(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, every dealer, except the one dealing exclusively in goods declared tax free under section 5, shall pay for each year tax on his taxable turnover at a rate not exceeding forty percent of such turnover as may be determined by the Government and notified by the Government in the Government Gazette and such tax shall be charged on the sale of goods once only;

Provided that the rate of tax shall not exceed four per cent in respect of any goods referred to in section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956;

Provided also that the Commissioner may notify such of the dealers for advance tax who fail to file two quarterly returns consecutively within the period prescribed therefor;

Provided further that the Commissioner may, by a notification, levy advance tax on those dealers, who at any point of time remain in default for payment of tax for six months or more. Such tax shall be levied and collected at the entry point (s) of the State on the purchase value at the rates at which normal sales tax is applicable, which shall be adjusted against the arrears, if any, and the balance against any other

liability of the assessee under the Act;

Provided also that if a defaulting dealer fails to pay such tax, the officer Incharge of the Checkpost shall order seizure of such goods. The goods so seized shall be released only on payment of advance tax leviable under this Act;

Provided further that at the time of seizure of goods, the affected person shall be served with a notice on a format to be prescribed by the Commissioner and if the affected person fails to respond to the notice or fails to pay the tax, sub section (11) of section 15-A of the Act shall apply mutatis mutandis for recovery thereof.

(2) In the case of a dealer who is an importer, the turnover relating to goods imported shall be the aggregate amount for which they were first sold in the state after their import into the State. The burden of proving that the sale was not the first sale made in the State after the import of the said goods into the state shall be on the dealer.

(3) In the case of any other dealer to whom sub-section (2) does not apply and whose turnover in any year is less than ten thousand rupees or such amount as may be notified by the Government in that behalf in respect of all dealers in any particular goods or in respect of a particular class or category of such dealers shall not be liable to pay tax that year under this section.

Provided that the tax shall not be payable on the sale involved in the execution of a contract which is shown to the satisfaction of the assessing authority to have been entered into before the commencement of this Act;

Provided further that if at any time the turnover exceeds the limit specified or notified above, the dealer shall be liable to pay the tax in that year only in respect of the turnover which is in excess of the said limit.

(4) A dealer in relation to whom sub-section (3) applies and who has become liable to pay tax under this Act shall continue to be so liable until the expiry of three consecutive years during each of which his gross turnover has failed to exceed the amount so fixed and such further period after the date of such expiry as may be prescribed and on the expiry of this latter period his liability to pay tax shall cease.

(5) Every dealer whose liability to pay tax has ceased under the provisions of sub-section (4) shall again be liable to pay tax under this Act with effect from the date on which his gross turnover first exceeds the limit specified in sub-section (3).

(6) A dealer registered under the Central Sales Tax Act 1956 who is not liable to pay tax under this section shell nevertheless be liable to pay tax under this Act on any sale or purchase made by him inside the State:

Provided that nothing herein shall apply to a dealer-

(i) Who deals exclusively in the goods declared tax free under section 5;

(ii) Who deals in goods in respect of which tax is payable by another dealer at different point as specified by the Government under sub section (7).

(7) Save as otherwise provided by or under this Act, the Government may, by notification in the Government gazette and subject to such conditions, if any, as may be specified therein, notify the point or points of sale or purchase at which any goods or class of goods may be taxed, and, on the issue of such notification, the points of purchase or sale in relation to any such goods or class of goods other than the point of purchase or sale notified, shall be exempt from payment of tax under this Act;

Provided that, no such exemption shall be allowed unless where the point of sale in relation to any such goods or class of goods is prior to the point so notified, the registered dealer to whom the goods are sold certifies in the prescribed form that the goods purchased are intended for sale by him in the State.