Time Spent Chasing a Rectification Doesn't Count Against Your GST Appeal Deadline: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has held that the period a taxpayer spends bona fide pursuing a rectification application does not count against the three-month deadline for filing a GST appeal under Section 107.

The Madras High Court has held that the time a taxpayer spends genuinely pursuing a rectification application does not run against the deadline for filing a GST appeal.

The dispute turned on Section 107 of the CGST Act, which gives an aggrieved person three months from the date an order is communicated to appeal to the Appellate Authority, with a further one month the authority may condone for sufficient cause. The taxpayer had first filed a rectification application under Section 161 against the order, and only appealed after that application was disposed of. By then the three-month clock, measured from the original order, had run out.

The Court held that the principle behind Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 applies to these appeals, so the period spent bona fide pursuing the rectification can be excluded when computing limitation. The relief is not automatic: the rectification must have a reasonable, arguable basis and be pursued with due diligence, not filed merely to buy time.

What this means for you: if an assessment order was met with a rectification application before you appealed, do not assume your appeal is time-barred. Keep the dates and the rectification papers, and raise the exclusion before the Appellate Authority.

The appeal provisions are on CBIC's own flyer at https://gstcouncil.gov.in/sites/default/files/e-version-gst-flyers/Appeals_Review_Mechanism.pdf and the Act is at https://www.gst.gov.in

Topics:section 107 GST appealsection 161 rectificationappeal limitation GSTsection 14 Limitation ActMadras High Court GSTcondonation of delay GSTGST appeal time limitassessment order appealChennai GSTTamil Nadu GST

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