GST Appellate Tribunal Branches

GST Appellate Tribunal Branches

News: The Centre has notified setting up of 31 GST appellate tribunal benches across the country.

Earlier:
• Earlier there was only a National Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT).
• Composition - The National Bench of the Appellate Tribunal is situated at New Delhi. GSTAT is presided over by its President and consist of one Technical Member (Centre) and one Technical Member (State).
• Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal is the forum of second appeal in GST laws and the first common forum of dispute resolution between Centre and States.
• The appeals against the orders in first appeals issued by the Appellate Authorities under the Central and State GST Acts lie before the GST Appellate Tribunal, which is common under the Central as well as State GST Acts.

Now:
• The centre notified the setting of the 31 state bench of the GST Appellate Tribunal Centre announced for 28 states and eight union territories.
• Currently, taxpayers aggrieved with ruling of tax authorities are required to move the respective High Courts. The resolution process takes longer time as High Courts are already burdened with backlog of cases and do not have a specialised bench to deal with GST cases.
• With respective state benches being setup it will facilitate speedier resolution of cases by tribunals that will help bolster business sentiments and ease of doing business.