With the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) coming into effect, the principal bench of the tribunal will be functioning as the national appellate authority for advanced ruling, confirmed finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the launch of the Goods and Services Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) in New Delhi on Wednesday.
“From April 2026, the principal bench of the GSTAT will also act as the national appellate authority for advanced ruling - providing businesses with clarity and ensuring consistency across states. This makes GSTAT not just a tribunal, it makes it a one-stop comprehensive forum for GST disputes, both before initiation and after initiation of the proceedings,” said the minister.
She further confirmed that under GSTAT a total of 31 state benches will be set up across 45 locations to make it more accessible to taxpayers across the country. Taxpayers will be able to file their appeals, track progress, and even attend hearings virtually. Hearings are expected to commence by December this year.
As put by the minister, the spine of the entire GST system is going to be provided by the GSTAT and it has been particularly designed to bring more clarity to the states in terms of interpretation of product definition and classification. Sitharaman highlighted that previously the GST Council had to issue frequent clarifications regarding product classification, which resulted in unnecessary locking up of capital of businesses and it specially affected the small and the medium businesses and MSMEs. Now, irrespective of the complaints coming either from state or center, the appeal will now converge at a single independent forum of GSTAT.
The cases registered before April 1, 2025, the sunset date for the anti-profiteering clause in the GST law, will now be handled by the Principal bench of the GSTAT. From September 22, the reforms under GST 2.0 have been implemented and now two slab rate structures of 5% and 18% have been introduced for all goods and services.
