Income Tax Appeal to CIT(A) under Section 246A: Form 35 Guide

If the income-tax department raised a demand or penalty you think is wrong, you can fight it. File a first appeal to the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), or CIT(A), in Form 35, online, within 30 days of getting the order or demand notice. The appeal is heard faceless.

Short on time? The two things that sink most appeals are missing the 30-day clock and not paying the tax due on your returned income first.

An assessment order is not the final word. The Assessing Officer (AO) is one officer, and officers make mistakes: adding income that is not yours, disallowing a genuine deduction, raising a penalty on a clerical slip. The law gives you a built-in second look.

Take a common case. Anil, a salaried taxpayer in Patna, gets a scrutiny order under section 143(3). The AO misread a document, disallowed his home-loan interest, and raised a demand of 1.4 lakh. Anil files Form 35, attaches the loan certificate the AO ignored, and asks for the addition to be deleted.

The first appeal is your cheapest, fastest remedy: a small fee, filed from home, no lawyer needed. It also protects your position if the matter later reaches the Tribunal.

Section 246A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 lists the orders you can appeal to the CIT(A). The common ones are:

• Scrutiny assessment under section 143(3).
• Best-judgment assessment under section 144, where the AO estimates your income.
• Reassessment under section 147 (income said to have escaped assessment).
• Intimation with adjustments under section 143(1), where the system changed your figures.
• Penalty orders, such as under section 270A for under-reporting income.
• Rectification orders under section 154, or orders refusing to rectify.
• TDS and other demand orders that fix a tax liability against you.

If your order is not on the section 246A list, you may need a different remedy, such as revision under section 264. Check the order type before you file.

Under section 249(2), you must file within 30 days. The clock starts:

• From the date the notice of demand is served, for an assessment or penalty appeal.
• From the date the order is served, in other cases.

The 30 days run from when the order or demand reaches you, not from when it was signed.

Missed the deadline? The CIT(A) can still admit a late appeal under section 249(3) if you show sufficient cause. Genuine reasons accepted in practice include serious illness, a death in the family, or a natural calamity that blocked access to records. Weak excuses fail: tribunals have refused delay where the taxpayer simply “left it to the CA” or pleaded ignorance of the law. If you are late, file a separate condonation application explaining the delay, ideally backed by an affidavit and proof.

This is the trap most people miss. Under section 249(4), the CIT(A) will not admit your appeal unless:

• You have paid the tax due on the income you returned (the income you yourself declared), or
• Where you filed no return, you have paid an amount equal to the advance tax that was payable.

You pay only the undisputed part you already admitted, not the disputed addition. So if you returned 8 lakh but the AO assessed 12 lakh, clear the tax on the 8 lakh before filing. The CIT(A) can relax this for good reason, but do not assume it.

Form 35 is filed electronically on the income-tax e-filing portal. There is no paper filing.

1. Log in to the e-filing portal with your PAN and password.
2. Go to e-File, then Income Tax Forms, and select Form 35.
3. Fill the form: your details, the order appealed against, its date, the demand notice details, and the section under which it was passed.
4. Write the Grounds of Appeal: a numbered list of each point you are challenging, kept short and precise.
5. Write the Statement of Facts: a plain narrative of what happened, the figures, and why the order is wrong.
6. Attach documents: the order, the notice of demand, grounds of appeal, statement of facts, and proof of fee payment.
7. Verify and submit using a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) if your return needs DSC, otherwise through Electronic Verification Code (EVC).

Keep the acknowledgement; you will need it if the matter later reaches the Tribunal.

• Copy of the assessment, penalty, or rectification order.
• Copy of the notice of demand.
• Grounds of appeal (numbered) and statement of facts.
• Proof of appeal-fee payment.
• Proof you paid tax due on returned income, for section 249(4).

The fee depends on your total assessed income and is paid before you file (income-tax department, Form 35 FAQ):

• Assessed income up to 1 lakh: 250 rupees.
• Above 1 lakh up to 2 lakh: 500 rupees.
• Above 2 lakh: 1,000 rupees.
• Any other case: 250 rupees.

Pay through the portal and attach the challan to Form 35. Confirm the current figures on the portal before you pay.

First appeals are now handled through the faceless mechanism run by the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), brought in to cut down face-to-face contact. In practice:

• Your appeal is allotted electronically; you do not know which officer handles it.
• Notices, replies, and submissions all flow through the portal.
• If a hearing is needed, it is usually by video conference, not in person.

Respond promptly to every notice and upload clear, labelled documents. A faceless officer decides on the record, so a tidy paper trail does the talking.

Under section 251, the CIT(A) has wide powers. On an assessment appeal, the CIT(A) can confirm, reduce, enhance, or annul the assessment. On a penalty appeal, the CIT(A) can confirm, cancel, or vary the penalty.

Note the word “enhance”. An appeal can leave you worse off. But there is a safeguard: the CIT(A) cannot enhance the assessment or penalty, or reduce a refund, without first giving you a reasonable opportunity to show cause. You will get a notice and a chance to reply before any increase, so read those notices closely.

The CIT(A) passes a written order with reasons. If you lose, or partly lose, your next level is the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) under section 253. File in Form 36 within 60 days of the CIT(A) order being communicated to you. The ITAT is the final fact-finding authority; beyond it, only a substantial question of law goes to the High Court.

Want a structured way to think through any appeal or RTI escalation? See The RTI Playbook.

Yes. Form 35 is filed online, and you can prepare the grounds of appeal and statement of facts yourself. Many salaried taxpayers do. For a large or technical dispute, a chartered accountant or tax lawyer helps, but professional help is not a legal requirement to file.

You can still file, but you must request condonation of delay under section 249(3). Attach a separate application explaining the sufficient cause, ideally with an affidavit and proof such as medical records. Reasons like serious illness or a death in the family are usually accepted; vague excuses like “I forgot” are commonly rejected.

No. Under section 249(4) you must pay the tax on the income you yourself returned, not the disputed addition raised by the AO. The contested amount can be argued in appeal. You can separately apply to the AO to stay the disputed demand while the appeal is pending, but that is a different application.

Yes. Under section 251 the CIT(A) can enhance an assessment or penalty, so an appeal can backfire. But the CIT(A) must first give you a reasonable opportunity to show cause before any enhancement or reduction of a refund. No increase happens behind your back.

It is the body through which most first appeals are now processed without in-person contact. Your appeal is allotted electronically, communications move through the portal, and hearings, when needed, are by video conference. The aim is faster appeals with less direct contact between taxpayers and officers.

You have 60 days from the date the CIT(A) order is communicated to you, under section 253, filed in Form 36. The Tribunal can condone a late filing for sufficient cause, but do not rely on that; track the 60-day clock from the day the order reaches you.

• Find your order and notice of demand, and note the date you received each.
• Count the days left in your 30-day window under section 249(2).
• Check you have paid the tax on your returned income (section 249(4)); pay it if not.
• Draft a rough list of grounds: each specific thing the order got wrong.
• Log in to the e-filing portal and open Form 35 to see the fields.

• Income-tax Act, 1961, sections 246A, 249, 250, 251 and 253.
• Income Tax Department, Form 35 FAQ, e-filing portal (incometax.gov.in).
• Faceless Appeal / e-Appeals Scheme, 2023, and the National Faceless Appeal Centre.

• RTI Wiki home: more citizen guides
• The RTI Playbook