All About GST Appeal

GST Appeal

Any taxpayer who is registered under GST has the option to appeal to the different levels of the appellate authority in case of any problem with the order passed by the GST officer, penalty or any other dispute. So, before moving straight towards different appellate authorities it is important to know what is the meaning of appeal.

What does appeal mean?

An appeal is nothing but an application made by an applicant to the higher authority with the motive to reverse the decision taken by the lower authority.

Chronological order of an appellate authority

How to file a GST appeal?

Any taxpayer can challenge the order passed by the adjudicating authority under GST by filing an appeal under GST to the First Appellate Authority. In case if he/she is not happy with the decision taken by the First Appellate Authority than he/she can appeal to the National Appellate Tribunal. In case still, the taxpayer is not satisfied with the order passed by National Appellate Tribunal then he can file an appeal to the High Court and finally to the Supreme Court.

Basic rules for filing appeals in GST

The taxpayer shall file an appeal in the prescribed form along with the fees stated. The fee will include the full amount of tax, interest, fine, fee and penalty arising from the order, as accepted along with 10% of the disputed amount. However, the GST officer or commissioner needs not to pay any fee in case if he/she is making an appeal.

Role of Authorized Representative

A taxpayer can appoint an Authorized Representative to appear before appellate authorities on his behalf. Howsoever, the taxpayer needs to personally appear if it is required by the law. An Authorized Representative may include the following person

1. Relative of the taxpayer
2. Any employee
3. Taxpayer’s Lawyer
4. CA (Chartered Accountant), CS (Company Secretaries) OR CWA (Cost and Work Accountant) having a valid certificate of practice
5. Any ex-gazetted officer of the tax department or Excise department. However, it shall be noted that the retired officer cannot appear on behalf of the taxpayer within 1 year from the date of his/her retirement.

Cases where a taxpayer cannot file an appeal

To avoid unnecessary expenses of litigation the board or the state government may on the recommendation of the GST Council fix a monetary limit for appeals by the GST officer. Here is the list of cases where a taxpayer cannot file an appeal against the GST officer orders:

1. Transfer of proceedings from one officer to another
2. Seizure of books of account and other documents;
3. Allowing tax payment and other amounts in installments

Do a taxpayer need to file an appeal to both CGST & SGST authorities?

No, a taxpayer need not file an appeal to both CGST and SGST Authorities because the GST Act empowers both CGST and SGST/UTGST officer to pass an order. Let us understand this in simple words, in case if a CGST Officer passes an order then the same order will be applicable for SGST/UTGST but the taxpayer needs to file an appeal against the order passed by the CGST officer and not against SGST officer. Similarly, if a taxpayer wants to challenge the order passed by the SGST officer then he/she needs to file an appeal against the order passed by the SGST officer and not against the CGST officer.