GST Notice Reply and Appeal Time Limit Calculator (India)
Every date after a GST notice or order, with the section it comes from.
The timeline
Choose the document and enter its date, and the dates appear here.
The pre-deposit
| Head | In dispute | Share | To deposit |
|---|
Papers to keep
Checks and notes
An estimate for information, not legal advice. Read the notice or order itself: it may state its own date, and CBIC notifies extensions from time to time.
Tax rules and rates change. This calculator follows the rules described on this page and may not cover every situation. Check the official source or a qualified tax professional before filing or invoicing.
About the GST Notice Reply and Appeal Time Limit Calculator (India)
A GST notice carries one date and several hidden ones. ASMT-10 gives you up to thirty days, DRC-01B and DRC-01C only seven, REG-03 and REG-17 seven working days, GSTR-3A fifteen. Paying within thirty days of a section 73 notice — sixty under section 74A — ends the proceedings without penalty. An order has to be passed within the officer’s own time limit, counted from the due date for that year’s annual return. And an appeal has three months, plus one month the authority may condone, with a pre-deposit before it is admitted.
Choose the document, enter the date it was served and, for a demand, the financial year it covers and the amounts in dispute. The tool lays out every date in order with the section or rule behind it, works out the pre-deposit head by head with the caps the Act fixes, and lists the papers to keep. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
How to use it
- Pick the notice or order you have received — the list uses the same names as the portal (ASMT-10, DRC-01A, DRC-01, DRC-01B, DRC-01C, REG-03, REG-17, GSTR-3A, an order, or an appellate order).
- Enter the date it was served or communicated to you. Every period runs from that day, so keep the portal page or the e-mail that proves it.
- For a demand, choose the financial year it covers and the section — 73 or 74 up to FY 2023-24, 74A from FY 2024-25 — and the tool adds the officer’s last date for the notice and for the order.
- For an appeal, enter the tax you dispute head by head (IGST, CGST, SGST, cess) — leaving out the part you accept, which has its own field — and, at the Tribunal, what you already deposited at the first appeal. A penalty-only order goes in its own field. Add the date of the show cause notice to check it, and the order, against the officer’s own limits.
- Read the timeline: your dates, the officer’s dates and the ones that need the authority’s leave, each with its provision. Copy it or download the CSV for the file, and work through the list of papers.
Examples
Served 1 October
Reply in Part B of DRC-01C, or pay in DRC-03, by 8 October — seven days (rule 88D). What is neither paid nor explained is demanded under section 73 or 74A.
Communicated 15 September · section 74A
Appeal in APL-01 by 15 December, or by 15 January if the authority condones the delay. Pre-deposit 10%: ₹50,000 + ₹50,000 = ₹1,00,000, plus anything you accept, in full.
Communicated 15 September · tax in dispute ₹20 lakh · ₹2 lakh already deposited
Appeal in APL-05 by 15 December, admissible up to 15 March with the Tribunal’s leave; a further 10% — ₹2,00,000 — on top of the first deposit, and a filing fee of ₹20,000 (rule 110(5)).
Section 73 · FY 2018-19
The order had to be passed by 30 April 2024 and the notice issued three months earlier — the limit as extended by Notification No. 56/2023-Central Tax under section 168A.
Section 74 · FY 2019-20
Five years from 31 March 2021 — the annual return’s due date for that year as extended by Notification No. 04/2021-Central Tax — so the order is due by 31 March 2026 and the notice by 30 September 2025, not by 31 December 2025.
Common uses
- Working out, the day a notice arrives, exactly how many days there are and in which form to reply.
- Checking whether an order was passed within the officer’s time limit before drafting the appeal.
- Telling a client what the appeal will cost to file: the pre-deposit head by head and the Tribunal’s fee.
- Deciding whether to pay within the thirty or sixty days that end the proceedings without penalty.
The reply windows the rules fix
- ASMT-10 (scrutiny): the officer states the time and it cannot be more than thirty days; the reply is ASMT-11 (rule 99(1)). If the explanation is accepted you get ASMT-12.
- DRC-01B (the tax in GSTR-1 is more than in GSTR-3B, rule 88C) and DRC-01C (the credit taken is more than GSTR-2B, rule 88D): seven days to pay in DRC-03 or explain on the portal. What is neither paid nor explained is recovered under section 79, or demanded under section 73 or 74A.
- REG-03 (a query on a registration application): REG-04 within seven working days (rule 9(2)). REG-17 (why registration should not be cancelled): REG-18 within seven working days (rule 22(1)) — and filing every pending return with the tax, interest and late fee can end the proceedings (rule 22(4), proviso).
- GSTR-3A (a return not filed): the return within fifteen days (section 46 with rule 68). Otherwise the officer may assess the tax himself under section 62; a return filed within thirty days of that order withdraws it.
- DRC-01A and DRC-01 fix their own dates. Paying the tax with interest on your own ascertainment before the notice stops it (section 73(5), 74(5), 74A(8)(i) and (9)(i)); paying within thirty days of a section 73 notice ends the proceedings with no penalty, within thirty days of a section 74 notice with 25% of the tax, and within sixty days of a section 74A notice with nothing or with 25% in a fraud case.
How long the officer has
Up to FY 2023-24 the order is passed within three years (section 73(10)) or, where fraud, wilful misstatement or suppression is alleged, five years (section 74(10)) from the due date for the annual return of that financial year, and the notice has to be issued at least three or six months before that.
That due date is 31 December after the year (rule 80(1)), except for the years whose annual return was extended, where the limits count from the extended date: FY 2017-18 — 5 February 2020 in Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, 7 February 2020 elsewhere (Notification No. 06/2020-Central Tax); FY 2018-19 — 31 December 2020 (Notification No. 80/2020-Central Tax); FY 2019-20 — 31 March 2021 (Notification No. 04/2021-Central Tax); FY 2020-21 — 28 February 2022 (rule 80(1A)).
From FY 2024-25 both become section 74A: the notice within forty-two months of that due date, and the order within twelve months of the notice, which the Commissioner may extend by up to six months by an order recorded in writing before the twelve months run out (section 74A(2) and (7)). Enter the date of your notice and the tool dates your own order limit.
The section 73 limits for the earliest years were also extended under section 168A: FY 2017-18 to 31 December 2023 (Notification No. 09/2023-Central Tax), FY 2018-19 to 30 April 2024 and FY 2019-20 to 31 August 2024 (Notification No. 56/2023-Central Tax). The tool applies all of these. An order passed after the limit is barred by time, which is a ground of appeal in itself.
The appeals and the pre-deposit
- Appellate Authority (section 107): three months from the day the order was communicated, in FORM GST APL-01, and the authority may allow one further month on sufficient cause (section 107(4)). Pre-deposit: the admitted amount in full, and 10% of the remaining tax in dispute, at most ₹20 crore (section 107(6)); where the order demands a penalty with no tax, 10% of that penalty. Integrated tax is capped at ₹40 crore for each appeal (IGST Act section 20).
- Appellate Tribunal (section 112): three months from communication, or from the date the Government notifies for filing, whichever is later; the Tribunal may admit an appeal three months after that (section 112(6)). If the department appeals, cross-objections go in within forty-five days of the notice of its appeal, with forty-five more on leave (section 112(5)). Pre-deposit: a further 10% of the remaining tax in dispute, at most ₹20 crore, in addition to what was paid at the first appeal (section 112(8)). The filing fee is ₹1,000 for every ₹1 lakh in dispute, at least ₹5,000 and at most ₹25,000 (rule 110(5)).
- Once the pre-deposit is paid, recovery of the rest is stayed (sections 107(7) and 112(9)).
- The appeal is filed on the portal; where the order is not on the portal a self-certified copy follows within seven days, and if it is filed later that date becomes the date of the appeal (rule 108(3), rule 110(4)).
Sources
- CGST Act and the CGST Rules — sections 29, 46, 61, 73, 74, 74A, 107 and 112; rules 9, 22, 68, 80, 88C, 88D, 99, 108, 110 and 142
- IGST Act section 20 — the ₹40 crore cap on the pre-deposit of integrated tax
- CBIC’s tax information portal — the notifications under section 168A that extended the limits, and every later amendment
- GST Appellate Tribunal — the Tribunal’s own procedure rules, its benches and the date notified for filing appeals
- The GST portal — the notices and orders issued to you, with the date each was issued
Limitations
- An estimate for information, not legal advice. The notice or order itself may state a shorter date, and that date governs — read it, and take advice before an appeal.
- Only the extensions built into the tool are applied; CBIC notifies more from time to time, and State notifications can differ.
- “Seven working days” is shown by skipping Sundays and the three national holidays. Saturdays and your State’s holidays may also be closed days and the portal counts its own way, so reply by the earlier date.
- The pre-deposit is worked out from the amounts you type: it does not read the order. Interest and penalty beyond the admitted amount are not deposited, but they are part of the demand.
- Appeals to the High Court (section 117) and the Supreme Court (section 118), revision under section 108, rectification, advance rulings and anti-profiteering are not covered.
- The date a notice was “communicated” is often disputed; this tool counts from the date you enter.
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do I have to reply to a GST notice?
It depends on the notice: up to thirty days for ASMT-10, seven days for DRC-01B and DRC-01C, seven working days for REG-03 and REG-17, fifteen days to file a return after GSTR-3A. A show cause notice in DRC-01 states its own date. The tool shows the date for each.
What is the time limit for filing a GST appeal?
Three months from the day the order was communicated to you, to the Appellate Authority under section 107; the authority may allow one further month if you were prevented by sufficient cause. To the Appellate Tribunal it is three months from communication or the date the Government notifies, whichever is later, and the Tribunal may admit an appeal three months after that.
How much is the pre-deposit for a GST appeal?
The amount you accept in full, and 10% of the remaining tax in dispute — at most ₹20 crore under each of the central and State Acts, and ₹40 crore for integrated tax for each appeal. At the Tribunal a further 10% is paid, at most ₹20 crore. Where the order demands a penalty without any tax, the deposit is 10% of that penalty.
What is section 74A, and when does it apply?
Section 74A replaced sections 73 and 74 for demands of FY 2024-25 onwards, whatever the reason for the demand. The notice has to be issued within forty-two months of the due date for that year’s annual return, and the order within twelve months of the notice, extendable by six months. The penalty depends on whether fraud is alleged.
Can an order be set aside because it was passed late?
A demand order has to be passed within the time the Act allows, counted from the due date for the annual return of that year — the extended date where the annual return was extended — and as extended under section 168A where that applies. Under section 74A it is twelve months from the notice. An order passed after that limit is barred by time, and that is a ground of appeal. Check the limit in the timeline and raise it with your advocate or chartered accountant.
Does paying the tax stop the notice?
Paying the tax with interest before the notice, on your own ascertainment, and telling the officer in DRC-03 stops a notice for that amount. After a notice, paying within thirty days (section 73) ends the proceedings with no penalty; within thirty days with 25% of the tax under section 74; within sixty days under section 74A, with nothing or 25% in a fraud case.