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Practice area · Indian legal practice

Tax Litigation

Income Tax + GST — assessments, appeals, ITAT, GSTAT, High Court writs.

Tax practice in India spans direct (Income Tax) and indirect (GST, Customs, Service Tax legacy) regimes. Forums begin with assessing officers and first-appellate authorities, escalating to specialist tribunals (ITAT, CESTAT, GSTAT) and on to the High Courts and Supreme Court. CourtNetra includes pre-built ITAT Form 35/36/36A and GST APL/RFD templates.

Key statutes

Income-tax Act1961

Direct-tax statute; administered by the Income Tax Department under the CBDT.

Central Goods and Services Tax Act (CGST)2017

Indirect-tax statute (paired with State GST Acts) administered under the GST Council and the CBIC.

Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act (IGST)2017

Inter-state supply and import GST.

Customs Act1962

Imports / exports duty regime.

Finance Act (annual)

Annual amendments to the Income-tax Act and the GST framework.

Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Act2020

One-time dispute-resolution scheme; revived periodically.

Primary forums

  • Assessing Officers and Faceless Assessment Units (CBDT)
  • Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) [CIT(A)] — first appellate authority
  • Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) — branches across India
  • GST Appellate Authority — first-appellate forum under Section 107
  • GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) — Section 112 appeals
  • Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT)
  • High Courts — writ jurisdiction (Article 226) and tax appeals on substantial questions of law
  • Supreme Court of India

Common matters

  • Income Tax appeals — Form 35 (CIT(A)), Form 36 (ITAT), Form 36A (cross-objections)
  • GST first appeal under Section 107 — Form APL-01
  • GST Tribunal appeal under Section 112 — Form APL-05/06/07
  • Refund applications — GST RFD series, Income Tax refunds
  • Writ petitions challenging show-cause notices, search/seizure
  • Stay applications and recovery proceedings

Limitation periods

Income Tax: Form 35 within 30 days of receipt of assessment order; Form 36 within 60 days of CIT(A) order. GST: APL-01 within 3 months of order under Section 107(1); APL-05 within 3 months of Appellate Authority order under Section 112. Strict limitation; condonation discretionary subject to sufficient cause.

CourtNetra workflow for tax litigation

Tax matters in CourtNetra use pre-built ITAT and GST templates. Form 35/36/36A pre-fill from matter record (PAN, AY, ITR series, order-under-appeal details), validated against ITAT schema. GST APL series and RFD templates similarly pre-filled. Limitation calculator built in — the matter timeline shows days remaining for filing each appeal stage.

Related templates in the free library: Income Tax forms, GST forms, GSTR returns. Browse templates.

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