Section 356 — Appealable orders before Joint Commissioner (Appeals). Successor to s.246 of the 1961 Act.
Section 356 is in Chapter XVIII — Appeals Revisions and Alternate Dispute Resolutions, which runs from section 356 to section 389.
Sub-section (1) gives an appeal to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) to any assessee, deductor or collector aggrieved by six classes of order of an Assessing Officer below the rank of Joint Commissioner: an intimation under section 270(1) or 399(1) where the appellant objects to the adjustments made in it; an order under section 270(10) or 271 where the assessee objects to the income assessed, the tax determined, the loss computed or the status under which he is assessed; an order of assessment, reassessment or recomputation under section 279; an order under section 398; an order imposing penalty under Chapter XXI; and an order under section 287 or 288 amending any of those orders or intimations.
Sub-section (2) bars an appeal to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) where the order was passed by, or with the prior approval of, an income-tax authority above the rank of Deputy Commissioner.
Sub-section (3) allows the Board, or an income-tax authority authorised by it, to transfer an appeal against such an order pending before the Commissioner (Appeals), and any connected matter, to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals); and to transfer an appeal pending before a Joint Commissioner (Appeals), and any connected matter, to the Commissioner (Appeals) regardless of sub-sections (1) and (3)(a). The receiving authority proceeds from the stage at which the appeal was transferred. Sub-section (4) gives the appellant an opportunity of being reheard where an appeal is transferred.
Sub-section (5) allows the Central Government to notify a scheme for disposing of these appeals expediently, transparently and accountably by eliminating the interface between the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) and the appellant to the extent technologically feasible, and to direct that provisions of the Act relating to jurisdiction and procedure for disposal shall not apply or shall apply with exceptions, modifications and adaptations. Sub-section (6) allows the Board to specify that any provisions of the section shall not apply to any case or class of cases. Sub-section (7) defines "status", for this section and section 357, as the category of person defined in section 2(77) under which the assessee is assessed.
Small and routine disputes — adjustments in an intimation, a penalty, a straightforward assessment — do not need the Commissioner (Appeals), so the Act creates a lower first appellate forum and lists exactly which orders it may hear. Sub-section (2) keeps out of that forum any order that came from or was approved at a level above Deputy Commissioner, so a junior appellate authority is never asked to review a senior officer's decision.
Two gates decide whether this is the right forum. First, the order must be one of an Assessing Officer below the rank of Joint Commissioner — that is in the opening words of sub-section (1), not in the list. Second, sub-section (2) shuts out any order passed by or with the prior approval of an authority above the rank of Deputy Commissioner, so approval taken at a higher level moves the appeal elsewhere even if the order itself was signed lower down. Note what an appeal against an intimation is confined to: under clause (a) the appellant appeals against an intimation under section 270(1) or 399(1) only where he objects to the adjustments made in it. "Status" is an appealable ground under clause (b) and means the section 2(77) category under which the assessee is assessed. An appeal is not permanently anchored to this forum — the Board may transfer it either way under sub-section (3), and where it does, sub-section (4) entitles the appellant to be reheard rather than merely to have the file continued.
An assessee receives an intimation under section 270(1) from an Assessing Officer below the rank of Joint Commissioner making adjustments that increase the tax payable. Because he objects to those adjustments, clause (a) gives him an appeal to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals). If the same order had been passed with the prior approval of a Joint Commissioner — an authority above the rank of Deputy Commissioner — sub-section (2) would bar the appeal to that forum altogether.
You meet it when deciding where to file a first appeal against an intimation, assessment, reassessment or penalty order, and again if the Board transfers your pending appeal between the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) and the Commissioner (Appeals), when you are entitled to be reheard.
an order being an intimation under section 270(1) or 399(1), where the assessee or deductor or collector objects to the adjustments made therein
No appeal shall be filed before the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) if an order referred to in sub-section (1) is passed by or with the prior approval of an income-tax authority above the rank of Deputy Commissioner.
the appellant shall be given an opportunity of being reheard
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.
See the circulars index.
See the notifications index.