Home Case Index All Cases VAT and Sales Tax VAT and Sales Tax + HC VAT and Sales Tax - 2019 (10) TMI HC This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2019 (10) TMI 576 - HC - VAT and Sales TaxWhether in absence of any inquiry made by the revenue authorities and in absence of any evidence to doubt the explanation furnished by the assessee, its claim of return of the goods could have been rejected merely on surmises and conjectures? HELD THAT:- In the facts of the present case, once the assessee set up a specific plea of having never received the goods in its stock and having returned the same from its factory premises, it was for the revenue authorities to have made proper inquiries from the selling dealer and from such other source as they may have been advised, to verify the correctness of the claim set up by the assessee. In absence of any inquiry being made and in absence of any evidence having placed on record, as may establish that the assessee had actually received those goods or dealt with the same, the suspicion that had arisen initially could not transform or lead to an adverse finding against the assessee. It is not for the revenue authorities to reach a conclusion as to existence of tax liability by speculating the manner in which a trader ought to have conducted himself. Such speculations may only give rise to suspicions but not to findings as to existence of a tax liability - For that finding to arise, there must be found existing evidence on record including that emerging from inquiry made from relevant sources. In this case there is no evidence of the taxable event having taken place. Petition allowed - answered in the negative i.e. in favor of the assessee and against the revenue.
|