(1) Every dealer liable to pay tax under the Act, irrespective of the quantum of his total turnover every registered dealer and every dealer liable to get himself registered under the Act shall, on or before the first day of May in every year, submit to the assessing authority of the area in which his principal place of business is situated, a return in the form prescribed under rule 21AA showing the total turnover and taxable turnover for the preceding year, the amounts by way of tax or taxes due on the taxable turnover during the year.

(2) Every dealer who discontinues his business during the course of a year shall submit to the assessing authority concerned a return in the form prescribed under rule 21AA for the period upto and inclusive of the date of discontinuance of the business within thirty days from the date of such discontinuance.

(2A) Any dealer who subsequently finds that any mistaken has crept in the return filed under sub-rule (1), may file a revised return in the form prescribed under rule 21AA, within six months from the date fixed for filing return under sub-rule (1) or along with the certificate of audit and statement required to be filed under sub-rule (14B) of rule 32, as the case may be.

(2B) Omitted,

(3) Every dealer liable to submit a return in the form prescribed under rule 21AA under sub-rules (1) or (2) and any dealer filing a revised return under sub-rule (2A) shall submit along with the return a receipt from a Government Treasury (or at least not in the return the name of the Treasury and the number and the date of the receipt, in which case he shall produce the receipt before the assessing authority whenever required to do so), crossed cheque or crossed demand draft in favour of the assessing authority for the full amount of tax or taxes due for the year on the basis of the return or for the full amount of tax or taxes actually collected by him, whichever is higher and in the case of a revised return under sub-rules (2A) in addition to the tax or taxes so payable, the interest payable under sub-section (3) of section 23 after deducting therefrom the provisional tax if any, paid already for the year, failing which the assessing authority shall serve upon the dealer a demand notice in Form 14 and the dealer shall pay the sum demanded within the time and in the manner specified therein.

(4) On the receipt of a return in the form prescribed under rule 21AA the assessing authority shall, if it is satisfied after such scrutiny of the accounts and such enquiry as it considers necessary that the return is correct and complete, Finally assess on the basis of the return the tax or taxes payable under Section 5 or notified under Section 10 for the year to which the return relates.

(5) If no return is submitted or if the return submitted appears to the assessing authority to be incorrect or incomplete, the assessing authority may, after making such enquiry as it may consider necessary and after taking into account of relevant materials gathered by it and after issuing a notice to the dealer calling upon him to produce his accounts to prove the correctness or completeness of his return at a time and place to be specified in the notice and after scrutiny of the accounts, if any, produced by the dealer finally assess the tax or taxes at the rates specified in Section 5 or notified under Section 10 according to the best of his judgment after giving the dealer a reasonable opportunity of being heard and also prove the correctness or completeness of the return submitted by him.

Provided that no assessment under sub-rules (4) or sub-rule (5) shall be made where the returns filed under Rule 21 are deemed to have been accepted under section 17A and the assessments are deemed to have been completed under Rule 21A.