Good news for businesses dealing with the Goods and Services Tax (GST)! Soon, there might be a special court called the GST Appellate Tribunal to handle disputes related to GST.
Until now, if a business disagreed with the tax department about GST matters, they had to go to the high courts. But now, with the new tribunal, businesses can appeal to this specialized court instead.
The number of GST disputes has been growing rapidly. In fact, there are now three times as many pending appeals compared to a few years ago. This has led to delays in resolving issues and cleaning up companies' financial records.
Experts predict that the GST Appellate Tribunal could start functioning in the latter part of this year, once the general elections are over. It's expected to have two benches in Calcutta to handle cases from Bengal, Sikkim, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
This move is expected to speed up the resolution of cases and help businesses maintain cleaner financial records. State GST officials have confirmed the progress in setting up the tribunal, including appointing members and building infrastructure.
The decision to establish these tribunals was made during the 49th meeting of the GST Council. The plan is to set up benches in different states gradually. Recently, a notification was issued to create 31 benches across 36 states and Union territories.
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