For the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Finance Ministry has legally constituted 31 Appellate Tribunals that span 28 States and 8 Union Territories. With this important action, the Revenue Department hopes to address the growing number of taxpayer complaints.
What is GST Appellate Tribunal?
- A quasi-judicial entity called the GST Appellate Tribunal is being considered for creation to handle cases involving the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India.
It will serve as an impartial body to hear appeals against decisions made by the Appellate Authority or the GST authorities. - The tribunal will have a national bench as well as several regional benches, and its chair will be chosen by the federal government.
- The new tribunal is anticipated to lessen the workload on the judiciary and speed up the adjudication of GST-related disputes.
Under GST, if a person is not satisfied with the decision passed by any lower court, an appeal can be raised to a higher court; the hierarchy for the same is as follows (from low to high):
1. Adjudicating Authority
2. Appellate Authority
3. Appellate Tribunal
4. High Court
5. Supreme Court
Need for such tribunal
- Judges will be relieved of their workload thanks to the GST Appellate Tribunal, which will assist in resolving the growing number of issues arising from the 68-month-old indirect tax system that are now cluttering High Courts and other judicial fora.
- Improve GST System Efficiency: Overall, it is anticipated that the creation of the GST Appellate Tribunal will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the GST system in India.
- Independent process: The proposed Tribunal will offer an impartial and effective process for addressing GST-related complaints.
- Avoiding tax evasion will speed up dispute resolution, ease the load on the justice system, and encourage more confidence and predictability in the GST system.
Issues with present litigation
- Issues with compliance: Since the GST system was introduced in India in 2017, there have been a number of problems with compliance and the interpretation of laws.
- An intricate adjudication hierarchy As indicated above, the GST officer is the first level of adjudication in the existing dispute settlement system.
- Time-consuming process: For taxpayers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, this process may be time-consuming, expensive, and burdensome.
Significance
- Since the beginning of the GST regime on July 1, 2017, plans for the establishment of these tribunals have been underway.
- Over 14,000 taxpayer complaints concerning central GST taxes were still ongoing as of June 2023.
