gst: Taxpayers will have 3 months to move GST Appellate Tribunal after it’s formed, says HC

All petitioners under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime will get three months’ time to appeal after the formation of GST Appellate Tribunal, the Bombay High Court has said. The order has come as a relief for some 10,000 taxpayers, whose writ petitions on GST are pending at various HCs in absence of resolution mechanism.

“The appeal to tribunal can be made within three months from the date of communication of order or date on which the president or the state president, as the case may be, of the appellate tribunal enters office, whichever is later,” a bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Jitendra S Jain said in their ruling on a writ petition by Essar Steel Suppliers.

Generally, taxpayers can appeal against a tax order by commissioner, appeals, within three months of the order. However, as there is no tribunal, taxpayers are either stuck or are moving to various high courts with writ petitions seeking stay against GST tax orders.

“The approach is very pragmatic and solution-driven,” said Abhishek A Rastogi, founder of Rastogi Chambers, who argued for the taxpayers before the Bombay HC.

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