Appeals and Pre-Deposit

An adverse order under section 73, 74 or 74A ends the adjudication, but not the dispute. The order can be appealed. The appeal is subject to two conditions that decide more cases than the merits do. It must be filed within a fixed period that can be extended only once and only briefly. And it must be accompanied by a payment, the pre-deposit, without which it cannot be filed at all.

This guide covers section 107 of the CGST Act, the first appeal to the Appellate Authority. It also covers the second appeal, to the Appellate Tribunal, under section 112.

Who may appeal, and against what

Section 107(1) gives the right of appeal to “any person aggrieved by any decision or order passed under this Act or the State Goods and Services Tax Act or the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act by an adjudicating authority”. One appeal covers all three Acts. An order confirming central and State tax is appealed once, not twice.

The department may appeal too. Under section 107(2), the Commissioner may examine an order “for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the legality or propriety”. The Commissioner may then direct an officer to apply to the Appellate Authority within six months. Section 107(3) treats that application as an appeal, with the officer as appellant.

Three months, and one more

The appeal must be filed “within three months from the date on which the said decision or order is communicated”. The period runs from communication, not from the date of the order.

Section 107(4) allows the Appellate Authority, “if he is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause”, to admit an appeal “within a further period of one month”. The Act provides no further extension. An appeal filed more than four months after communication falls outside what the section allows the Appellate Authority to admit.

When an appeal counts as filed. Rule 108 of the CGST Rules requires the appeal to be filed electronically in FORM GST APL-01. Manual filing is allowed only where the Commissioner has so notified, or the order is not on the common portal. A provisional acknowledgement issues immediately. Where the order is not on the portal, the appellant must submit a self-certified copy within seven days. Otherwise the date of filing becomes the date the copy is submitted. The Explanation to the rule treats the appeal as filed “only when the final acknowledgement, indicating the appeal number, is issued”, in FORM GST APL-02.

The pre-deposit

Section 107(6) bars an appeal unless the appellant has paid two amounts:

(a) in full, such part of the amount of tax, interest, fine, fee and penalty arising from the impugned order, as is admitted by him; and (b) a sum equal to ten per cent. of the remaining amount of tax in dispute arising from the said order, subject to a maximum of twenty crore rupees, in relation to which the appeal has been filed.

Four points about the provision matter in practice.

Admitted amounts first. Whatever the appellant accepts, whether tax, interest or penalty, is paid in full. Only the disputed balance attracts the ten per cent.

Ten per cent of tax, not of the whole demand. Clause (b) is calculated on “the remaining amount of tax in dispute”. Interest and penalty in dispute are not part of it. An order for Rs 1 crore of tax, Rs 60 lakh of interest and Rs 1 crore of penalty, all disputed, requires a pre-deposit of Rs 10 lakh.

The ceiling has changed. The cap was twenty-five crore rupees until section 141 of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024 substituted “twenty”. For integrated tax, the last proviso to section 20 of the IGST Act doubles it, to forty crore rupees.

Penalty-only orders. Where there is no tax in dispute, clause (b) would produce nothing. A proviso substituted by section 129 of the Finance Act, 2025, from 1 October 2025, deals with this. It replaced an earlier proviso that applied only to orders under section 129(3) and required twenty-five per cent of the penalty. For “any order demanding penalty without involving demand of any tax”, the appeal requires “a sum equal to ten per cent. of the said penalty”.

The return for the payment is in section 107(7). Once the pre-deposit is paid, “the recovery proceedings for the balance amount shall be deemed to be stayed”. The appellant does not need to apply for a stay. The stay follows from the payment.

How the appeal is heard

The Appellate Authority “shall give an opportunity to the appellant of being heard”, under section 107(8). Adjournments are limited to three, under sub-section (9). A ground not raised in the appeal may be added at the hearing if its omission “was not wilful or unreasonable”, under sub-section (10).

The order may confirm, modify or annul the decision appealed against. Under section 107(11), the Appellate Authority “shall not refer the case back to the adjudicating authority”. It must decide the matter itself. Two provisos protect the appellant against an order that worsens their position:

• an order enhancing a fee, penalty or fine, or reducing refund or credit, requires “a reasonable opportunity of showing cause”
• an order requiring tax or credit not previously demanded requires a show cause notice, and must be passed within the time limit in section 73, 74 or 74A

The order must state “the points for determination, the decision thereon and the reasons for such decision”. The Appellate Authority is to decide every appeal within a year “where it is possible to do so”. That is a direction, not a time bar.

The second appeal: the Appellate Tribunal

An order of the Appellate Authority, or of the Revisional Authority under section 108, may be appealed to the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal under section 112.

Time. The period is three months from communication of the order, “or the date, as may be notified by the Government … for filing appeal before the Appellate Tribunal under this Act, whichever is later”. That alternative date exists because the Tribunal was constituted years after the Act. Appeals against orders passed while it did not exist needed a starting date of their own. Under section 112(6), the Tribunal may admit an appeal up to three months late for sufficient cause.

The Government first fixed that date by notification S.O. 4220(E) of 17 September 2025. A notification of 30 June 2026 superseded it, fixing 31 July 2026 as the last date for the backlog:

• appeals against orders communicated before 1 May 2026
• departmental applications under section 112(3) against orders passed before 1 February 2026

Orders communicated or passed after those dates take the ordinary periods: three months for an appeal, six months for a departmental application. The Tribunal now accepts appeals electronically, through its e-filing portal.

Pre-deposit. Section 112(8) requires the admitted amount in full, and “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”, subject to a maximum of twenty crore rupees. The second appeal therefore requires a further ten per cent on top of the first. Section 143(d) of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024 reduced both figures, from “twenty per cent.” to “ten per cent.” and from “fifty crore rupees” to “twenty crore rupees”. Like the reduced cap in section 107(6)(b), this took effect on 1 November 2024, under Notification No. 17/2024-Central Tax. For penalty-only orders, a proviso from 1 October 2025 requires a further ten per cent of the penalty. As at the first stage, payment stays recovery of the balance “till the disposal of the appeal”.

Small cases. Under section 112(2), the Tribunal may refuse to admit an appeal where the amount involved “does not exceed fifty thousand rupees”.

Waiver and the right of appeal

One interaction with the previous guide is worth knowing. Where a person settled a demand for 2017-18 to 2019-20 under the waiver in section 128A, sub-section (4) of that section provides that no appeal lies against the order settled. A person cannot take the waiver and also appeal.

Filing an appeal

The order of steps is:

1. Note the date the order was communicated. The three months run from that date, with at most one further month for sufficient cause.
2. Identify what is admitted and what is disputed, separating tax from interest and penalty.
3. Pay the admitted amounts in full, and ten per cent of the disputed tax, up to twenty crore rupees. For a penalty-only order, pay ten per cent of the penalty.
4. File FORM GST APL-01 electronically with the grounds of appeal. If the order is not on the portal, upload a self-certified copy within seven days.
5. Obtain the final acknowledgement in FORM GST APL-02, which fixes the appeal as filed.
6. At the hearing, raise any ground omitted from the appeal, explaining why it was omitted.
7. If the Appellate Authority’s order is adverse, calculate the further ten per cent required for the Tribunal and check the time limit under section 112.

This is the last guide in the series. Taken in order, the fifteen guides follow a supply from the tax it attracts to the dispute it can become. They cover what GST replaced; what a supply is; where and when it is taxed; and its value. Then registration, credit and its limits, the returns and ledgers through which tax is reported and paid, and the annual reconciliation. They end with notices and appeals. The Acts themselves are on this site in full: the CGST Act and the IGST Act.