(1) This Act may be called the Bihar Taxation of Luxuries 2[x x x] Act, 1988.

(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Bihar.

(3) It shall come into force at once.

In this Act unless there is anything repugnant to the subject or context.

(a) Assistant Commissioner means an Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes appointed under sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the Bihar Finance Act, 1981 (Bihar Act 5, 1981) and includes Additional Assistant Commissioner;

(b) Commissioner means the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes appointed under sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the Bihar Finance Act, 1981 (Bihar Act 5, 1981) and includes Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and also any other officer upon whom the State Government may, by notification, confer all or any of the powers or duties of the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes;

(c) Commercial Taxes Officer means a Commercial Taxes Officer appointed under sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the Bihar Finance Act, 1981 (Bihar Act 5, 1981);

(d) Deputy Commissioner means a Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes appointed under sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the Bihar Finance Act, 1981 (Bihar Act 5, 1981);

3[(e) Hotel means such building or part of a building in which lodging accommodation, with or without boarding is provided by way of business for monetary consideration and includes a lodging house, boarding house, restaurant, club and holiday resorts;]

4[(ee) Commercial Hall means a Shadi Mandap, Community Hall, a building or part of a building, including open space, and open space where accommodation is provided for marriage or reception or matters related there with, including such accommodation provided for seminars, conventions, banquets, meetings or exhibition-cum-sale as may be specified by the Commissioner, whether or not such functions are conducted therein regularly;]

(f) Joint Commissioner means a Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes appointed under sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the Bihar Finance Act, 1981 (Bihar Act 5, 1981);

(g) Authority means an Authority defined in the Rules made under this Act;

3[(h) Luxuries means commodities or services that provide enjoyment, comfort or pleasure extraordinary to necessities of life and such other amenities as are provided in a hotel, boarding house, a lodging house, a banquet hall, a commercial hall, an open space, a conference hall, a mandap for marriage or a restaurant, to occupants there of, which carry a rent or charge of rupees Five hundred or more per day;]

(i) Month means a calendar month;

(j) Prescribed means prescribed by Rules made under this Act;

3[(k) Proprietor in relation to a hotel or a commercial hall means any person who is owning or holding it in any capacity recognized by law or the secretary or manager or any other person entrusted with the managenment of it and includes, the person also who, for the time being, is in-charge of the management of such a hotel or a commercial hall;]

(l) Quarter means the quarter ending on the 30th June, 30th September, 31st December and 31st March;

3[(m)(i) Charges for lodging , in respect of a hotel, includes charges for airconditioning, telephone, telephone calls, television, radio, music, extra-beds and the like but does not include any charges for food, drink, laundry;

(ii) Charges for commercial hall , includes charges for air conditioning, chairs, utensils and vessels, shamiyana, electricity, water, fuel, interior or exterior decoration, use of open space in which any amount received by way of donation or charity, by whatever name called, in relation to letting out the commercial hall is included but any charges for food and drinks is not included.

Explanation. If any question arises whether any charges are charged for lodging or, a commercial hall as the case may be, such question shall be referred to the Commissioner and the decision of the Commissioner shall be final.]

5[(n) Rooms means and includes a suite of rooms of a hotel, a boarding house, a lodging house, a banquet hall, a conference hall, mandap including open space for marriage and other celebrations, a restaurant or any other room used for similar purpose;]

(o) Tax means the tax levied under this Act;

(p) Tribunal means the Tribunal constituted under Section 8 of the Bihar Finance Act, 1981 (Bihar Act 5, 1981);

(q) Year means a financial year.

6[ (1) The tax on luxuries shall be levied and paid by the proprietor at the rate specified in sub-section (2) on the charges for lodging or the charges for commercial hall in respect of such hotel, room or a suite of rooms of a hotel, a boarding house, a lodging house, a banquet hall, a conference hall, or a commercial hall as carry a charge of rupees five hundred or more per day.

(2) The tax under sub-section (1) shall be charged. (a) at the rate of five percent of the charges for lodging of such rooms or suite of rooms in a hotel, boarding house, lodging house provided with luxuries, as carry a charge of five hundred rupees or more per day but less than rupees one thousand per day;

(b) at the rate of ten percent of the charges for lodging of such rooms of suite of rooms of a hotel, boarding house, a lodging house provided with luxuries, as carry a charge of one thousand rupees or more per day; and

(c) at the rate of ten percent of the charges for commercial hall provided with luxuries as carry a charge of five hundred rupees or more per day.]

7[3-A. Exemption from Tax. Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 3 of the said Act, the State Government may, by notification and subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be specified in the notification, exempt any proprietor or class of proprietors from the levy of tax.]

8[3_AA. Compounding of Tax. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, the State Government may, subject to such conditions and restrictions as it may prescribe by a notification, permit a proprietor of a hotel or class or description of hotels [a commercial hall or class or description of commercial hall]9 to pay a fixed amount in lieu of the tax payable under this Act.]

10[ Every proprietor liable to pay tax under Section 3 shall collect along with the charges for lodging or the charges for commercial hall, the amount of tax payable under the said Section from the person to whom a room or a suite of rooms in a hotel, or a commercial hall, as the case may be, along with luxuries is provided by him].

Every proprietor, who is liable to pay tax under Section 3 shall apply for a certificate of registration in the prescribed manner within a month of coming into effect of this Act or within one month from the date he starts providing room along with luxuries in the hotel.

11[ Every proprietor liable to pay tax under this Act, shall submit a return in such form and such manner and in respect of such periods as may be prescribed.]

(1) The amount of tax payable under Section 3 shall be paid by the proprietor to the State Government by the 25th day of the month following for every quarter in the prescribed manner.

(1) Assessment of the tax payable by a proprietor shall be made after examining the accounts or registers and other evidences as the prescribed authority may require.

(2) In case a proprietor does not furnish any return or fails to produce accounts for assessment as required under sub-section (1), the prescribed authority may, after giving the proprietor a reasonable opportunity of being heard, assess the amount of tax payable by such proprietor, to the best of his judgment.

(3) If the prescribed authority, upon information which has come into his possession is satisfied that the proprietor has been liable to pay tax under this Act in respect of any period, and has nevertheless failed to apply for registration under Section 5 or having so applied failed to comply with any requirement for registration within a reasonable time and for which his application for registration has been rejected such prescribed authority shall, after giving the proprietor an opportunity of being heard, assess the amount of tax to the best of his judgment in respect of such period and shall also impose a penalty which shall be equal to the amount of tax assessed.

The prescribed authority may for the reasons to be recorded in writing extend the date for either filing the return under Section 6 or payment of tax under Section 7 or for payment of the assessed tax for a period not exceeding thirty days from the due date.

In case any proprietor fails either to file return under Section 6 or to pay the tax under Section 7 or the amount of tax assessed or penalty imposed under Section 8 within the due or extended date he shall be liable to pay, by way of penalty a sum calculated at the rate of rupees fifty for every day of default or an interest at the rate of two and half percentum of the amount of tax due for every month or part thereof whichever is higher.

The amount of tax due and the penalty if any payable under this Act shall be recoverable from the proprietor as an arrear of land revenue.

[Notes. Recovery as an arrear of land revenue means recovery as a public demand under Bihar & Orissa Public Demands Recovery Act, 1914.]

12[ (1) The Tax assessing authority or any other authority prescribed for this purpose may, with a view to satisfying itself that the provisions of this Act of Rules made there-under are being complied with

(a) enter any room or suite of rooms of a hotel, boarding house, a lodging house, a banquet hall, a conference hall, commercial hall, mandap, open space for marriage or other celebrations, a restaurant, at any time;

(b) require any proprietor of a hotel, boarding house, a lodging house, a banquet hall, a conference hall, commercial hall, mandap, open space for marriage or other celebrations, a restaurant to produce before him any books, accounts or other documents and inspect them;

(c) inspect any room or suite of rooms of a hotel to ascertain their occupancy; and

(d) seize any books, accounts and documents for detailed examination:

Provided that a receipt shall be given to the proprietor in respect of the books of account and document seized.

(2) The authority referred to in sub-section (1) shall, in a case where the proprietor fails to produce any evidence regarding the proper accounting of luxuries provided in a hotel or commercial hall, impose as a penalty, after allowing an opportunity of hearing in the manner prescribed to the proprietor, which shall be equivalent to the amount of tax on the charges for lodging or, as the case may be, charges for commercial hall not found to have been properly accounted for.]

Any proprietor aggrieved by an order of assessment under Section 8 or imposition of penalty under Section 10 may, within sixty days from the date of order or service of the notice of demand, appeal to the Joint Commissioner (Appeal) or any other authority specially authorised in this behalf in the manner prescribed, and, the Joint Commissioner (Appeal) or any other authority specially authorised in this behalf after hearing the appellant, may confirm, annul or modify the said order of assessment or penalty:

Provided that the appellate authority may condone the delay in prefering the appeal if the appellant satisfies that he was prevented by any sufficient cause from prefering the appeal within time.

Subject to such Rules as may be prescribed an order passed on appeal under Section 13 may, on application, be revised by the Tribunal:

Provided that such an application shall be entertained only if made within 90 days from the date of communication of the order sought to be revised:

Provided further that where the Tribunal is satisfied that the appellant had sufficient reason for not filing the application for revision in time, it may condone the delay.

The Commissioner may on his own motion, call for and examine the records of any proceeding passed by any authority under this Act, other than mentioned in Section 14, for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the legality or propriety of such order and may after making or causing to be made such inquiry as he may deem necessary revise any order passed by any authority.

Any order passed by an authority under this Act may be reviewed by the said authority:

Provided that no such review shall be made after the expiry of one year from the date of such order without the previous sanction of the Commissioner:

Provided further that no authority shall review an order passed by its predecessor in office without previous sanction of the Commissioner.

Any amount paid by the Proprietor in excess of amount finally determined either on assessment under Section 8 or on an order in appeal, revision or review shall be refunded to him in the manner prescribed.

(1) If a proprietor, which shall for the purpose of this Section, includes an employee, the manager or every person who was incharge or responsible for the management of the hotel ¹[or commercial hall] at the time of commission of the offence.

(a) fails or neglects to maintain accounts and registers, issue bill or cash memos as provided in this Act and Rules framed thereunder; or

(b) fails or neglects to furnish any information or produce books of account, registers and documents in course of inspection; or

(c) fails to submit returns or pay tax and penalty required under Sections 6 and 7; or

(d) obstructs any authority in the performance of duty under this Act shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months or with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees or with both.

(2)(a) No court shall take cognizance of any offence under this Act or the Rule made thereunder except with the previous sanction of the Commissioner and

(b) No court inferior to that of Judicial Magistrate of the 1st Class shall try any offence under this Act.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Act II of 1974), all offences punishable under sub-section (1) shall be cognizable and bailable.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the State Government or any authority or officer of the State Government for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of the provisions of this Act and Rules made thereunder.

(1) The State Government may by notification in the Official Gazette, make Rules consistent with the provisions of this Act for the purpose of carrying out the provision of this Act.

(2) Every Rule made under this Act shall be laid as soon as may be after it is made, before each House of the State Legislature while it is in session for total period of fourteen days which may be comprised in one session or in two successive sessions, and if before expiry of the session in which it is so laid or the session immediately following both the Houses agree in making any modification in the Rule or both the Houses agree that the Rules should not be made the Rules shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect as the case may be so however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that Rule.

(1) The Bihar Luxuries in Hotels Ordinance, 1987 (Bihar Ordinance no. 32, 1987) is hereby repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding such repeal anything done or any action in exercise of any power conferred by or under the said Ordinance, shall be deemed to have been done or taken in the exercise of powers conferred by or under this Act as if this Act was in force on the day on which such thing or action was done or taken.

13[(3) Where

(a) the tax has been collected under the Bihar Taxation on Luxuries in Hotels Act, 1988 but the same has not been deposited before the date of commencement of the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 of the said Act, the tax so collected by any person under the said Act, shall be deposited under the provisions of the aforesaid Act and the Rules made thereunder, as if the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 has not come into force;

(b) a return or statement is required to be filed under the Bihar Taxation on Luxuries in Hotels Act, 1988, but the same had not been filed before the commencement of the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 of the said Act, such return or statement, as the case may be, shall be filed under the provisions of the aforesaid Act and the Rules made thereunder, as if the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 has not come into force by the person liable to file such return or statement;

(c) a return has been filed, under the Bihar Taxation on Luxuries in Hotels Act, 1988 by any proprietor for any year and no Tax assessment in respect of that year has been made before commencement of the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 of the said Act, the proceedings for the Tax assessment for that year shall be made or be continued as if the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 has not come into force and such Tax assessment shall be made by the Tax assessing authority specified under Provisions of the said Act or rules made thereunder;

(d) a person aggrieved by any decision made or order passed under the Bihar Taxation on Luxuries in Hotels Act, 1988 has not filed any appeal or an application for review or revision before the date of commencement of the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 of the said Act, such person may file an appeal or make an application for revision or review, as the case may be, under the provision of the said Act and the rules made thereunder to the prescribed authority for disposing of such appeal or application, as if the amendment to sub-section (1) of section 1 has not come into force;

(e) an appeal or an application for review or revision has been filed under the Bihar Taxation Luxuries in Hotels Act, 1988 before the commencement of the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 of the said Act, such appeal, application for review or revision, as the case may be, shall be continued and disposed of in the manner prescribed under the provisions of the said Act or Rules made thereunder as if the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 has not come into force;

(f) any proceeding for refund or recovery of tax under the Bihar Taxation on Luxuries in Hotels Act, 1988 has been initiated before the commencement of the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 of the said Act, such proceeding shall be continued in the manner prescribed under the provision of the said Act and the Rules framed thereunder as if the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 has not come into force;

(g) any proceeding for refund or recovery of tax under the Bihar Taxation on Luxuries in Hotels Act, 1988 has not been initiated before the commencement of the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 of the said Act, such proceeding shall be initiated and disposed of in the manner prescribed under the provision of the said Act and the Rules framed thereunder as if the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 has not come into force;

(h) any proceeding under Section 12 of the Bihar Taxation on Luxuries in Hotels Act, 1988 has not been initiated before the commencement of the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 of the said Act, such proceeding shall be continued and disposed of in the manner prescribed under the provisions of the said Act and the Rules framed thereunder as if the amendment to sub-section (1) of Section 1 has not come into force.]

14[Notification S.O. 219, dated 27th November, 2012. In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3A of the Bihar Taxation on Luxuries Act, 1988, (Bihar Act 5 of 1988), the Governor of Bihar is pleased to exempt the class of proprietors specified in column (2) of the Table appended hereto subject to the conditions and restrictions specified in the corresponding column (3) of the said Table:

2. This notification shall come into force with effect from the date of its issue.

15[3-AA. Compounding of Tax. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, the State Government may, subject to such conditions and restrictions as it may prescribe by a notification, permit a proprietor of a hotel or class or description of hotels [a commercial hall or class or description of commercial hall]16 to pay a fixed amount in lieu of the tax payable under this Act.]

1. Published in Bihar Gazette (Ex-ord.) dated 29.2.1988.

2. The word in Hotels deleted by Bihar Finance Act 3 of 2011, dt. 1.4.2011.

3. Subs. by Bihar Finance Act, 2011 (3 of 2011).

4. Ins. by ibid.

5. Subs. by Bihar Finance Act, 2011 (3 of 2011).

6. Subs. by Bihar Finance Act, 2011 (3 of 2011).

7. Ins. by Amdt. Act 30 of 2006.

8. Ins. by Amdt. Act 30 of 2006.

9. Ins. by Bihar Finance Act, 2011 (3 of 2011).

10. Subs. by Bihar Finance Act, 2011 (3 of 2011).

11. Subs. by Bihar Finance Act, 2011 (3 of 2011).

12. Subs, by Bihar Finance Act, 2011 (3 of 2011).

13. Ins. by Bihar Finance Act, 2011 (3 of 2011).

14. Published in Bihar Gazette (Ex. ord.) No. 623, dated 27th November, 2012.

15. Ins. by Amdt. Act 30 of 2006.

16. Ins. by Bihar Finance Act, 2011 (3 of 2011).