Section 112: Appeal to the GSTAT and the Second Pre-Deposit

Section 112 explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.

The Tribunal became operational years after the Act, and section 112 was amended so that the limitation for every taxpayer whose appeal had been waiting would run from a common notified date.

Section 112(1): any person aggrieved by an order under s.107 or s.108 may appeal to the Appellate Tribunal within three months from communication or the date notified by the Government on the Council's recommendations for filing appeal before the Appellate Tribunal, whichever is later — inserted by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024, applicable retrospectively from 01.08.2024, notified through Notification No. 17/2024-CT dated 27.09.2024, in force w.e.f. 01.11.2024. 112(8): no appeal unless the appellant has paid the admitted amount in full and ten per cent of the remaining tax in dispute, in addition to the amount paid under s.107(6), subject to a maximum of twenty crore rupees. 112(9): recovery of the balance is deemed to be stayed till the disposal of the appeal.

The pre-deposit, cumulatively

So a taxpayer who takes a dispute to the Tribunal has paid 20% of the disputed tax in total, subject to the caps at each stage.

The 10% at the Tribunal stage is itself a reduction. Section 112(8)(b) previously required twenty per cent, and its cap was fifty crore rupees; both were substituted by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024, notified through Notification No. 17/2024-CT dated 27.09.2024, w.e.f. 01.11.2024, to ten per cent and twenty crore rupees. Any material still describing the Tribunal pre-deposit as 20% of the disputed tax, or the cap as ₹50 crore, states the earlier position.

For penalty-only orders, the proviso to s.112(8) requires ten per cent of the penalty, in addition to the amount payable under the proviso to s.107(6) — which is itself now ten per cent. Section 107 pre-deposit →

The notified-date limb

Section 112(1) allows the appeal within three months from communication of the order or the date notified by the Government for filing appeals before the Appellate Tribunal, whichever is later.

Why it exists. Orders under s.107 were being passed for years while the Tribunal was not functioning. Without this limb, every one of those appeals would have been hopelessly out of time by the time the Tribunal opened.

Section 112(3) carries the same limb for the department's application, which the Commissioner may direct within six months from the date of the order or the notified date, whichever is later.

How to apply it: identify the notified date for filing appeals before the Tribunal, and compute three months from it for orders communicated before that date; for orders communicated afterwards, the ordinary three months from communication runs.

And check the notification, because the operative date is the one notified by the Government on the Council's recommendations — not a date in the Act.

Section 112(2): the fifty-thousand-rupee discretion

"The Appellate Tribunal may, in its discretion, refuse to admit any such appeal where the tax or input tax credit involved or the difference in tax or input tax credit involved or the amount of fine, fee or penalty determined by such order, does not exceed fifty thousand rupees."

Discretionary, not a bar. The Tribunal may refuse; it is not prevented from admitting.

The threshold is per order, measured on the tax, the credit, the difference in either, or the fine, fee or penalty determined.

Where an issue is small but recurring, the point to make is that the amount in the particular order understates the significance — the same issue arises in later periods and a decision resolves them. The discretion is exercised on the circumstances, and that is a circumstance.

Section 112(5): the memorandum of cross-objections

On receipt of notice that an appeal has been preferred, the party against whom it is preferred may, notwithstanding that he may not have appealed against the order or any part of it, file within forty-five days of receipt of notice a memorandum of cross-objections, verified in the prescribed manner, against any part of the order appealed against — and it shall be disposed of as if it were an appeal presented within time.

This is valuable and under-used. A taxpayer who lost on one issue and won on another, and decided not to appeal, can — once the department appeals — raise its own grievance by cross-objection, without filing an appeal and without the s.112(8) pre-deposit on that limb.

Forty-five days from receipt of notice, extendable under s.112(6) by a further forty-five days on sufficient cause. Cross-objections →

Section 112(6): the condonation powers

The Tribunal may:

• admit an appeal within three months after the expiry of the s.112(1) period;
• permit an application within three months after the expiry of the s.112(3) period — inserted by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024;
• permit a memorandum of cross-objections within forty-five days after the expiry of the s.112(5) period,

if satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not presenting it within that period.

So the Tribunal's condonation power is three months — considerably wider than the one month available to the first Appellate Authority under s.107(4).

Filing: Rule 110

Rule 110(1): an appeal under s.112(1) shall be filed in FORM GST APL-05, with the relevant documents, electronically, and a provisional acknowledgement in Part A of FORM GST APL-02A is issued immediately — the reference to APL-02A having been substituted by Notification No. 13/2025-CT dated 17.09.2025, w.e.f. 22.09.2025, along with the omission of the manual-filing provisos.

Rule 110(2): a memorandum of cross-objections in FORM GST APL-06, electronically.

Rule 110(3): signed in the manner specified in Rule 26.

Rule 110(4): where the order appealed against is uploaded on the common portal, the final acknowledgement in Part B of FORM GST APL-02A is issued; where it is not, a self-attested copy is submitted, and the date of submission or uploading of that copy is the date of filing.

Explanation 1: the appeal is treated as filed only when the final acknowledgement indicating the appeal number is issued.

Explanation 2: "Registrar" means a Registrar appointed by the Government for the purpose, and includes Joint Registrar, Deputy Registrar and Assistant Registrar.

Rule 110 and APL-02A →

Key takeaways

• Appeal within three months of communication or the notified date, whichever is later.
• Pre-deposit: admitted amount in full plus 10% of the remaining disputed tax, in addition to the s.107(6) amount, capped at ₹20 crore.
• The Tribunal-stage percentage is 10%, reduced from twenty per cent.
• Section 112(2): a discretion to refuse appeals where the amount does not exceed ₹50,000.
• Section 112(5): cross-objections within forty-five days of notice, without a separate appeal.
• Section 112(6): condonation of three months for an appeal or application, and forty-five days for cross-objections.

Read next

• Rule 110: APL-05, APL-02A and GSTAT E-Filing
• Section 112(5): The Memorandum of Cross-Objections
• Section 113: Orders of the Tribunal, and the Power to Remand
• Section 107: The First Appeal and the Pre-Deposit

Disclaimer: Positions stated as on 5 September 2026, based on the CGST Act and Rules as amended to 31 March 2026 (ICAI Bare Law, 12th edition). The date notified for filing appeals before the Appellate Tribunal operates by notification and should be verified before computing limitation.