Appealing an Advance Ruling

An advance ruling is meant to settle a question quickly. The appeal against it is built the same way. It must be filed within thirty days, it is decided by a two-member body that is supposed to rule within ninety days, and there is no further appeal under the Act. The structure has one feature with no equivalent in ordinary appeals. If the two members of the appellate body disagree, the law deems that no ruling can be given at all. Either side can be left with nothing after the appeal.

This guide covers sections 99 to 102 of the CGST Act, rule 106 and FORMS GST ARA-02 and ARA-03. It also covers the National Appellate Authority under sections 101A to 101C, which was enacted in 2019 and has never been constituted, and the interim arrangement made for it in 2026. How a ruling is sought is in Applying for an Advance Ruling.

The Appellate Authority

Like the Authority itself, the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling is a State body. Section 99 deems the Appellate Authority “constituted under the provisions of a State Goods and Services Tax Act or a Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act” to be the Appellate Authority for that State or Union territory. The State Acts follow a common model. Section 99 of the Himachal Pradesh GST Act, for example, constitutes it of “the Chief Commissioner of central tax as designated by the Board” and “the Commissioner of State tax”. Both members are senior tax officers, one from each administration.

The Appellate Authority hears two kinds of matter: appeals under section 100, and references from the Authority under section 98(5) where its two members differed.

Who may appeal, and against what

Section 100(1) gives the right of appeal to “the concerned officer, the jurisdictional officer or an applicant aggrieved by any advance ruling pronounced under sub-section (4) of section 98”.

Three limits follow from those words.

• The appeal lies against a ruling pronounced under section 98(4), which means a ruling on merits. An order rejecting an application at the admission stage under section 98(2) is not such a ruling. The portal’s FAQ says plainly that an appeal cannot be filed on the portal against a rejection. It offers rectification instead.
• The appellants are the applicant and the two officers. Nobody else may appeal. In Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd v Karnataka Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (Karnataka High Court, Division Bench, W.P. No. 192 of 2022, 7 July 2026), a customer that bore the supplier’s GST under its contract was held to have no standing even to challenge the appellate ruling by writ. Section 103 makes the ruling binding only on the applicant and its officers.
• The department can appeal a ruling in the applicant’s favour. Many appellate rulings arise from the officer’s appeal, not the applicant’s.

The portal’s FAQ adds that an appeal can be filed against a ruling that the Authority has rectified, and against the ruling part of a partial reference. It cannot be filed against a ruling the Appellate Authority itself issued on a reference. That ruling is already the Appellate Authority’s.

Thirty days, and thirty more

Section 100(2) requires the appeal “within a period of thirty days from the date on which the ruling sought to be appealed against is communicated to the concerned officer, the jurisdictional officer and the applicant”. Under the proviso, the Appellate Authority may allow it “within a further period not exceeding thirty days” if “the appellant was prevented by a sufficient cause”.

The statute therefore allows sixty days at most. The portal’s manual says that an appeal “can be filed even after 30 days and up to 60 days (even without COD) or even after 60 days”. The portal calculates the days of delay, and requires an application for condonation of delay to be attached where the figure is not zero. That describes what the system will accept, not what the Act allows. The FAQ itself states that the Appellate Authority rejects condonation where “the delay period is more than 30 days”.

The forms and the fee

The applicant files FORM GST ARA-02, under rule 106(1). Its fields are the advance ruling number and the date of its communication. Then the appellant’s and the officer’s details, whether the appellant wishes to be heard in person, the facts in brief, the grounds of appeal and the payment details. It closes with a prayer to set aside or modify the ruling, and a verification. Rule 106(1) prescribes “a fee of ten thousand rupees to be deposited in the manner specified in section 49”. CBIC’s Circular No. 25/25/2017-GST para 6 directs payment in the manner detailed in its para 4, which provides for payment “each under the CGST and the respective SGST Act”. The portal’s FAQ describes a fee of Rs 10,000, and displays the total fee applicable when the appeal is started. The fee is paid from the electronic cash ledger.

The officer files FORM GST ARA-03, under rule 106(2), and “no fee shall be payable by the said officer”. Its fields mirror ARA-02.

Signing. Under rule 106(3), the applicant’s appeal is signed in the manner specified in rule 26. An officer’s appeal is signed “by an officer authorised in writing by such officer”. The portal’s manual offers submission with DSC or with EVC. Rule 107A permits manual filing. Where it is used, the circular requires four copies, with the fee still paid online.

Filing on the portal

The portal’s manual and FAQ describe the steps:

1. The applicant opens the case from Services > User Services > My Applications. The Act or Acts are auto-selected, and the portal shows the total fee and offers a deposit if the cash ledger is short.
2. The applicant creates the appeal application. The portal fills in the jurisdictional officer’s details and the days of delay.
3. The applicant downloads the template, fills in the facts and grounds, converts it to PDF and uploads it with supporting documents. Where there is delay, the condonation application is uploaded with them.
4. The appeal is signed by DSC or EVC, the fee is debited and an ARN issues. The officers are notified by email.

An appeal by the officer arrives the same way in reverse. The applicant receives an email with the ARN, and can file a counter-reply on the portal.

The hearing and the ninety days

Section 101(1) requires the Appellate Authority to give “the parties to the appeal or reference an opportunity of being heard”. It may then pass “such order as it thinks fit, confirming or modifying the ruling appealed against or referred to”. Under section 101(2), the order “shall be passed within a period of ninety days from the date of filing of the appeal”. The Act attaches no consequence to delay. The portal’s FAQ says there is “no limit on Adjournments”.

Where delay is to be condoned, the portal describes a separate hearing on condonation first. If condonation is refused, the status changes to “Rejected” and the appeal ends there.

The ruling is signed by the members and sent to the applicant, the appellant, the officers and the Authority (section 101(4) and rule 107).

When the members differ

Section 101(3) provides: “Where the members of the Appellate Authority differ on any point or points referred to in appeal or reference, it shall be deemed that no advance ruling can be issued in respect of the question under the appeal or reference.”

There is no casting vote and no third member. The portal’s FAQ says that in such a case the Appellate Authority “will mention in the order that no advance ruling can be pronounced in respect of such point or points”. On its words, the subsection leaves the question without a ruling. The question is then decided in the ordinary way: in returns, at audit, or in a notice and adjudication. The Authority’s ruling was the subject of the appeal, and the subsection does not say that it survives.

Rectification and voidness

Section 102 applies to the Appellate Authority as it does to the Authority. It may amend an order made under section 101 “so as to rectify any error apparent on the face of the record”. It may act on an error it notices itself, or on one brought to its notice by the officers or the applicant, within six months of the order. A rectification that increases tax or reduces credit needs a hearing first. The portal’s FAQ allows repeated rectification applications from the ORDERS tab. Where an application is made after six months, the portal shows a warning but lets the applicant proceed.

Section 104 also lets the Appellate Authority declare its own ruling void ab initio, after a hearing, where it was obtained by fraud, suppression or misrepresentation.

No further appeal: the writ court

The Act provides no appeal from the Appellate Authority’s ruling to the Tribunal or to the High Court. A ruling is reviewed only under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution. The writ route is described in Writ Petitions in GST Matters.

That route was settled for income-tax advance rulings in Columbia Sportswear Co v Director of Income Tax, Bangalore (Supreme Court, SLP © No. 31543 of 2011, 30 July 2012, (2012) 11 SCC 224). A foreign company had obtained an adverse ruling from the Authority for Advance Rulings on whether its Indian liaison office was a permanent establishment. It challenged the ruling directly in the Supreme Court. The Court held that section 245S of the Income-tax Act, which made rulings binding, “does not bar the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 136 … or the jurisdiction of the High Court under Articles 226 and 227”. It declined to hold that a ruling “can only be challenged under Article 136”. The challenge belongs first in the High Court.

High Courts have also entertained writs against GST rulings without an appeal first. In Thai Mookambikaa Ladies Hostel v Union of India (Madras High Court, W.P. No. 28486 of 2023 and connected petitions, order of 22 March 2024; read on Indian Kanoon, not found on gst.bharattax.net), hostel operators had obtained rulings from the Tamil Nadu Authority that their hostel accommodation was taxable. A Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court had already held such services exempt. The State argued that the appeal under section 100 had to be exhausted. The Court held that an appeal would be “a mere exercise in futility” where the Authority had not followed a High Court Division Bench. It set the rulings aside. The State had told the Court that its special leave petition against the Karnataka decision was pending, without a stay.

The National Appellate Authority: enacted, not constituted

The problem the National Appellate Authority was meant to solve is this. A business registered in two States can receive opposite rulings on the same question from two State Appellate Authorities, with nowhere to take the conflict. The Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019 inserted sections 101A to 101C, and consequential amendments to sections 95 and 102 to 106, to deal with it.

What the 2019 provisions say.

• Section 101A provides for a National Appellate Authority, with a President who has been a Supreme Court judge, is or has been a High Court Chief Justice, or has been a High Court judge for at least five years, and a Technical Member each from the Centre and the States.
• Under section 101B, where “conflicting Advance Rulings are given by the Appellate Authorities of two or more States or Union territories”, an appeal lies. It may be brought by an authorised officer from those States, or by “an applicant, being distinct person referred to in section 25”. The time limit is thirty days, or ninety for the officer, counted from communication of “the last of the conflicting rulings”. It may be extended by thirty days for sufficient cause. The appeal is to be “in such form, accompanied by such fee and verified in such manner as may be prescribed”.
• Under section 101C, the National Appellate Authority hears the applicant, the officer and the Chief Commissioners and Commissioners of all States. It decides by majority, as far as possible within ninety days.
• Under section 103(1A), its ruling binds the applicants and “all registered persons having the same Permanent Account Number”, and the officers concerned with them.

Their status. CBIC’s text of each of these provisions still records them as “effective from a date to be notified”. Notification No. 01/2020-Central Tax brought most of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019’s GST amendments into force on 1 January 2020. It expressly left out sections 103 to 110 of that Act, which are the provisions CBIC’s text cites for these amendments. CBIC’s list of Central Tax notifications, checked on 14 October 2026, contains no later notification bringing them into force. No National Appellate Authority has been constituted.

The 2026 interim arrangement. CBIC’s text records that section 156 of the Finance Act, 2026 inserted sub-section (1A) into section 101A from 1 April 2026. It allows the Government, “till the National Appellate Authority is constituted”, to “empower any existing Authority constituted under any law for the time being in force to hear appeals made under section 101B”. The Explanation provides that “existing Authority” includes a Tribunal. Notification No. 02/2026-Central Tax (S.O. 2286(E), 7 May 2026) uses that power. It “empowers the Principal Bench of the Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi … to hear appeals made under section 101B”, and is “deemed to have come into force on the 1st day of April, 2026”. The notification was first printed with the number “18/2024”, and Corrigendum S.O. 2349(E) of 8 May 2026 corrected it.

What remains open. Section 101B appeals have been assigned a forum. However, CBIC’s published text still shows section 101B as not yet in force. The CGST Rules, as CBIC published them on 11 October 2026, prescribe no form, fee or verification for a section 101B appeal. Rules 104 to 107A cover only the Authority and the State Appellate Authority. For the State Appellate Authority, the procedure in this guide is complete. For conflicting rulings across States, the law exists and a forum has been named, but the published rules do not yet say how an appeal is filed.

The procedure in order

1. Note the date the ruling was communicated. The appeal must be filed within thirty days, with at most thirty more for sufficient cause.
2. Check that the order is a ruling under section 98(4). A rejection at the admission stage is not appealable under section 100.
3. Read the ruling for errors apparent on the record. Rectification under section 102 is available within six months, and is separate from an appeal.
4. Deposit the appeal fee in the cash ledger and file ARA-02 from My Applications. Include the facts, the grounds, any condonation application and the supporting documents. Sign by DSC or EVC.
5. Watch for the officer’s own appeal in ARA-03, which carries no fee, and file a counter-reply where one is invited.
6. Attend the hearing. The Appellate Authority confirms or modifies the ruling, and if its members differ there is no ruling on that point.
7. Against the Appellate Authority’s ruling, the only remedy is a writ petition in the High Court. Where Appellate Authorities in two States have given conflicting rulings to one business, the National Appellate Authority provisions and Notification No. 02/2026-Central Tax are the starting point. Their filing procedure is yet to be prescribed.

The next guide covers the section 128A waiver for 2017-18 to 2019-20, and the appeals withdrawn to take it.