GST Appeals & Review Mechanism | Goods and Services Tax (GST) - B Com PDF Download

Introduction

Appeals play a significant role in settling legal disagreements by allowing challenges to decisions of lower authorities. In the domain of Goods and Services Tax (GST), a thorough understanding of the appeals process holds immense importance. This article furnishes a detailed guide on the appeals and review mechanism under GST, encompassing forms, procedures, definitions, and key provisions.

Detailed Analysis:

An appeal under any law constitutes a plea to a higher authority for a reconsideration of a decision made by a lower authority. Appeals typically surface in the presence of legal disputes. Here, we delve into appeals within the realm of GST law.

Here is a summary of the GST appeal form

Here is a summary of the GST appeal steps:

Definitions

• Adjudicating Authority means: Any authority, appointed or authorised to pass any order or decision, excluding certain specific bodies like the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, the Revisional Authority, etc.
• Appellate Authority means: An authority appointed or authorised to hear appeals as specified in section 107.
• Revisional Authority means: An authority appointed or authorised for the revision of decisions or orders as mentioned in section 108.

Section 107 | Appeals to Appellate Authority. (Connected with Rule 108, 109, 109A, 109B, 109C, 112 & 113)

• Any person aggrieved by any decision or order passed by an Adjudicating Authority may appeal to Appellate Authority in FORM GST APL-01 with a payment of 10% of the disputed tax as pre-deposit (maximum 25 crores), within three months from the date on which the said decision or order is communicated to such person, and a provisional acknowledgement shall be issued to the appellant immediately.
• The Commissioner may, on his own motion, call for and examine the record of any proceedings in which an Adjudicating Authority has passed any decision or order, for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the legality or propriety of the said decision or order and may, by order, direct any officer subordinate to him to apply to the Appellate Authority in FORM GST APL-03 within six months from the date of communication of the said decision or order.
• The Appellate Authority may condone delay for a period of maximum of 1 month, if he is satisfied that the taxpayer was prevented by sufficient cause from presenting the appeal within the aforesaid period of three months.
• Where the decision or order appealed against is uploaded on the common portal, a final acknowledgment, indicating appeal number, shall be issued in FORM GST APL-02 by the Appellate Authority and the date of issue of the provisional acknowledgment shall be considered as the date of filing of appeal.
• Provided that where the decision or order appealed against is not uploaded on the common portal, the appellant shall submit a self-certified copy of the said decision or order within a period of seven days from the date of filing of FORM GST APL-01, and the date of submission of such copy shall be considered as the date of filing of appeal.
• For the purposes of this rule, the appeal shall be treated as filed only when the final acknowledgement indicating the appeal number is issued.
• Provided that no appeal shall be filed against an order under sub-section (3) of section 129 (Detention, seizure and release of goods and conveyances in transit.), unless a sum equal to twenty-five per cent of the penalty has been paid by the appellant.
• The Appellate Authority shall, where it is possible to do so, hear and decide every appeal within a period of one year from the date on which it is filed, and issue a summary of the order in FORM GST APL-04 clearly indicating the final amount of demand confirmed.
• Provided that where the issuance of order is stayed by an order of a court or Tribunal, the period of such stay shall be excluded in computing the period of one year.
• The appellant may, at any time before issuance of show cause notice under section 107 or before issuance of the order under the said section, whichever is earlier, in respect of any appeal filed in FORM GST APL-01 or FORM GST APL-03, file an application for withdrawal of the said appeal by filing an application in FORM GST APL-01/03W.
• Provided that where the final acknowledgment in FORM GST APL-02 has been issued, the withdrawal of the said appeal would be subject to the approval of the Appellate Authority and such application for withdrawal of the appeal shall be decided by the Appellate Authority within seven days of filing of such application.
• Provided further that any fresh appeal filed by the appellant pursuant to such withdrawal shall be filed within the time limit specified in section 107, as the case may be.

Section 108 | Powers of Revisional Authority. (Connected with Rule 108, 109, 109A, 109B, 109C, 112 & 113)

Subject to the provisions of section 121 (Non-appealable decisions and orders) and any rules made thereunder, the Revisional Authority may, either on his own initiative, upon receiving information, or at the request of the Commissioner, call for and examine the record of any proceedings. If the Revisional Authority considers that any decision or order passed by a subordinate officer is erroneous, prejudicial to the interest of revenue, illegal, improper, or has overlooked certain material facts—whether these facts were available at the time of issuance of the said order or not—or in response to an observation by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, he may stay the operation of such decision or order for a period he deems fit. After providing the concerned person an opportunity to be heard and conducting any necessary further inquiry, he may pass an order as he thinks just and proper, including enhancing, modifying, or annulling the said decision or order.

The Revisional Authority shall not exercise any power if:
(a) The order has been subject to an appeal under section 107 (Appeals to Appellate Authority), section 112 (Appeals to Appellate Tribunal), section 117 (Appeal to High Court), or section 118 (Appeal to Supreme Court).
(b) The period (six months) specified in section 107 has not yet expired, or more than three years have passed since the decision or order sought to be revised was issued.
(c) The order has already been taken for revision under this section at an earlier stage.
(d) The order has been passed in the exercise of powers under this section 108.
If a court or Tribunal issues a stay order, the period of such stay shall be excluded in computing the period.
Every order passed in revision under this section 108 shall be final and binding on the parties, subject to the provisions of sections 113, 117, or 118.
When the Revisional Authority decides to pass an order in revision under section 108 that is likely to adversely affect the person, the Revisional Authority shall serve a notice in FORM GST RVN-01 and provide a reasonable opportunity for the person to be heard.

Section 109 | Constitution of Appellate Tribunal and Benches thereof.
Section 110 | President and Members of Appellate Tribunal, their qualification, appointment, conditions of service, etc.
Section 111 | Procedure before Appellate Tribunal.

Section 112 | Appeals to Appellate Tribunal. (Connected with Rule 110, 111, 112 & 113)

• Any person aggrieved by a decision or order passed under section 107 or section 108 may appeal to the Appellate Tribunal using FORM GST APL-05. This appeal requires the payment of 20% of the disputed tax as a pre-deposit, along with the amount of tax, interest, fine, fee, and penalty arising from the impugned order, in addition to the amount paid under section 107, up to a maximum of 25 crores. This must be done within three months from the date the decision or order is communicated to the person, and a provisional acknowledgement will be issued immediately to the appellant.
• The Appellate Tribunal may refuse to admit an appeal if the tax or input tax credit involved, or the difference in tax or input tax credit involved, or the amount of fine, fee, or penalty determined by the order does not exceed fifty thousand rupees.
• The Commissioner may, on his own initiative, examine the record of any proceedings where an Appellate Authority or Revisional Authority has passed a decision or order. To ensure the legality or propriety of the decision or order, the Commissioner may direct a subordinate officer to apply to the Appellate Authority using FORM GST APL-07 within six months from the date of communication of the decision or order.
• A certified copy of the decision or order being appealed must be submitted to the Appellate Tribunal within seven days from the date of filing FORM GST APL-05. A final acknowledgement indicating the appeal number will then be issued in FORM GST APL-02. The date of filing the appeal will be the date of the provisional acknowledgement, but if the certified copy is submitted after seven days, the filing date will be the date of submission of the copy.
• The respondent, or the party against whom the appeal is filed, may submit a memorandum of cross-objections within 45 days in FORM GST APL-06 if they have not appealed against the order or any part thereof.
• For the purposes of this rule, an appeal is considered filed only when the final acknowledgement indicating the appeal number is issued.
• The fees for filing an appeal or for restoring an appeal is one thousand rupees for every one lakh rupees of tax or input tax credit involved, or the difference in tax or input tax credit involved, or the amount of fine, fee, or penalty determined in the appealed order, up to a maximum of twenty-five thousand rupees.

Section 113 | Orders of Appellate Tribunal

The Appellate Tribunal may, after giving an opportunity of being heard, pass such orders thereon as it thinks fit, confirming, modifying or annulling the decision or order appealed against or may refer the case back to the Appellate Authority, or the Revisional Authority or to the original Adjudicating Authority, with such directions as it may think fit, for a fresh adjudication or decision after taking additional evidence, if necessary.

The Appellate Tribunal may, if sufficient cause is shown, at any stage of hearing of an appeal, grant time to the parties or any of them and adjourn the hearing of the appeal for reasons to be recorded in writing. Provided that no such adjournment shall be granted more than three times to a party during hearing of the appeal.

The Appellate Tribunal may amend any order passed by it under sub-section (1) to rectify any error, if such error is noticed by it on its own accord, or is brought to its notice by the commissioner or the other party to the appeal within a period of three months from the date of the order.

Provided that no amendment which has the effect of enhancing an assessment or reducing a refund or input tax credit or otherwise increasing the liability of the other party, shall be made under this sub-section, unless the party has been given an opportunity of being heard.

The Appellate Tribunal shall, as far as possible, hear and decide every appeal within a period of one year from the date on which it is filed, and issue a summary of the order in FORM GST APL-04 clearly indicating the final amount of demand confirmed.

Every order passed in revision under sub-section (1) shall, subject to the provisions of section 113 or section 117 or section 118, be final and binding on the parties.

Section 114 | Financial and administrative powers of President

The President shall exercise such financial and administrative powers over the Appellate Tribunal as may be prescribed.

Section 115 | Interest on refund of amount paid for admission of appeal

Where an amount paid by the appellant under section 107 or section 112 as pre-deposit for filing of appeal is required to be refunded consequent to any order, interest at the rate (9%) specified under section 56 shall be payable in respect of such refund from the date of payment of the amount till the date of refund of such amount.

Section 116 | Appearance by authorised representative

Any person aggrieved by any order passed by Appellate Tribunal may appeal to the High Court in FORM GST APL-08 the High Court may admit such appeal, if it is satisfied that the case involves a substantial question of law.

Appeal to the High Court shall be filed within a period of one hundred and eighty days from the date on which the aggrieved person receives the order appealed against.

Provided that the High Court may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing it within such period.

Section 118 | Appeal to Supreme Court

As per section 118(1), any appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court
(a) from any order passed by the Appellate Tribunal
(b) from any judgment or order passed by the High Court in an appeal made under section 117

Section 119 | Sums due to be paid notwithstanding appeal, etc.

Notwithstanding that an appeal has been preferred to the High Court or the Supreme Court, sums due to the Government as a result of an order passed by the Appellate Tribunal or an order passed by the High Court under section 117, as the case may be, shall be payable in accordance with the order so passed.

Section 120 | Appeal not to be filed in certain cases

The Board may, on the recommendations of the Council, from time to time, issue orders or instructions or directions fixing such monetary limits, as it may deem fit, for the purposes of regulating the filing of appeal.

Section 121 | Non-appealable decisions and orders

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any provisions of this Act, no appeal shall lie against any decision taken or order passed by an officer if such decision taken or order passed relates to any one or more of the following matters,
(a) an order of the commissioner or other authority empowered to direct transfer of proceedings from one officer to another officer
(b) an order pertaining to the seizure or retention of books of account, register and other documents
(c) an order sanctioning prosecution under this Act
(d) an order passed under section 80 (Payment of tax and other amount in instalments).

Conclusion

Navigating the GST appeals and review mechanism requires a comprehensive understanding of forms, steps, and legal provisions. This guide aims to empower businesses and individuals to effectively utilize the appeals process, ensuring fair resolution of legal disputes related to GST. Staying informed about these mechanisms is crucial for maintaining compliance and addressing legal challenges in the realm of Goods and Services Tax.