B.S. Enterprises Vs Commissioner of Commercial Tax U.P. (Allahabad High Court)
The revision before the Allahabad High Court arose from assessment proceedings for Assessment Year 2013–14 under the U.P. Value Added Tax Act, 2008. The revisionist had disclosed total purchases of ₹16,65,367 from registered dealers and total sales of ₹26,14,963, comprising ₹85,400 as intra-State sales within Uttar Pradesh and ₹25,29,563 as Central Sales. During assessment proceedings, the Assessing Authority relied upon two tax invoices collected by the Mobile Squad, out of which one invoice of ₹11,970 was found to be non-genuine and allegedly issued by the revisionist. On this basis, and noting that no FIR had been lodged regarding parallel invoices, the Assessing Authority rejected the books of accounts and proceeded with a best judgment assessment under Section 28(2)(ii) of the Act. An ex-parte assessment order was passed on 31.03.2017, which was later recalled under Section 32, and a fresh order dated 04.12.2017 was passed determining evaded purchases of ₹65,00,000 and evaded sales of ₹80,00,000, leading to substantial tax demands.
The said order was partly rectified on 18.12.2017 in relation to Central Sales. The revisionist challenged the assessment before the appellate authority, contending that reliance on a single non-genuine invoice could not justify such extensive enhancement of turnover. The Appellate Authority, by order dated 18.02.2018, held that maintenance of a parallel bill book justified best judgment assessment and determined evaded sales equal to the disclosed turnover of ₹26,15,000. However, the demand relating to evaded Central Sales was set aside due to lack of evidence. The Tribunal subsequently affirmed this appellate order, relying on an earlier decision of the High Court.
