Amendments To Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Rules Mandate Digital Signatures For Filing Appeals

The Ministry of Law and Justice has recently notified changes to the Income-tax (Appellate Tribunal) Rules, 1963, making the use of digital signatures compulsory for filing appeals before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT).

The changes have been brought in through the Income-tax (Appellate Tribunal) Amendment Rules, 2025.

Under the amended rules, appeals must now be filed electronically. Rule 6 has been substituted to state that a memorandum of appeal shall be filed by the appellant or an authorised agent “under his digital signature”. The long-standing practice of submitting documents in duplicate or triplicate has also been done away with. Appeals, supporting papers and paper books can now be filed in a single copy.

The rules have also been updated to formally recognise digital signature, e-mail address and mobile number as essential details of parties. These details will be treated as the official contact information for the service of notices and orders by the Tribunal.

The amendments spell out more clearly what documents must be filed along with an appeal. In appeals arising from directions of the Dispute Resolution Panel, appellants must submit the draft assessment order, the Transfer Pricing Officer's order, objections filed before the Panel and the Panel's directions. Where an appeal challenges an order passed by senior tax authorities, a copy of the impugned order must be enclosed.

To avoid confusion over service of notices, the rules now require appellants to file a revised memorandum of appeal if there is any change in their address, e-mail address, mobile number or telephone number. Unless such a revised filing is made, the Tribunal will continue to use the earlier details on record for all communication.

The amendments also tighten procedural disclosures. Anyone filing a miscellaneous application must now clearly state whether a similar application was filed earlier against the same order and disclose its status. Copies of orders passed on such earlier applications must also be placed on record.

Stay applications will no longer be filed physically. The rules now provide that they must be filed in the same manner and following the same procedure as appeals, which means they too will be submitted digitally.

Alongside these changes, the notification updates the language of the rules to reflect current practice. References to “xerox” copies have been replaced with “photocopy”, and wording linked to physical filing has been removed, reinforcing the Tribunal's shift to a fully digital process.

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