Practice note · 2026-10-11 · By CA Arun Mehta
The GST Appeal Ladder: Periods, Pre-deposits and the Traps in the Rules
An appeal to the Appellate Authority lies within three months of communication under section 107(1), with a further one month condonable under section 107(4), on a pre-deposit of ten per cent of the disputed tax capped at twenty crore rupees. An appeal to the Appellate Tribunal lies within three months of communication or the date notified by the Government, whichever is later, under section 112(1), with a further three months condonable under section 112(6), on a further ten per cent in addition to the section 107(6) amount. An appeal to the High Court lies within one hundred and eighty days under section 117(2), condonable for sufficient cause with no outer limit. Rule 108 and rule 110 both provide that the appeal is treated as filed only when the final acknowledgement issues, the self-certified copy must go in within seven days where the order is not on the portal, and the Tribunal fee has a floor of five thousand rupees.
The Act gives you the period. The Rules decide when your appeal counts as filed. Appeals are lost in the gap between those two sentences, and this part of the series is about closing it.
Every rung, with its price
| Forum | Provision | Time to file | Condonation | Pre-deposit | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appellate Authority | section 107(1) | 3 months from communication | a further 1 month — section 107(4) | 10% of disputed tax, maximum Rs 20 crore; 10% of the penalty where no tax is demanded — section 107(6) | as prescribed |
| Appellate Tribunal | section 112(1) | 3 months from communication, or the date notified by the Government, whichever is later | a further 3 months — section 112(6) | a further 10% of disputed tax, in addition to the section 107(6) amount, maximum Rs 20 crore — section 112(8) | Rs 1,000 per lakh, minimum Rs 5,000, maximum Rs 25,000 — rule 110(5) |
| Cross-objection | section 112(5) | 45 days from receipt of notice of the appeal | a further 45 days — section 112(6) | — | — |
| High Court | section 117(2) | 180 days from receipt of the order | no outer limit — sufficient cause | — | — |
| Supreme Court | section 118 | from a Principal Bench order, or from the High Court on a fit-for-appeal certificate | the Code of Civil Procedure applies | — | — |
The departmental side runs on its own clock, and it is worth knowing how long an order in your favour stays unsettled. Under section 107(2) the Commissioner may call for the record and direct a subordinate officer to apply to the Appellate Authority within six months from the date of communication of the decision. Section 112(3) gives the same six months for an application to the Tribunal, but measured from the date on which the order was passed, not from its communication. The difference is small and it is real, so take the dates from the right event.
Two small mercies. The Tribunal may, in its discretion, refuse to admit an appeal where the amount involved does not exceed fifty thousand rupees — section 112(2). And once the pre-deposit is paid, recovery of the balance is deemed to be stayed, at both levels: section 107(7) and section 112(9).
The notified-date proviso, which is still rescuing appeals
Section 112(1) does not simply run three months from communication. Since 1 August 2024 it reads that the appeal may be filed within three months from communication
or the date, as may be notified by the Government, on the recommendations of the Council, for filing appeal before the Appellate Tribunal under this Act, whichever is later.
Section 112(3) carries the same formula for the department's six months. Before that amendment the same result was achieved administratively: the CGST (Ninth Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2019 had already provided that the three months would start from the later of the date of communication or the date the President of the Tribunal enters office.
The practical consequence is large and often missed. A first-appellate order communicated in 2023 or 2024, never appealed because there was no Tribunal to appeal to, is not necessarily time-barred. Check the notified date before you tell a client the matter is closed.
The two pre-deposits are cumulative, and that is the real cost
A taxpayer who loses before the Appellate Authority and goes to the Tribunal pays twice: ten per cent under section 107(6), and a further ten per cent under section 112(8), the latter expressly "in addition to the amount paid under sub-section (6) of section 107". Twenty per cent of the disputed tax is out of the business before the Tribunal hears a word.
Two developments make that less painful than it was.
The first is a 2025 amendment. Where an order demands penalty without any tax, the pre-deposit is ten per cent of the penalty rather than a percentage of a tax that does not exist — the proviso to section 107(6), and the matching proviso to section 112(8) inserted with effect from 1 October 2025.
The second is that paying the pre-deposit stops recovery even while the Tribunal is not hearing you. In Trivitron Healthcare Private Ltd v. Deputy Commissioner, decided 7 October 2026, the Bombay High Court had a taxpayer who had paid the first ten per cent in FORM GST DRC-03 on filing the first appeal, had written to the department in October 2023 recording an intention to appeal to the Tribunal when it became functional, and had then paid a further ten per cent through its Electronic Credit Ledger, making up the full twenty per cent. The department nonetheless appropriated Rs 64,01,750 out of a refund.
The Court recorded CBIC Circular No. 224/19/2024-GST dated 11 July 2024, clarifying that recovery shall remain stayed upon payment of the pre-deposit, directed the appropriated sum to be restored within four weeks, and allowed the petition, leaving the appeal itself to be decided on its merits.
Two things to take from Trivitron Healthcare. Write to the department recording the intention to appeal when the Tribunal becomes functional, and pay the second ten per cent: on that circular, recovery then stops. And if money has already been appropriated out of a refund after the pre-deposit was paid, it is recoverable.
Three ways to file on time and still be out of time
The appeal is filed when the acknowledgement issues, not when you upload
Rule 108 and rule 110 carry the same Explanation:
the appeal shall be treated as filed only when the final acknowledgement, indicating the appeal number, is issued.
Before the Appellate Authority that is FORM GST APL-02. Before the Tribunal it is Part B of FORM GST APL-02A, and rule 110 adds that it issues "on removal of defects, if any". A defect notice therefore does not merely delay the hearing. It delays the date on which you are treated as having filed.
The seven-day copy
Where the order is not on the common portal, a self-certified copy must be submitted within seven days of filing. Rule 108(3) then provides that where it is not, "the date of submission of such copy shall be considered as the date of filing of appeal" — which can push a timely appeal out of time after the event.
The corollary matters more, because it is the commoner situation. Where the order is on the portal, no separate copy is required, and an appeal cannot be rejected for want of one. That was the point in S J Gupta and Co v. Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, decided 25 August 2026, where the Karnataka High Court had an appeal rejected in FORM GST APL-02 on the ground of non-receipt of a certified copy of the adjudication order. Counsel pointed out that on filing FORM GST APL-01 online, the system itself automatically populates the impugned order from its reference number. The Court set the rejection aside and restored the proceedings — while prudently directing the taxpayer to file a self-certified copy on the first date of appearance "to meet all exigencies".
That last direction is the practice point. The law is on your side; file the copy anyway.
The fee floor
Rule 110(5) fixes the Tribunal fee at Rs 1,000 for every Rs 1,00,000 of tax, input tax credit, fine, fee or penalty in dispute, "subject to a maximum of twenty five thousand rupees and a minimum of five thousand rupees".
A modest demand does not buy a modest fee. A short payment draws a defect notice; the defect notice delays the final acknowledgement; and the final acknowledgement is the date that counts. The cheapest error on this page costs the most time.
Two periods people forget
Cross-objections. On receiving notice that the other side has appealed to the Tribunal, you have forty-five days to file a memorandum of cross-objections in FORM GST APL-06 — and you may do so even though you did not appeal yourself. Section 112(5) provides that it is then disposed of as if it were an appeal filed in time. Where the department has appealed a partly favourable order, this is how the rest of the order is reopened, and the period is short.
The one-year direction. Section 107(13) requires the Appellate Authority to hear and decide every appeal within one year from filing "where it is possible to do so", excluding any period of stay. It is a direction rather than a limitation, and no consequence is attached to breaching it — but it is worth citing in a reminder letter.
Before you file
1. Confirm the date of communication, which on the Telangana Full Bench discussed in Part 1 means the date the order was uploaded to the portal. 2. For a Tribunal appeal, check the notified date. Three months from communication or from that date, whichever is later. 3. Budget twenty per cent, not ten, if the matter is likely to go past the first appeal — and ten per cent of the penalty only, if no tax is demanded. 4. Pay the fee at the floor of Rs 5,000 even on a small demand. 5. Diarise the final acknowledgement, not the upload. If a defect notice comes, treat it as a limitation problem, not an administrative one. 6. If the order is on the portal, do not accept a rejection for want of a certified copy — but file the self-certified copy anyway. 7. If the department has appealed, diarise forty-five days for the cross-objection.
This is the third of four notes on GST time limits. The others cover what to check when the notice lands, the time the department has to pass the order, and what is left when the time has gone. > This note is general information drawn from the Act, the Rules and reported > decisions, and is not advice upon any particular matter. The limits stated are > those in force on 11 October 2026, and several were changed by the Finance > (No. 2) Act 2024 and the Finance (No. 7) Act 2025 with effect from different > dates. The outcome in any case depends upon its own record.
Questions this answers
- What is the time limit for a GST appeal?
- Three months from communication of the order to the Appellate Authority under section 107(1), extendable by one further month under section 107(4). Three months to the Appellate Tribunal under section 112(1), or the date notified by the Government for filing appeals before the Tribunal, whichever is later, extendable by three further months under section 112(6). One hundred and eighty days to the High Court under section 117(2), where the proviso allows condonation for sufficient cause with no outer limit.
- How much pre-deposit is payable for a GST appeal?
- Ten per cent of the disputed tax at the first appeal under section 107(6), capped at twenty crore rupees, plus the whole of any amount admitted. At the Tribunal a further ten per cent is payable under section 112(8), expressly in addition to the section 107(6) amount, so the total reaches twenty per cent. Where the order demands a penalty without any tax, the pre-deposit is ten per cent of the penalty instead.
- When is a GST appeal treated as filed?
- When the final acknowledgement issues, not when you upload. Rule 108 and rule 110 both carry an Explanation to that effect, the acknowledgement being FORM GST APL-02 before the Appellate Authority and Part B of FORM GST APL-02A before the Tribunal, and rule 110 adds that it issues on removal of defects. A defect notice therefore delays the date on which you are treated as having filed, which is why it should be treated as a limitation problem.
- Can my appeal be rejected for not filing a certified copy?
- Not where the order is already on the common portal. Rule 108(3) requires a self-certified copy within seven days only where the decision is not uploaded there. In S J Gupta and Co, decided 25 August 2026, the Karnataka High Court set aside a rejection made on that ground, the order having been automatically populated when the appeal was filed online, while directing the taxpayer to file a self-certified copy on the first date of appearance in any event.
More practice notes
- When a GST Notice Lands: What the Act Gives You, and What the Notice SaysA Telangana Full Bench has settled when your clock starts and what makes a notice invalid. Then two demand regimes, and the window in which paying ends the proceeding.
- Their Clock, Not Yours: When the Department Runs Out of TimeIf the order is late the proceeding is already over, by force of section 75(10). Which makes the notifications that moved the deadline worth attacking, and Gauhati has struck one down.
- Too Late? Condonation, Rectification, Waiver and Compounding Under GSTPast the outer limit nobody can condone the delay, and the Limitation Act will not help. What varies is whether your High Court will give you a second chance, and on what terms.
Appealing a GST order?
The period is the easy part. We check the notified date for the Tribunal, budget the pre-deposit at both levels, and diarise the final acknowledgement rather than the upload, because that is the date that decides whether you filed in time.
Notice Assessment Session — 30 minutes, ₹5,000 + gst. A defence outline: the points to take, the documents to assemble, and the date each step falls due.