One can approach Income tax appellate tribunal if they have not received favorable judgement from CIT or CIT(A) or if they are not satisfied by the judgement of CIT or CIT(A). ITAT is also considered as the last fact finding authority. Till now the appeal before ITAT could only be filed in an offline manner.
It has been almost more than an year when it was first announced that now one could file appeal before Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) in an online manner as it was the need of the hour in the pandemic situation.
Now, finally the portal is ready for filing appeal before ITAT online.
Firstly the portal where you need to file appeal before ITAT is: https://itat.gov.in/efiling/register. Now let’s understand whether this feature is actually online or not.
On 25.06.2021 Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister for Law & Justice, Communication and Electronics & Information Technology, virtually inaugurated the eFiling portal o f ITAT in august presence o f Shri Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, Hon’ble Union Law Secretary.
At Zonal Headquarters and other Benches of ITAT, the e-Filing portal o f ITAT shall be introduced in “phased manner” as per following scheduled :-
| SI. No. | Zones | Date |
| 1 | Delhi | 25.06.2021 |
| 2-4 | Ahmedabad, Mumbai & Pune | 05.07.2021 |
| 5-6 | Chandigarh & Lucknow | 08.07.2021 |
| 7-8 | Kolkata & Hyderabad | 12.07.2021 |
| 9-10 | Bangalore & Chennai | 15.07.2021 |
| 11 | Other Benches located across the country | 19.07.2021 |
After the introduction of e-filing portal as per above mentioned schedule, the Members o f the public, Advocates, Chartered Accountants and Departmental Representatives would be able to use the portal for electronically filing their Appeals, Cross Objections, Miscellaneous Applications and Stay Applications etc.
The facility of e-Filing is not mandatory but optional and will not substitute the existing practice of presenting Appeals, Cross Objections, Stay Applications and Miscellaneous Applications in paper form.
Thus, the e-filing portal or e-filing of appeal before ITAT will be launched in the phased manner similar to how it was started for e-filing of appeal before CIT(A) wherein in the beginning one had to file appeal online as well as offline but slowly it was converted to online only.
Similarly, it is hereby clarified that till it is notified otherwise by Hon’ble President, ITAT, the presentation of Appeals, Cross Objections, Stay Applications and Miscellaneous Applications in physical / paper form in terms of Income Tax (Appellate Tribunal) Rules, 1963 and other respective enactments continue to remain mandatory even after e-Filing.
Therefore, the date of presentation of Appeals, etc., physically in terms of Rule 6 & 7 of the Income Tax (Appellate Tribunal) Rules, 1963 or the respective enactments shall continue to be reckoned as the date of presentation for all intents and purposes.
After e-Filing of an Appeal, Cross Objection, Stay Application or Miscellaneous Application, the acknowledgement of e-Filing and Memorandum of Appeal or Memoradnum of Cross Objection or Stay Application or Miscellaneous Application, as the case may be, along with all the prescribed enclosures shall be presented before the Tribunal in the manner and time prescribed in the said rules or other enactments, as the case may be.
Thus, as of now this feature is increasing work rather then reducing the same as it would be compulsory to file the appeal offline and the date when appeal is filed offline will be considered as the date of submission of appeal to decide the limitation period.
Further, all the documents which require the signature of the parties shall be physically signed before scanning and uploading in the e-Filing Portal. All prayers, petitions, Grounds, affidavits, etc. which are to be filed electronically shall be typed in Arial font, font size 12 on one side of A4 size paper with double spacing, justified horizontally.
In the coming days we shall discuss about the procedure of online filing of appeal before ITAT and various FAQ related to same.
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