Golden opportunity for all the taxpayers who missed filing an Appeal within the allowable time or whose appeal got rejected due to time-barred against the order passed by the proper officer up till 31/03/2023. CBIC has come up with an Amnesty Scheme wherein taxpayers can now file appeals to the Appellate Authority against such demand orders even when the time limit for appeal filing has lapsed.
The GST Council had recommended an amnesty scheme for filing a missed-out appeal in its 52nd Council meeting held on 07/10/2023 in New Delhi and said was officially notified by CBIC vide Notification no 53/2023 Central Tax dt. 02/11/2023.
Procedure to be followed to get the benefit of this Amnesty Scheme
1. Appeal not filed
Taxpayers can now file an appeal in FORM GST APL-01 on the GST portal on or before 31/01/2024, for the order passed by the proper officer up till 31/03/2023. It is further advised that the taxpayers should make payments of Pre-Deposit of 12.5% (maximum Rs. 25 crores) out of which at least 20% (i.e. 2.5% of the tax under dispute) should be debited from ElectronicCash Ledger and the rest (ie. 10%) can be paid by Electronic Credit Ledger. The GST Portal allows taxpayers to choose the mode of payment (electronic Credit/Cash ledger), and it is the responsibility of the taxpayer to select the appropriate ledgers and make the correct payments of Pre-Deposit.
The office of the Appellate Authority shall check the correctness of the payment before entertaining the appeal and any appeal filed without proper payment of Pre-Deposit may be dealt with as per the legal provisions.
2. Appeal already filed after 90+30 days
If a taxpayer has already filed an appeal and wants it to be covered by the benefit of the Amnesty scheme would need to make differential payments of Pre-Deposit to comply with Notification No.53/2023. The payment should be made against the demand order using the "Payment towards demand" facility available on the GST portal (Login >> Services >> Ledgers >> Payment towards Demand).
3. Appeal already filed after 90+30 days but Rejected as time-barred in APL-02
Taxpayers who have previously filed an appeal but it was rejected as time-barred in APL-02 by the Appellate authority, then the taxpayer would be able to Refile the appeal. However, in case, the taxpayers face any issue while re-filing APL-01, a ticket shall be raised on the Grievance redressal portal.
4. Appeal already filed after 90+30 days and Rejection Order issued in APL-04
4.1. If the Appellate Authority has issued a Rejection Order in APL-04 due to the appeal application being time-barred, then the taxpayer has to approach the respective Appellate Authority office well in advance to comply with the dates in the said notification. The Appellate Authority after checking the eligibility of the taxpayer for the amnesty scheme will forward the case to GSTN through the State Nodal officer.
4.2. Also, it is important to note that for the APL-04 issued cases no direct representations will be entertained by GSTN or through the Grievance redressal portal. APL 04-issued cases have to be compulsorily forwarded through the State Nodal officer.
4.3. Post receiving the case from the State nodal officer, GSTN will enable the taxpayer to file an appeal against the concerned order.
Summary
- Appeal can be filed against the demand order issued up till 31/03/2023, no appeal will be admissible for a demand not involving Tax.
- Appeal has to be filed in Form GST APL-01 on GST Portal.
- Appeal has to be filed by 31/01/2024.
- Pre-deposit of 12.5% (generally 10%) out of which a minimum 2.5% has to be paid from Cash Ledger.
- When an appeal is already and filed then needs to make a payment of an additional 2.5% (12.5%-10%), no need to file an appeal again.
- When an appeal is already delayed and filed but rejected in APL-02, then need refile appeal in Form GST APL-1 and to make payment of an additional 2.5% (12.5%-10%).
- When an appeal is already delayed and filed but rejected in APL-04, then approach the Appellate Authority to get the case forwarded to GSTN. File appeal in Form GST APL-1 and to make payment of an additional 2.5% (12.5%-10%).
Conclusion
A good initiative was taken by the Department of GST to provide relief to the Taxpayers by allowing appeals and also reduce the burden of tones of appeals applications filed or to be filed to the Appellant Tribunal. Through this new procedure majority of appeals will get cleared at the First Appeal Authority itself and save precious time of the Tribunal. Taxpayers should make best of this scheme by filing it within the time prescribed. Recovery actions from Department of GST will also get on stay once the appeal is duly filed. Also, this would be a wonderful opportunity for those taxpayers who couldn't represent their case before Proper Officer and got an ex-parte order, can now file appeal and present his details and get relief.
The author is from Mumbai dealing in GST & Customs. Majorly dealing with Exporters and Real Estate clients for Advisory, Refunds, Review and Appeal. He can also be reached at casachinmjain@gmail.com
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