The Finance Act 2023 inserted section 246, creating a Joint Commissioner (Appeals) for smaller and specified appeals, operationalised by the e-Appeals Scheme, 2023. Section 246A appeals continue to lie to the CIT(A), disposed of through the faceless machinery. In both channels the hearing, if you ask for one, is by video conferencing.
There are now two first-appeal channels. Section 246, inserted by the Finance Act 2023, empowers a Joint Commissioner (Appeals) to hear appeals against specified orders of the Assessing Officer, including intimations and orders under section 143, reassessments under section 147, orders under sections 200A and 206CB, penalty orders under Chapter XXI and rectification orders under sections 154 and 155; appeals are excluded where the order was passed with the approval of an authority above Deputy Commissioner rank. The e-Appeals Scheme, 2023 was notified on 29 May 2023 (Notifications 32/2023 and 33/2023), with a scope order under section 246(6) dated 16 June 2023 excluding, among others, search cases and cases falling under Central or International Taxation charges. The JCIT(A) can condone delay, call for submissions and remand reports, admit or reject additional grounds and additional evidence, make enquiries, initiate penalty and rectify mistakes - in substance the section 250 and 251 toolkit. Appeals are allocated at random through a system devised by the DGIT (Systems) with CBDT approval. Section 246A appeals to the CIT(A) run through the faceless appeal machinery. The Faceless Appeal Scheme was first notified on 25 September 2020 (Notification 76/2020) with an appeal-unit and review-unit structure and no assured personal hearing; the Chamber of Tax Consultants challenged it before the Bombay High Court through senior counsel, arguing that removing the personal hearing at the first appellate stage left an appellant with no hearing until the Tribunal, and in late 2021 the Court pressed the government to hold hearings in abeyance pending reconsideration. The scheme was replaced in December 2021 and, under the current framework in both channels, an appellant who requests it is heard through video conferencing or video telephony rather than in person. The practical points are to ask for the hearing expressly in Form 35 and again on the portal, and to make the written record complete, because the faceless record is the record.
The assessment order charges interest under s.215 (or s.217, or s.139(8)). Can I appeal against the interest, and if not, how do I get it reduced?
How wide are the first appellate authority's powers when it disposes of an appeal?
Can the CIT(A) use the enhancement power to tax a source of income the Assessing Officer never examined?
Can an appellate authority under the Income-tax Act throw out an appeal because the appellant did not turn up?
Your appeal is late. How strictly will 'sufficient cause' be read?
Can you raise a ground before the CIT(A) that you never raised before the officer?
I let the 30 days to appeal my 143(1) intimation lapse. Can I still go to the PCIT under s.264?
What happens if an appeal is dismissed for want of prosecution and the recall application is filed late?
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