What is the ITAT?
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) is a quasi-judicial authority that specializes in dealing with appellate matters under the Direct Taxes Act [1] . Functioning under the Ministry of Law and Justice, taxpayers are enabled to file an appeal against an order passed by an income-tax authority here [2] . Both the taxpayer and income tax department can contest any order passed by the Commissioner of Income-tax (appeals) before the ITAT [2] . The ITAT had six members constituting three Benches-one each in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata- during its inception; however, the institution now has 63 Benches at 27 stations, covering almost all cities that are home to High Courts [1] .
The President of ITAT is responsible for forming a Bench of an ITAT from amongst the ITAT members, and each bench should include an accountant and judicial member. The President or any ITAT member have the power to finalize/conclude an appeal, where the total income as calculated by the Assessing Officer is not beyond Rs.50 lakhs. In certain cases, ITAT will be seen as constituting a special bench of three or more members- provided there is one accountant member and a judicial member- to dispose of an appeal. When it comes to factual matters, any decision made by the ITAT is final. [2]
ITAT works as a subordinate to the High Court and should follow any precedent and law laid by both the High Court and the Supreme Court of India [2] .
What are the orders you can appeal against before ITAT?
Appealable orders before ITAT include orders passed by the [2] :
Commissioner of Income Tax (appeals)
Jurisdictional Commissioner
Assessing Officer according to the directions of the Dispute Resolution Panel
Assessing Officer
Apart from the above-mentioned orders, you can also appeal against any penalty order passed by the Commissioner, and make an application for stay of tax demands and other miscellaneous applications for recall of orders [2] .
What is the procedure for E-filing an Appeal in ITAT?
Follow these steps as per the ITAT SOP to e-file an appeal [3] :
Step 01:
Select Appeal Sub Type depending upon the order against which the appeal is being filed and the relevant assessment or penalty order. Fill the details of Assessee and Department in the respective blocks.
Step 02:
Enter the details of amounts disputed in the present appeal (whether the appeal relates to assessment / penalty / others, etc.) in the Amount disputed in appeal block.
Step 03:
In the ‘Grounds of Appeal’ section, input each ground of Appeal and tax effect related thereto separately. If there are more than one ground, use ‘Add More’ button to add another ground. The total amount of Tax Effect will be calculated automatically.
Step 04:
In ‘Appeal Filing and Fee Details’, give the details of delay in filing then appeal, details of Tribunal fee paid, etc. In case the Tribunal fee paid is less than the fee payable for this appeal sub type, system will alert.
Step 05:
With this, data collection for e-Filing an appeal completes. Ensure that all data is entered fully and correctly and press ‘Submit’ button to continue.
On the next page, based on the details provided by you, the Memorandum of Appeal shall be automatically generated by the Portal. Click on ‘Click here’ to download the same.
Upon uploading the mandatory and optional documents, input the Captcha code and click continue to proceed further. Before proceeding further, ensure that all enclosures are scanned properly as per prescribed specifications and uploaded without fail, as this is the last step in e-Filing of your appeal.
E-filing Checklist for Appeal
[2]
Memorandum of appeal
Order of the Assessing Office
Grounds of appeal that were submitted before C IT (Appeals)
Statement of facts that were given before CIT (Appeals)
Assessment order , where appeal is against a penalty order
Directions of the Joint Commissioner where appeal is against assessment given by the Joint Commissioner
ITAT fee challan
Documents as submitted earlier during the income-tax proceedings or before the CIT(Appeals)
All submissions, documents or papers submitted during earlier income tax proceedings
FAQs
I have e-Filed an appeal. Can I know the status of my e-Filing?
[4]
Yes, click on ‘Know Your e-Filing status’ menu and input the PAN Number, e-Mail ID and Acknowledgement Number, and submit. System will verify the input details and show the e-Filing status.
Can the appellant pay the Tribunal Fee through the e-Filing Portal?
[4]
Currently, there is no option for online payment available in e-filing. The details of the appeal fee paid should be uploaded to the e-filing portal.
I have e-filed an appeal, but not yet been presented before the Tribunal. I found that some of the information I have given is wrong. What should I do?
[4]
You can ignore the already filed appeal. File a fresh one and submit the correctly e-filed appeal before the ITAT.
What is the Assessee's Location? How is it different from City?
[4]
Location is the village, town or city in which you reside. This can be similar to the city in the address. However, when your address of communication is different from your original address, the location differs from the city.
An ISO 9001:2015 
