviii)"Non-Resident dealer" means a dealer who effects sale or purchase of any goods in the State, but who has no fixed place of business or residence in the State;(xxix)"Notification" means a notification issued by the Government, under the provisions of this Act and published in the Gazette;(xxx)"Notified goods" means coffee, rubber, cardamom, pepper, arecanut, other than tender arecanut, cashewnut, iron and steel, cement, timber, plywood, glass, tread rubber and any other goods notified by the Government from time to time.(xxxi)"Output Tax" means the tax charged or chargeable under this Act by a registered dealer for the sale of goods in the course of business and includes reverse tax levied under sub-section (8) of section 11;(xxxii)"Permit" means a permit granted under section 19 or under section 46;(xxxiii)"Person" includes: -(a)an individual;(b)a joint family; (c) a company;(d)a firm;(e)an association of persons or a body of individuals; whether incorporated or not;(f)the Central Government or the Government of Kerala or the Government of any other State or any department thereof or a Union Territory in India;(g)a local authority;(h)every artificial juridical person not falling under any of the preceding sub -clauses;(xxxiv)"Petrol" means dangerous petroleum having its flashing point below 24.4 degree centigrade,(xxxv)"Place of business" means any place where a dealer carries on the business and includes: -(a)any warehouse, go down or other place where a dealer stores or processes his goods,(b)any place where a dealer produces or manufactures goods,(c)any place where a dealer keeps his books of accounts,(d)in any case where a dealer carries on business through an agent (by whatever name called), the place of business of such agent,(e)any warehouse, railway station, railway goods yard, parcel office, steamer station, or any other place where goods for transportation in the course of business or otherwise are kept by dealers, and(f)any vehicle or vessel or any other carrier wherein the goods are stored or used for transporting the goods;(xxxvi)"Prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;(xxxviA)" Prevailing market price" means the wholesale price of any goods in force in the market as published by the Economics and Statistics Department of the State or any other authorised agency or in the news paper and in cases where no such published whole sale price is available, the price at which goods of the kind or quality is sold by the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation or any other similar agency on the date of sale of such goods.(xxxvii)"Purchase" with all its grammatical variations and cognate expressions shall be construed from the word "sale";(xxxviii)"Purchase price" shall be construed from the words "sale price";(xxxix)"Registered dealer" means a dealer registered under this Act;(xl)"Registering authority" means the officer designated, by notification in the Gazette, as registering authority;(xli)"Return period" means and includes a calendar month or a quarter of an year or an year;(xlii)"Reverse tax" means that portion of input tax of the goods for which credit has been availed but such goods remain unsold at the closure of business or are used subsequently for any purpose other than resale or manufacture of taxable goods or execution of works contract or use as containers or packing materials of taxable goods within the State;(xliii)"Sale" with all its grammatical variations and cognate expressions means any transfer whether in pursuance of a contract or not of the property in goods by one person to another in the course of trade or business for cash or for deferred payment or for other valuable consideration, but does not include a mortgage, hypothecation, charge or pledge;Explanation I. - A transfer of property in goods by the Central Government or a State Government for cash or for deferred payment or other valuable consideration whether or not in the course of business shall be deemed to be a sale for the purposes of this Act;Explanation II. - The transfer of property involved in the supply or distribution of goods by a society (including a co-operative society), club, firm or any association or body of persons, whether incorporated or not, to its members, for cash or for deferred payment or other valuable consideration, whether or not in the course of business, shall be deemed to be a sale for the purposes of this Act;Explanation III. - A transfer of goods on hire - purchase or other installment system of payment shall, notwithstanding the fact that the seller retains the title in the goods as security for payment of the price, be deemed to be a sale on the date of delivery of the goods in pursuance of the agreement of such hire purchase or other system of payment in installments;Explanation IV. - A transfer of property in goods (whether as goods or in some other form) involved in the execution of a works contract shall be deemed to be a sale;Explanation V. - A transfer of right to use any goods for any purpose (whether or not for a specified period) for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration shall be deemed to be a sale;Explanation VI. - Any supply, by way of or as part of any service or in any other manner what so ever, of goods, being food or any other articles for human consumption or any drink (whether or not intoxicating), where such supply or service is for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration shall be deemed to be a sale;Explanation VII. - Unless otherwise expressly provided in this Act, any transfer, delivery or supply of any goods referred to in this clause shall be deemed to be a sale of those goods by the person making the transfer, delivery or supply and purchase of those goods by the person to whom such transfer, delivery or supply is made;Explanation VIII. - (a) The sale or purchase of goods shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to have taken place in the State where the contract of sale or purchase might have been made, if the goods are within the State,-(i)in the case of specific or ascertained goods at the time the contract of sale or purchase is made; and(ii)in the case of unascertained or future goods, at the time of their appropriation to the contract of sale or purchase by the seller or by the purchaser, whether the assent of the other party is prior or subsequent to such appropriation;(b)Where there is a single contract of sale or purchase of goods situated at more places than one, the provisions of clause (a) shall apply as if there were separate contracts in respect of the goods at each of such places;(c)For the purpose of this Act, the transfer of property in goods (whether as goods or in some other form) involved in the execution of a works contract shall be deemed to have taken place in the State, if the goods are within the State at the time of such transfer irrespective of the place where the agreement of works contract is made, whether the assent of the other party to the contract is prior or subsequent to such transfer;Explanation IX. - Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act or any other law for the time being in force, two independent sales or purchases shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to have taken place, -(a)when the goods are transferred from a principal to his selling agent and from the selling agent to the purchaser; or(b)when the goods are transferred from the seller to a buying agent and from the buying agent to his principal, if the agent is found in either of the cases aforesaid,(i)to have sold the goods at one rate and to have passed on the sale proceeds to his principal, at another rate; or(ii)to have purchased the goods at one rate and to have passed them on to his principal at another rate; or(iii)not to have accounted to his principal for the entire collections or deductions made by him in the sales or purchases effected by him on behalf of his principal ; or(iv)to have acted for a fictitious or non-existent principal:Provided that the deduction or addition, as the case may be, of the commission agreed upon and specified in the accounts and incidental charges incurred by the agent which are specified in the accounts and which the assessing authority considers legitimate shall not be deemed to be a difference in the rates referred to in sub-clauses (i) and (ii).(xliv)"Sale price" means the amount of valuable consideration received or receivable by a dealer for the sale of any goods less any sum allowed as cash discount, according to the practice normally prevailing in the trade, but inclusive of any sum charged for anything done by the dealer in respect of the goods or services at the time of or before delivery thereof, excise duty, special excise duty or any other duty or taxes except the tax imposed under this Act.(xlv)"Settlement Commission" means the Settlement Commission appointed under Section 5;(xlvi)"Smuggling" means transportation of notified goods exceeding such value as may be prescribed, into or out of the State, without the documents prescribed by sub-section (3) of section 46 or under cover of a document which is bogus or forged or where the consignor or consignee, as the case may be in the State, as shown in the document accompanying the goods, is non-existent or bogus.(xlvii)"State" means the State of Kerala;(xlviii)"Tax" means the tax payable under this Act;(xlix)"Tax invoice" includes a bill of sale containing such particulars as may be prescribed.(l)"Taxable turnover" means the turnover on which a dealer shall be liable to pay tax as determined after making such deductions from his total turnover and in such manner as may be prescribed;(li)"Total turnover" means the aggregate turnover in all goods of a dealer at all places of business in the State, whether or not the whole or any portion of such turnover is liable to tax, including the turnover of purchase or sale in the course of inter-state trade or commerce or in the course of export of the goods out of the territory of India or in the course of import of goods into the territory of India;(lii)"Turnover" means the aggregate amount for which goods are either bought or sold, supplied or distributed by a dealer, either directly or through another, on his own account or on account of others, whether for cash or for deferred payment or for other valuable consideration, provided that the proceeds of the sale by a person not being a Company or Firm registered under the Companies Act, 1956 (Central Act 1 of 1956) and Indian Partnership Act, 1932 (Central Act 9 of 1932) or society including a co-operative society or association of individuals whether incorporated or not of agricultural or horticultural produce grown by himself or grown on any land in which he has an interest whether as owner, usufructuary mortgagee, tenant or otherwise, shall be excluded from his turnover.Explanation I. - The turnover in respect of delivery of goods on hire purchase or on any system of payment by installments shall be the market price of such goods at the time of delivery.Explanation II. - The turnover in respect of the transfer of the right to use any goods shall be the aggregate amount received or receivable by the dealer as consideration for such transfer.Explanation III. - Subject to such conditions and restrictions, if any, as may be prescribed in this behalf:(i)The amount for which goods are sold shall include any sums charged for anything done by the dealer in respect of the goods sold at the time of, or before, the delivery thereof;(ii)Any discount on the price allowed in respect of any sale where such discount is shown separately in the tax invoice and the buyer pays only the amount reduced by such discount; or any amount refunded in respect of goods returned by customers shall not be included in the turnover(iii)Where for accommodating a particular customer, a dealer obtains goods from another dealer and immediately disposes of the same to the said customer, the sale in respect of such goods shall be included in the turnover of the latter dealer but not in that of the former;Explanation IV. - "Agricultural or horticultural produce" shall not include such produce as has been subjected to any physical, chemical or other process for being made fit for consumption, save mere cleaning, grading, sorting, drying or de-husking;Explanation V. - Where a dealer receives in any return period any amount due to price variations in respect of any sale effected during any earlier return period, such amount shall be deemed to be the turnover relating to the return period in which such amount is received.Explanation VI. - The turnover in respect of rubber shall be deemed to include any cess leviable under the Rubber Act, 1947 irrespective of whether the payment of cess is deferred till the rubber is consumed by the manufacturer of rubber goods or not:Explanation VII. - Where a dealer sells any goods purchased by him at a price lower than that at which it was purchased and subsequently receives any amount from any person towards reimbursement of the balance of the price, the amount so received shall be deemed to be turnover in respect of such goods.(liiA)"Used Motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle purchased and registered under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (Central Act 59 of 1988) and used for a minimum period of fifteen months subsequent to the registration or which had already been subjected to tax under this Act.(liii)"Vehicle" includes every wheeled conveyance used for the carriage of goods solely or in addition to passengers;(liv)"Vessel" includes any ship, barge, boat, raft, timber, bamboos or floating materials propelled in any manner;(lv)"Works contract" includes any agreement for carrying out for cash or for deferred payment or other valuable consideration the construction, fitting out, improvement, repair, manufacture, processing, fabrication, erection, installation, modification or commissioning of any movable or immovable property;(lvi)"Year" means the financial year.(lvii)"Zero rate sale" means the sale of any goods on which no tax is chargeable but in relation to which input tax credit or refund of input tax paid is admissible.Chapter - II Authorities, Appellate Tribunal and Settlement Commission
