As per the GST Act, any business involved in the supply of goods or services shall take registration under GST if their turnover earned during the year exceeds the threshold limit specified by the GST Act. The assessee who has taken registration under the GST Act will be provided with a GST Registration Certificate from GST REG-06. In various cases, it can be seen that the GST Authority cancels the registration of an assessee under GST. In such a case, if the assessee is not satisfied with the decision made by the GST Authority, they can go for an appeal with the Appellate Authority within a prescribed time limit. This very point is the basis of discussion in this article.
Eligibility to go for an appeal
An assessee who is or was holding GST registration or is an unregistered individual or such other entity and is not happy with any decision taken by the GST Authority pertaining to the GST registration held by it or its cancellation holds the eligibility and right to appeal before the Appellate Authority within a period of three months from the date of giving of resolution or the communication of such an order by the authority.
Filing and Appeal – Criteria
The preconditions that are to be satisfied by the individual or assessee for appealing against any order issued by the Appellate Authority would be as follows:
– An order canceling registration of the assessee as a Tax Deductor at Source or a Tax Collector at Source was issued
– An order for canceling the Provision Registration was issued
– A request to cancel the registration was given
– The authority issued an order granting temporary registration or Suo moto registration
– An order for rejection of the application for GST Registration or Amendment, or Cancellation was issued
– An order was issued by the GST Authority rejecting the enrolment as a GST Practitioner.
Companies and LLPs (Limited Liability Partnerships) would mandatorily require a DSC (Digital Signature Certificate) to appeal against any order of cancellation of registration issued by the GST Authority.
Steps or Procedure for Filing an Appeal
- Log on to the official GST Website or GST Online Portal, ‘www.gst.gov.in’.
- After logging in, click on Services – My Applications.
iii. Now, under this, click ‘Appeal to Appellate Authority’ from the drop-down menu, which is the ‘Application Type’.
- After this, the button is given at the bottom right, and ‘NEW APPLICATION’ shall be selected.
- Now, a new page will appear, GST APL-01: Appeal to Appellate Authority, where you have to choose the type of order as ‘Registration Order’ from the drop-down menu that appears. The order number should be entered in the field given, after which the ‘SEARCH’ button should be clicked.
- Now on the page, namely ‘Order Dispute’, there will be a drop-down menu given from which the category to which the case in question belongs shall be selected.
vii. Say, the one, namely ‘Cancellation of registration for incorrect reasons’, shall be chosen.
viii. Now, an option to download Form GST APL-01 shall appear, which should be downloaded by clicking on the ‘Enable Editing’ button. Now, all applicable details shall be furnished and saved by going to the File menu and selecting ‘Save As’. It should be saved in PDF format.
- Go to the Order Details page, click on the button ‘Choose File,’ select the saved file, and click ‘Open. ‘
- There is the option to upload any required additional documents, also by choosing the Choose File option and the Open option.
- The format of these files should be JPEG or PDF, with a maximum size of 5 MB. Up to 4 documents can be attached or uploaded.
xii. Now, the application to be submitted can be previewed by clicking on the ‘PREVIEW’ button, which would download a PDF document as a preview document. Now, check the verification box and choose the Authorized Signatory, after which the ‘Proceed to File’ option or button shall be clicked.
xiii. A message will appear when selecting ‘Submit with DSC’ or ‘Submit with EVC’, so choose one as applicable.
xiv. Once the procedure to file with DSC or EVC has been selected and completed, a confirmation message shall appear with an option allowing the download of the acknowledgment for filing.
So, we can conclude that the GST Authority allows the assessee to appeal against various orders being processed or passed by them, giving them a proper base for being heard without the need to hire any professionals and pay the high fees. This provides citizens and taxpayers with an appropriate platform for submitting their concerns and voicing their concerns regarding any decision made by the authority that they believe is improper. Hence, assessors must be educated about this, which is their right.
Knowledge is power! Equip yourself with the basics of GST by reading our complete beginner’s GST guide now.
