Section 362 — Appeals to Appellate Tribunal. Successor to s.253 of the 1961 Act.
Section 362 is in Chapter XVIII — Appeals Revisions and Alternate Dispute Resolutions, which runs from section 356 to section 389.
Sub-section (1) lists the orders an aggrieved assessee may appeal to the Appellate Tribunal: an order under the Act by a Commissioner (Appeals) or Joint Commissioner (Appeals); an order of a Principal Commissioner or Commissioner under section 332(7), (8) or (9), section 351(2)(ii) or 354(3), under section 377, 439 or 465, or under section 287 amending any such order; an order of a Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or a Principal Director General, Director General, Principal Director or Director under section 377 or 465, or under section 287 amending it; an order of an Assessing Officer under section 270(10) or 279 in pursuance of the directions of the Dispute Resolution Panel; an order of an Assessing Officer under section 270(10) or 279 with the approval of the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner as referred to in section 274(12), or one under section 287 or 288 in respect of it; and an order of an Assessing Officer under section 234(4).
Sub-section (2) allows the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, if he objects to an order of the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) or Commissioner (Appeals), to direct the Assessing Officer to appeal. Sub-section (3) requires every appeal under sub-section (1) or (2) to be filed within two months from the end of the month in which the order is communicated to the assessee or to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner.
Sub-section (4) allows the Assessing Officer or the assessee, on receiving notice that the other party has appealed, to file within thirty days of receipt a memorandum of cross-objections, verified in the prescribed manner, against any part of the order even though he has not appealed; it is disposed of as if it were an appeal presented in time. Sub-section (5) allows the Tribunal to admit a late appeal or cross-objection if satisfied there was sufficient cause.
Sub-section (6) requires the appeal to be in the prescribed form, verified as prescribed, and accompanied by a fee graded by total income as computed by the Assessing Officer, with a flat fee where the subject matter is not one measured by income. Sub-section (7) makes a departmental appeal under sub-section (2) and a memorandum of cross-objections free of fee, and sub-section (8) requires a fee of Rs. 500 with an application for stay of demand.
The Tribunal is the last fact-finding forum, and the section defines exactly which orders reach it, from which authorities, and on what terms. Listing the orders rather than giving a general right keeps out those with their own remedy elsewhere, and the cross-objection mechanism lets a party who was content to let an order stand defend the favourable parts once the other side appeals.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time for filing an appeal | Two months from the end of the month in which the order is communicated | Under sub-section (1) or (2); communication to the assessee or to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner starts the period | Sub-section (3) |
| Time for filing a memorandum of cross-objections | Thirty days of the receipt of the notice | From notice that the other party has appealed; available even though the party has not itself appealed | Sub-section (4) |
| Appeal fee where total income is Rs. 100000 or less | Rs. 500 | Total income as computed by the Assessing Officer in the case to which the appeal relates | Sub-section (6)(a) |
| Appeal fee where total income is more than Rs. 100000 but not more than Rs. 200000 | Rs. 1500 | Total income computed as aforesaid | Sub-section (6)(b) |
| Appeal fee where total income is more than Rs. 200000 | 1% of the assessed income, subject to a maximum of Rs. 10000 | Total income computed as aforesaid | Sub-section (6)(c) |
| Appeal fee where the subject matter is not covered by clauses (a) to (c) | Rs. 500 | Where the subject matter relates to any matter other than those in clauses (a), (b) and (c) | Sub-section (6)(d) |
| Fee for an application for stay of demand | Rs. 500 | Payable with the application | Sub-section (8) |
The limitation is not thirty days from the order: sub-section (3) gives two months counted from the end of the month in which the order was communicated, so the date of communication and the month end both matter. Sub-section (4) is the provision most often lost by inaction — a respondent has thirty days from receipt of the notice of the other side's appeal to raise a cross-objection against any part of the order, and once filed it is disposed of as an appeal in its own right. The fee under sub-section (6)(c) is capped at Rs. 10000 however large the assessed income, and clause (d) supplies a flat Rs. 500 for appeals not measured by income, which covers an exclusion order under section 234(4) or a registration order under section 332 or 351. Sub-section (5) is a discretion, not a right. And a departmental appeal is not filed by the Principal Commissioner himself; he directs the Assessing Officer to file it.
An assessee whose assessed income is Rs. 40 lakh receives a Commissioner (Appeals) order communicated on 12 March. The appeal is due by 31 May, two months from the end of March, and the fee is Rs. 10000, being the cap on 1% of assessed income. If the Department appeals instead and he receives notice of it on 5 June, he may file a memorandum of cross-objections against any part of the same order by 5 July, and pays no fee for it.
This is the section under which the appeal memorandum to the Appellate Tribunal is drawn, in the prescribed form and with the prescribed fee, and it governs the notice a respondent receives telling him the other side has appealed. A stay application against a demand pending the appeal is filed under sub-section (8).
Every appeal under sub-section (1) or (2) shall be filed within two months from the end of the month in which the order sought to be appealed against is communicated to the assessee or to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner.
an amount equal to 1% of the assessed income, subject to a maximum of Rs. 10000
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.
All of them are in the Rules 2026 index.