- The Finance Ministry has formally established 31 Appellate Tribunals for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) comprising 28 states and eight union territories.
- This substantial step is intended to address the growing number of taxpayer disagreements with the Revenue Department.
What exactly is the GST Appellate Tribunal?
- The GST Appellate Tribunal is a quasi-judicial organisation that is being proposed to be established in India to resolve disputes relating to the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
- It will hear challenges against orders issued by the GST authorities or the Appellate Authority as an independent body.
- The tribunal will be made up of a national bench and several regional benches, all of which will be led by a chairperson selected by the central government.
- The planned tribunal is designed to help speed GST dispute resolution and lessen the burden on the judiciary.
- If a person is dissatisfied with a lower court’s ruling, he or she may file an appeal with a higher court, the hierarchy of which is as follows (from low to high):
- Adjudicating Authority
- Appellate Authority
- Appellate Tribunal
- High Court
- Supreme Court
The Need for Such a Tribunal
- Unburden the judiciary: The GST Appellate Tribunal will assist in resolving the growing number of complaints arising from the 68-month-old indirect tax regime, which are now clogging High Courts and other judicial fora.
- Increase the effectiveness of the GST system: Overall, the GST Appellate Tribunal is projected to increase the efficiency and efficacy of India’s GST system.
- Mechanism that operates independently: The proposed Tribunal will serve as an independent and efficient means of addressing GST-related disputes.
- Avoiding tax evasion will help to speed up dispute resolution, lessen the strain on the judiciary, and create better clarity and predictability in the GST system.
Problems with current litigation
- Challenges with compliance: The GST system in India is still relatively young, having been adopted in 2017, and there have been various challenges with compliance and interpretation of rules and regulations.
- Hierarchy of complex adjudication: As previously stated, the existing dispute resolution procedure involves numerous stages of adjudication, beginning with the GST officer.
- Process that takes a long time: This procedure can be time-consuming, expensive, and difficult for taxpayers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses.
Significance
- Since the commencement of the GST regime on July 1, 2017, various tribunals have been in the works.
- The number of pending taxpayer appeals linked to central GST charges had risen to more over 14,000 (June 2023).
Source: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/thirty-one-gst-appellate-tribunal-benches-to-be-set-up-across-the-country-11694787906443.html