The Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), Principal Bench, New Delhi, through Office Order F.No. GSTAT/Pr.Bench/Portal/125/25-26 dated May 14, 2026, has furnished the relaxation measures rolled out for filing appeals on the GSTAT portal till December 31, 2026.
The President of the GST Appellate Tribunal has issued the order under Rule 123 of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 2025. The same extension has arrived in continuation of the earlier office order on January 20, 2026, and norms issued on March 10, 2026.
As per the Tribunal, the decision was made considering the practical issues being encountered by appellants in the initial phase of online appeal filing via the GSTAT portal.
Scrutiny officers, along with Registrars, Joint Registrars, Deputy Registrars, and Assistant Registrars, under the norms, have been asked not to raise unnecessary defects if essential documents are uploaded along with Form APL-05.
Major Key Instructions for GST Appeal Filing Issued by Tribunal
- For the matters where higher courts have allotted exemption from court fees or pre-deposit, no defect must be raised by scrutiny officers.
- If an appellant files scanned certified copies of the OIO or OIA under section 112(1) of the CGST Act, and the scrutiny officer completes the endorsement made by the issuing authority, no objection should be raised for the certification of documents.
- Soft copies of the Show Cause Notice (SCN), Order-in-Original (OIO), Order-in-Appeal (OIA), statement of facts, grounds of appeal, proof of pre-deposit, and court fee payment must be accepted if uploaded on the portal.
- Authorisation letters should be uploaded by the taxpayers and appellants in favour of tax professionals or Vakalatnama executed in favour of advocates at the time of filing appeals.
Also, the notification cites the provisions for appeals submitted by the Revenue Department u/s 112(3). The documents mentioned below are crucial for departmental appeals-
- Statement of Facts
- Grounds of Appeal
- Show Cause Notice
- Order-in-Original
- Order-in-Appeal
- Opinion of the Commissioner authorising the filing of an appeal
After that, the tribunal said that no court fee or pre-deposit is needed for appeals submitted by the revenue department.
Also Read: GSTAT: Definition, Members, Reason of Delay Domino Effect
The order specifies that one verification and a digital signature of the appellant will be needed at the time of filing appeals on the GSTAT portal.
