Definitions

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, - (i) "Act" means the Sikkim Value Added Tax Act, 2005; (ii) "Appellate Authority" means the Sikkim Commercial Taxes Appellate Authority constituted under sub section (1) of section 4; (iii) "appointed day" means the date on which this Act comes into force; (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 officer not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner authorized by the Government or by any authority empowered by the Government to make any assessment under this Act; (vi) "Business" includes- (a) any trade, commerce, manufacture, of any adventure or concern in the nature of trade, commerce, manufacture, whether or not such trade, commerce, manufacture, adventure or concern is carried on with the motive to make gain or profit and whether or not any profit accrues from such trade, commerce, manufacture, adventure or concern, irrespective of the volume, frequency, continuity or regularity of such trade, commerce, manufacture, adventure or concern. (b) any transaction of sale or purchase in connection with or ancillary or incidental to such trade, commerce, manufacture, adventure or concern referred to in sub clause (a); (c) any transaction involving goods, whether original or secondhand, unserviceable, obsolete or discarded goods, mere scrap or waste material; and (d) any transaction involving goods obtained as waste products or by-products in the course of manufacture of processing of other goods or mining or generation or distribution of electrical energy or any other form of power; (vii) "capital goods" means plant, machinery, dyes, tools, and equipment used in the process of manufacturing, excluding civil structures and such goods as may be notified from time to time; (viii) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and includes, unless the context requires otherwise, the Special, Additional, Joint, Deputy and Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes appointed under section 3; (ix) "Central Act" means the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (Act 74 of 1956); (x) "Contractee" means any person for whom or for whose benefit a works contract is executed; (xi) "Contractor" means any person who executes, either himself or through a sub contractor, a works contract; (xii) "dealer" means any person who, whether regularly or otherwise, in the course of business buys, sells, supplies, distributes or does anything incidental to such buying, selling, supplying or distributing of goods, directly or indirectly, whether for cash or for deferred payment or for commission, remuneration or other valuable consideration and includes: (a) a casual trader; (b) a commission agent, a broker or delcredere agent or an auctioneer or any other mercantile agent, by whatever name called; (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, (i) sells goods produced by him by manufacture, agriculture, horticulture or otherwise; or (ii) transfers any goods, whether in pursuance of a contract or not, for cash or for deferred payment or for other valuable consideration; (iii) 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 - Every person who acts as an agent on behalf of a dealer residing outside the State and buys, sells, supplies or distributes goods in the State or acts on behalf of such dealer as - (a) a commission agent, broker, factor, a delcredere agent, an auctioneer or other mercantile agent, by whatever name called; or (b) an agent for handling goods or documents of title to goods; or (c) an agent for the collection or the payment of the sale price of goods or as guarantor for such collection or payment and every local branch of a firm or company situated outside the State; shall be deemed to be a dealer for the purpose of this Act. Explanation II - The Central or the State Government or any of their departments or offices which, whether or not in the course of business, buy, sell or supply for commission, remuneration or for other valuable consideration, shall be deemed to be a dealer for the purpose of this Act. Explanation III - Any commercial or financial establishment including a bank, an insurance company, a transport company and the like which whether or not in the course of business buys, sells, supplies or distributes goods directly or otherwise, for cash or for deferred payment, commission, remuneration or for other valuable consideration, shall be deemed to be a dealer for the purpose of this Act; (xiii) "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; (xiv) "Government" means the Government of Sikkim; (xv) "gross turnover" means- (a) in respect of sale of goods, aggregate of the sale prices received or receivable by a dealer on sales as defined under clause (xxviii) and includes sale of goods made outside the State or in the course of inter-state trade or commerce or export but does not include sale price of goods which have borne the incidence of purchase tax under this Act; (b) for the purpose of levy of purchase tax, aggregate of purchase prices paid or payable by a dealer during any given period in respect of purchase of goods or class or description of goods which are liable to tax under this Act; Explanation : The amount received by a dealer on account of price variation or price escalation in respect of sale or supply of goods shall be deemed to form part of gross turnover of the financial year during which it is actually received; (xvi) "input" means goods purchased in the course of business - (a) for use in manufacture of goods including packing materials but excluding purchases of Petrol, diesel and natural gas, and (b) for use as capital goods; (xvii) "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 for resale or for the manufacture of taxable goods or for use as containers or packing material or for the execution of works contract; (xviii) "manufacture", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions means producing, making, extracting any goods or altering, ornamenting, finishing, assembling or otherwise processing, treating or adapting of any goods, but does not include any process or mode of manufacture as may be notified from time to time; (xix) "notification" means notification published in the Official Gazette; (xx) "out-put tax" means the tax charged or chargeable in respect of sale or supply of goods made by a registered dealer; (xxi) "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 Sikkim or the Government of any other State or Union Territory in India; (g) a local authority; (xxii) "place of business" means any place where a dealer sells any goods or keeps accounts relating to sales or purchase of goods and includes any warehouse of such dealer, any place where a dealer produces or manufactures goods, any place wherein the goods are stored or used for transporting the goods; (xxiii) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules framed under this Act; (xxiv) "purchase" means any transfer of property in goods to the person making the purchase for cash or deferred payment or other valuable consideration but does not include a transfer by way of mortgage, hypothecation, charge or pledge; (xxv) "purchase price" means the amount paid or payable by a dealer as valuable consideration in respect of purchase of goods and includes - (a) any sum charged for anything done by the vendor in respect of the goods at the time of or before the delivery thereof; (b) transport costs or freight, if any; (c) trade commission, if any, by whatever name called; (d) clearing, forwarding and handling charges, if any; (e) insurance charges, if any; (f) cost of packing, if any; and (g) any other charges or costs other than those specified above if such charges or costs are incurred or paid in respect of goods so purchased and includes any amount payable by a purchaser for anything done by the seller in respect of goods at the time of or before delivery thereof to the buyer if any of the costs, charges, taxes or duties as aforesaid are incurred in relation to the transfer of property in goods; Explanation I- Purchase price shall not include tax paid or payable under this Act by a dealer in respect of any such purchase. Explanation II - For the purpose of this clause, purchase price shall not include the amount paid or payable by the purchaser by way of non-refundable deposit whether by way of a separate agreement or not in connection with or incidental to or ancillary to the said purchase of goods; (xxvi) "Repealed Act" means such provisions of Sikkim Sales Tax Act, 1983 in respect of commodities/products as will be dealt with under the provisions of the Sikkim Value Added Tax Act, 2005 repealed under section 100; (xxvii) "Rules" means the rules made under this Act; (xxviii) "Sale" means any transfer of property in goods for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration and includes:- (a) any transfer, otherwise than in pursuance of a contract of property in any goods for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration; (b) any delivery of goods on hire-purchase or any system of payment by instalment; (c) any supply by way of or as part of any service or in any other manner whatsoever of goods, being food or any other article for human consumption or any drink (whether or not intoxicating), where such supply or service is for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration; (d) any supply of goods by any unincorporated association or body of persons to a member thereof for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration, and such transfer, delivery or supply of any goods shall be deemed to be a sale of those goods by the person or unincorporated association or body of persons making the transfer, delivery or supply a purchase of those goods by the person to whom such transfer, delivery or supply is made but does not include a mortgage, hypothecation, charge or pledge; Explanation - A sale of goods shall be deemed to take place inside the Sikkim- (a) if the goods are within the State of Sikkim, (i) in the case of specific or ascertained goods at the time the contract of sale made; and (ii) in the case of unascertained or future goods at the time of their appropriation to the contract of sale by the seller, whether the assent of the buyer to such appropriation is prior or subsequent to the appropriation; (iii) where there is a single contract of sale in respect of goods situated at more than one place, then the sale shall be deemed to have taken place as if there is a separate contract in respect of goods at each such places; (xxix) "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; (xxx) "schedule" means the schedule appended to this Act and the description of any goods specified therein shall be subject to the exceptions, restrictions and conditions, if any, and the application of the provisions of this Act, referring to the Schedule shall be subject to the circumstances if any, mentioned therein generally or against such goods; (xxxi) "section" means section of the Act; (xxxii) "State Government" means the Government of Sikkim; (xxxiii) "tax" means tax levied and payable under this Act; (xxxiv) "taxable goods" means all goods except those specified in Schedule I; (xxxv) "Tax Recovery Inspector" means a Tax Recovery Inspector appointed by the State Government under the provisions of the Sikkim (Collection of Taxes and Prevention of Evasion of Payment of Taxes) Act, 1987 (Act No 7 of 1987); (xxxvi) "taxable turnover" means the turnover on which a dealer is liable to pay tax as determined after making such deductions from his total turnover and in such manner as may be prescribed; (xxxvii) "Value Added Tax or VAT" means a tax on sales or purchases levied under this Act; (xxxviii) "works contract" includes any agreement for carrying out for cash or deferred payment or other valuable consideration, the assembling, construction, building, altering, manufacturing, processing, fabrication, installation, fitting out, improvement, repair or commissioning of any movable or immovable property; (xxxix) "Year" means the financial year beginning from 1st April and ending on 31st March.