VAT & SD Act 2012
Section 121 - Appeal to Commissioner (Appeal)
(as updated till Finance Ordinance 2025)
1[ (1) If any person or any VAT officer is aggrieved by a decision taken or order issued under this Act or the rules made thereunder by any Additional Commissioner or any VAT officer below the rank of an Additional Commissioner may, within 90 (ninety) days from the date of issue of such decision or order, lodge an appeal in the prescribed manner to the Commissioner (Appeal), except against order of seizure or sale issued under section 95 in case of supply of goods or provision of services or order issued under section 82 and 98 of the Customs Act in case of imported goods.
(2) Where a person other than a VAT officer prefers an appeal under sub-section (1), he shall, at the time of filing such appeal, pay 2[10 (ten)] percent 3[of the tax, excluding penalty] specified in the impugned order:
Provided that if the Commissioner (Appeal) is satisfied that the appellant could not file the appeal within the said 90 (ninety) days due to obvious reasons, he may permit the appellant to file the appeal within next 60 (sixty) days of the expiry of the above period.
(3) The Commissioner (Appeal) shall, after giving an opportunity of proper hearing to the parties to the appeal in the prescribed manner, dispose of the appeal within a period of time not exceeding 1 (one) year.
4[(3A) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other provision of this Act, in the event of natural calamity, epidemic, force majeure or war, the Government may, in the public interest, by order, extend the time limit for disposal of appeals by the Commissioner (Appeals) for such period of emergency.]
(4) The Commissioner (Appeal) may uphold, change or set aside the impugned decision or order, or may pass such order as he thinks fit and proper:
Provided that he shall not, de novo, send the case on remand for reconsideration.
(5) In the interest of deciding an appeal, the Commissioner (Appeal) may, in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed time, make such further scrutiny or hold such further enquiry, collect such further information or make such further verification of the accuracy of the proceedings in respect of the impugned matter as may be necessary.
(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or the rules made there under, if the Commissioner (Appeal) fails to dispose of an appeal within the stipulated time, such appeal shall be deemed to have been granted by the Commissioner (Appeal).]
1 Section 121 was substituted by section 98 of the Finance Act, 2019 (Act No. 10 of 2019) with effect from 01 July 2019.
2 The figure, brackets and word “20 (twenty)” were substituted by section 8 of the Finance Act, 2024 (Act No. 05 of 2024) with effect from 01 July 2024.
3 The words “of the tax” were substituted by section 77 of the Finance Act, 2022 (Act No. 13 of 2022) with effect from 01 July 2022.
4 Sub-section (3A) was inserted by section 20 of the Finance Ordinance, 2025 (Ordinance No. 28 of 2025) with effect from 01 July, 2025.
Disclaimer: This is the authentic English text of The Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty Act 2012, as published under SRO No. 440-Law/2025/326-Mushak dated 05 November 2025. In the event of any inconsistency or conflict between the content on this website and the official Government publications or gazette notifications relating to laws, rules, regulations or SROs, the official Government publications and notifications shall prevail.