Rule 167 — Form of appeal to Joint Commissioner (Appeals) or Commissioner (Appeals) under section 358. Made under s.358, s.265 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Rule 167 gives effect to Section 358 and Section 265 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. A rule cannot go beyond the section it serves: where the two seem to differ, the section governs.
Sub-rule (1) prescribes Form No. 99 for an appeal to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) or the Commissioner (Appeals).
Sub-rule (2) prescribes the manner of furnishing it. Where the appellant is a person required to furnish the return of income electronically under rules 164 and 180, Form No. 99 is to be furnished electronically under digital signature if the return of income is furnished under digital signature, and electronically through electronic verification code in any other case. Where the assessee has the option to furnish the return of income in paper form, Form No. 99 is still to be furnished electronically in accordance with clause (a).
Sub-rule (3) requires the form of appeal to be verified by the person who is authorised to verify the return of income under section 265, as applicable to the assessee. Sub-rule (4) requires any document accompanying Form No. 99 to be furnished in the manner in which the Form is furnished.
Section 358 gives the right of appeal to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) or the Commissioner (Appeals) but leaves the form, the mode of filing and the verification to be prescribed. This rule settles all three, and it does so in one direction: the appeal is electronic even for an assessee entitled to file his return on paper. Tying verification to section 265 means the appeal is signed by the same person who could verify the return, so no separate class of signatory arises for appeals.
There is no paper appeal. Sub-rule (2)(b) sends the assessee who may file his return on paper to the same electronic route as everyone else, so the only question is which electronic authentication applies — digital signature where the return is furnished under digital signature, electronic verification code otherwise. Verification is not a matter of who prepared the appeal: sub-rule (3) fixes it on the person authorised under section 265 to verify the return, and an appeal verified by anyone else is not verified as the rule requires. Sub-rule (4) closes the obvious gap by requiring the accompanying documents to travel the same way as the form, so an electronically filed appeal cannot be supported by papers handed in separately.
A firm that files its return electronically under digital signature is aggrieved by an assessment order and appeals to the Commissioner (Appeals). It files Form No. 99 electronically under digital signature, verified by the partner authorised to verify the return under section 265, and uploads the grounds of appeal and the order appealed against in the same electronic manner. An individual entitled to file his return in paper form must still file Form No. 99 electronically, using an electronic verification code.
A reader meets it whenever an assessment, penalty or other appealable order is challenged before the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) or the Commissioner (Appeals) — in filing Form No. 99 within the time the Act allows, and in uploading the accompanying documents.
An appeal to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) or the Commissioner (Appeals) shall be made in Form No. 99.
Any document accompanying Form No. 99 shall be furnished in the manner in which the said Form is furnished.