39. Payment and Recovery of Tax

(1) The tax payable under this Act shall be paid in the manner hereinafter provided.

(2) The amount of —

(i) tax estimated in advance under sub-section (7) of section 3, or

(ii) tax due according to the returns filed by the dealer where full payment of such amount has not been made, or

(iii) tax assessed or re-assessed under section 26, section 27, section 28, section 29, section 30, section 31, section 32 or section 33 or in pursuance of or as a result of an order on appeal, revision or review, less the sum, if any, already paid by the dealer, or

(iv) interest chargeable or penalty imposed, if any, under any of the provisions of this Act, shall be paid by the dealer or the person concerned into a Government Treasury or a Bank authorized in this behalf by the State Government, or in such other manner as may be prescribed and by such date as may be specified in a notice issued by the prescribed authority for this purpose and the date to be specified shall, ordinarily, not be less than thirty days from the date of service of such notice:

Provided that the authority may, in respect of any particular dealer or a person, and, for reasons to be recorded in writing, extend the date of such payment, or allow such dealer to pay tax or interest due and the penalty, if any, by installments in the manner prescribed:

Provided further that where the prescribed authority considers it expedient in the interest of state revenue, it may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, require any dealer, or person, to make such payments forthwith.

(3) If a dealer or a person fails to make payment of any amount of tax by the period specified in the notice issued under sub-section (2) or fails to make payment of tax by the date extended or has defaulted in making payment of installments under the first proviso of the said sub-section, the dealer shall, for such failure or default, pay, in addition to the amount of tax, an amount by way of simple interest calculated at the rate of one and a half percent for each calendar month or part thereof on the amount of such tax.

(4) Where, in course of any proceeding, the prescribed authority finds that any dealer has –

(i) wrongly claimed either the whole or part of his turnover as not taxable and, has consequently, paid lesser amount of tax than payable by him; or

(ii) wrongly declared his turnover or any particulars thereof and thereby has reduced the amount of tax payable under this Act; or

(iii) wrongly claimed Input Tax Credit in excess of what he is entitled to under this Act,

the dealer shall pay, in addition to the amount of tax assessed under any proceeding as aforesaid, simple interest at the rate of one and half percent for each calendar month or part thereof on the difference of the amount previously admitted and tax finally assessed from the date the tax would have been payable had the dealer not committed any of the acts mentioned in clauses (i), (ii) or (iii):

Provided that where recovery of tax or any part thereof assessed under any proceeding under this Act is stayed as a result of an order on appeal or by any competent court, the amount of such interest shall be recoverable after the final order is passed and such order is confirmed from the date the tax first became due.

(5) If a dealer or a person has failed, without reasonable cause, to make payment of any amount of tax by the date specified in the notice issued under sub-section (2) or forthwith as required by the second proviso thereto, or in like manner has failed to make payment of tax and interest by the date extended under the first proviso of the said sub-section or has defaulted in payment of installments or has not paid the amount of interest due, the prescribed authority, after giving the dealer a reasonable opportunity of being heard, may direct that the dealer shall pay, in the prescribed manner, by way of penalty for such failure, an amount which shall be five percent per month of the amount payable following the expiry of such date for each subsequent month and part thereof.

(6) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), (4) and (5), any amount of tax, interest together with penalty, if any, which remains unpaid after the date specified in the notice issued under sub-section (2), or penalty imposed under sub-section (3) and remaining unpaid shall, without prejudice to any other mode of recovery, be recoverable as if it were an arrear of land revenue:

Provided that where an appeal in respect of such amount has been entertained under section 72, the appellate authority may, subject to such rules as may be made by the State Government under this Act, stay recovery of such amount or portion thereof for solong as the appeal remains pending or for such shorter period as the said authority may consider to be adequate.