Section 249(2) — the law in short
What the courts have decided on section 249(2), in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.
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Statutory position — section 249: the fee, the thirty days, condonation, and the section 249(4) bar that must be cleared before the appeal is admitted
CBDT Circulars & InstructionsCuts both ways
I am filing a first appeal to the Commissioner (Appeals). What exactly must I have done before the appeal can even be admitted, and from what date do the thirty days run?
Section 249(4) is a bar on admission, not a ground of dismissal on the merits: no appeal under Chapter XX shall be admitted unless, at the time of filing, the assessee has paid the tax due on the income returned (clause (a)) or, where no return was filed, an amount equal to the advance tax that was payable (clause (b)). Only clause (b) can be relaxed — on an application by the appellant, the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) or Commissioner (Appeals) may for any good and sufficient reason recorded in writing exempt him from clause (b); there is no such escape from clause (a). The appeal itself must be presented within thirty days of the date of service of the notice of demand (or, in the other cases, of intimation of the order appealed against), and s.249(3) lets the appellate authority admit a late appeal on sufficient cause.
Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.