GSTAT: Practice And Procedure (Appellate Remedies Part-III)

Introduction: We are in the 10th year of GST implementation. After a lot of pre-natal pains and tweaking of provisions, the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) is finally seeing the light of day. GSTAT constitutes the second appellate tier under the GST regime. Conceived as a specialised tax tribunal, GSTAT is intended to provide an effective dispute-resolution mechanism and an efficacious appellate remedy.  It is also expected to reduce the constitutional courts’ burden in routine tax disputes. This article examines the statutory framework governing GSTAT, its jurisdiction and powers, procedural aspects of appeals, the statutory timelines prescribed under the GST Acts, deemed stay of recovery, and the common pitfalls to be avoided.

Statutory Framework

GSTAT is a statutory indirect tax tribunal constituted under Section 109 of the CGST Act, 2017. Corresponding provisions exist under SGST and UTGST enactments, ensuring a uniform appellate structure across India[1]. GSTAT is the final fact-finding authority in GST matters.

Section 109 provides for the establishment of the Appellate Tribunal, for its subject matter jurisdiction, and for the constitution of the Principal Bench and State Benches.

The GSTAT, the Principal Bench as well as the State Benches, are empowered to hear appeals against the order passed by the Appellate Authority or the Revisional Authority.

Principal Bench

GSTAT, being a national Tribunal, has its Principal Bench at New Delhi[2]. The Principal Bench has exclusive jurisdiction in two types of cases: (i) Cases in which any one of the issues involved relates to the place of supply (ii) the anti-profiteering matters referred to in sub-section (2) of Section 171 of the CGST Act, 2017.

Further, as per second proviso to Section 109 (5) of the CGST Act, 2017 the Government may, on the recommendations of the Council, notify other cases or a class of cases which shall be heard only by the Principal Bench. Accordingly, the Government has issued Notification: S.O. 4219(E) dated 17.09.2025[3] notifying cases, in respect of which an appeal shall be heard only by the Principal Bench, namely: —

Any case or class of cases, —

a) pending before two or more State Benches where the President is satisfied that an identical question of law is involved;

b) where one or more issues involved therein are related to OIDAR Services or Actionable Claims covered under section 14 or section 14A of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017(13 of 2017); and

c) where one or more issues involved therein is related to manner of distribution of credit by ISD covered under Section 20 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017(12 of 2017).

State Benches

GSTAT has 31  State Benches located in the States and UTs, and these will have sittings in 44 different locations across the Country. The details of State Benches and their jurisdiction is given under Ministry of Finance Notification  S.O. 3048(E) dated 31.07.2024 as amended vide Notifications S.O. 5063(E) dated 26-11-2024 and corrected vide S.O. 5128(E) dated 29.11.2024.

GSTAT Procedure

Section 111 of the CGST Act prescribes the procedure of appeal before GSTAT. GSTAT will not be bound by the procedures of CPC, 1908, but shall be bound by the principles of natural justice. It has got the power to regulate its own procedure. Accordingly, GSTAT has issued Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 2025 vide Notification G.S.R. 256(E) dated 24.04.2025.

For the purpose of discharging its functions, GSTAT has the same powers as a civil court under CPC, 1908 while trying a suit, in respect of the following matters, namely:-

a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;

b) requiring the discovery and production of documents;

c) receiving evidence on affidavits;

d) subject to the provisions of sections 123 and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), requisitioning any public record or document or a copy of such record or document from any office;

e) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents;

f) dismissing a representation for default or deciding it ex parte;

g) setting aside any order of dismissal of any representation for default or any order passed by it ex parte; and

h) any other matter which may be prescribed.

GSTAT has the power to enforce any order in the same manner as if it were a decree made by a court, and it shall be lawful for the Tribunal to send for execution of its orders to the court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction a registered office of the company is situated or the person concerned voluntarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain. All proceedings before the GSTAT shall be deemed to be judicial proceedings.

Who Can File an Appeal before GSTAT/ Filing Process.

Both the person Aggrieved Person as well as the Revenue can file an appeal in the GSTAT.

Procedure for Aggrieved Person: Any person aggrieved by an order passed against him under Section 107 or Section 108 of the Act can file appeal under Section 112 (1).

FORM: As per Rule 110 (1) of CGST Rules, 2017, the appeal shall be filed in FORM GST APL-05, along with the relevant documents, electronically and provisional acknowledgement in Part A of FORM GST APL-02A shall be issued to the appellant immediately. Rule 18 of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 2025 provides that an appeal to the Appellate Tribunal shall be filed online on the GSTAT Portal with prescribed details. An e-filing manual is available at https://efiling.gstat.gov.in/downloads/manual/manual.pdf. Rule 20 ibid. prescribes the contents of the appeal, and Rule 21 prescribes the documents required to accompany the appeal.

Fee: The fees for filing of appeal or restoration of appeal shall be 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 order appealed against, subject to a maximum of twenty five thousand rupees and a minimum of five thousand rupees. Further,  the fees for filing an appeal in respect of an order not involving any demand of tax, interest, fine, fee or penalty shall be five thousand rupees. [CGST Rule 110 (5)]

Procedure for Revenue: As per Section 112 (3), the Commissioner may, on his own motion, or upon request from the Commissioner of State tax or Commissioner of Union territory tax, call for and examine the record of any order passed by the Appellate Authority or the Revisional Authority under this Act or the State Goods and Services Tax Act or the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the legality or propriety of the said order and may, by order, direct any officer subordinate to him to apply to the Appellate Tribunal. Such an application shall be dealt with by the Appellate Tribunal as if it were an appeal made against the order under sub-section (11) of section 107 or under sub-section (1) of section 108.

  Form: An application to the Appellate Tribunal under sub-section (3) of section 112 shall be filed in Form GST APL-07, along with the relevant documents, electronically, and a provisional acknowledgement [in Part A of FORM GST APL-02A] shall be issued to the appellant immediately. [CGST Rule 111 (1)]

On receipt of notice that an appeal has been preferred under this section, the party against whom the appeal has been preferred, even if it itself had not filed an appeal,  may file a memorandum of cross-objections within 45 days in FORM GST APL-06, and such memorandum shall be disposed of by the Appellate Tribunal. This may be very useful in the Commissioner (Appeals) order partially against the taxpayer. It is pertinent to mention that the provision regarding Cross-Objections as an appeal is not available in the case of the Commissioner (Appeals).

The Time Lines

The time-lines for filing appeal and a memorandum of cross –objections and condonation of delay are provided under ss. 112 (1), 112 (3), 112 (5) and 112 (6) of the CGST Act.

GSTAT may, in its discretion,   admit the appeal/ application within a delay of three months from the period prescribed for appeal/ application. GSTAT may, in its discretion,   admit the cross –objections within a delay of 45 days from the period prescribed.

 How To File An Appeal Before GSTAT.

The manner of filing an appeal before GSTAT is as per Section 112 (7) of the CGST Act r/w Rule 110 of the CGST Rules. All appeals before the GSTAT are to be filed in electronic form, with facility for document upload at https://efiling.gstat.gov.in/mainPage.drt. GSTAT is the first Tribunal in the Country to go digital from its very inception. Appeals/applications, once filed on the e-filing portal of the GSTAT, are processed through the help of the Case Information System and Document Management System, and all orders are also passed and uploaded on the website of the GSTAT.

Pre-deposit Requirement;

The provisions regarding pre-deposit are given u/s 112 (8) of the CGST Act, 2017. These can be detailed as follows.

Admitted Liability → 100% payment mandatory

Disputed Tax Amount →  a sum equal to ten per cent. of the remaining amount of tax in dispute, in addition to the amount paid under sub-section (6) of section 107, arising from the said order, subject to a maximum of twenty crore rupees, in relation to which the appeal has been filed. It is noteworthy that the maximum limit is for CGST/ SGST each, for IGST it is forty crores.

Penalty Only Cases: →As per proviso to Section 112 (8), in case of any order demanding penalty without involving demand of any tax, no appeal shall be filed against such order unless a sum equal to ten per cent. of the said penalty, in addition to the amount payable under the proviso to sub-section (6) of section 107, has been paid by the appellant.

Result→ Automatic stay on recovery u/s 112 (9)

Hearing Procedure in GSTAT.

Proceedings before the Tribunal adhere to the principles of natural justice, with reasonable opportunity of hearing afforded to both parties.

The hearings in the GSTAT are in a hybrid mode, affording the facility to opt for a physical hearing or attend it electronically from any remote location. All concerned stakeholders in a GST litigation will be able to get a live update of developments in their cases[4].

Pitfalls that can be fatal before GSTAT

• Filing appeals without completing the mandatory pre-deposit leading to dismissal on maintainability.
• Treating GSTAT as a forum for fresh evidence despite it being the final fact-finding authority.
• Raising vague or omnibus grounds instead of issue-specific legal and factual challenges.
• Failure to challenge adverse findings of fact, assuming they can be re-argued before the High Court.
• Missing limitation periods or relying excessively on condonation without demonstrating sufficient cause.
• Ignoring jurisdictional allocation between the Principal Bench and the State Benches, particularly in place of supply matters.

Conclusion:  In the architecture of tax laws, an appeal to an independent Tribunal acts as the check that balances administrative discretion. It ensures that justice is not final at first glance. Tax adjudication by departmental officers has its own limitations. Many times, rigid demands need a reasoned re-determination, and technical taxation needs to be tested against legal principles. A second appellate tier, prior to the matter reaching a constitutional court, is designed to be free from administrative parochialism.  In GSTAT, an independent legal structure meets domain specialisation—law and tax expertise sit side by side. Hopefully, GSTAT will scale justice with precision.

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Disclaimer: The article is only for information purposes and is not a legal opinion of any sort. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and these are purely for educational purposes, not a substitute for actual legal provisions. For any query, the author can be reached at taxthinklegal@gmail.com.

Notes:

[1] For ease of reference only CGST Act provisions mentioned.

[2] Ministry of Finance Notification S.O. 3048(E) dated 31.07.2024.

[3] https://taxguru.in/goods-and-service-tax/notifying-cases-class-cases-heard-principal-member-bench.html

[4] https://efiling.gstat.gov.in/mainPage.drt

Also Read:

Appellate Remedies under GST Law (Part-II) (Revenue’s Appeal & Revision Under GST)

Appellate Remedies under GST Law (Part-I)-  (First Appeal under GST)