Section 112(5): The Memorandum of Cross-Objections

Section 112 explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.

Under-used, and it should not be. A respondent can attack the parts of an order that went against it, without filing an appeal and without paying a second pre-deposit on that limb.

Section 112(5): on receipt of notice that an appeal has been preferred, the party against whom it is preferred may, notwithstanding that he may not have appealed against such order or any part thereof, file, within forty-five days of the receipt of notice, a memorandum of cross-objections, verified in the prescribed manner, against any part of the order appealed against; and it shall be disposed of by the Appellate Tribunal as if it were an appeal presented within the time specified in sub-section (1). Section 112(6) allows a further forty-five days on sufficient cause. Rule 110(2): filed electronically in FORM GST APL-06.

Why it matters

Consider the common situation. A first appellate order decides five issues: three in the taxpayer's favour, two against.

The taxpayer, weighing the second pre-deposit and the delay, decides not to appeal the two losses. The department then appeals the three it lost.

Without s.112(5), the taxpayer would be defending three issues before the Tribunal with no ability to raise its own two — and its own three-month appeal window would have closed.

With s.112(5), once the department's appeal is served, the taxpayer may file cross-objections against any part of the order — including the two issues it lost — within forty-five days, and they are disposed of as if they were an appeal filed in time.

The three features that make it valuable

1. "Notwithstanding that he may not have appealed." The right does not depend on having appealed, or on having been within time to appeal. A taxpayer whose own three months expired months earlier may still cross-object once the other side appeals.

2. "Against any part of the order appealed against." Not confined to the grounds the appellant raised. The cross-objection may attack any part of the order.

3. "As if it were an appeal presented within the time specified in sub-section (1)." Deemed to be a timely appeal — so it is decided on its merits, not treated as a defensive submission.

The pre-deposit question

Section 112(8) conditions the filing of an appeal "under sub-section (1)" on the pre-deposit. A memorandum of cross-objections is filed under sub-section (5), not sub-section (1).

So on the text, the s.112(8) pre-deposit is a condition on an appeal under s.112(1), and the cross-objection provision does not carry its own pre-deposit requirement.

That is a material advantage over filing an appeal — and it is the reason cross-objections are worth taking seriously when the other side appeals rather than treating the notice as merely something to answer.

Two cautions. First, this concerns the filing condition only; the amounts confirmed by the order remain payable subject to the stay position. Second, where the taxpayer intends to attack a part of the order in any event and the other side may not appeal, waiting for a cross-objection opportunity that may never arise is a poor strategy — the s.112(1) appeal window closes regardless.

The timeline

Forty-five days from receipt of notice that an appeal has been preferred — not from the order, and not from the appeal being filed. Receipt of the notice.

A further forty-five days under s.112(6), where the Tribunal is satisfied there was sufficient cause for not presenting it within that period.

Ninety days is the outer limit, and the clock runs from a date the respondent may not be watching for — which is why the notice of appeal should be diarised the moment it is received.

Rule 110(2): filed electronically in FORM GST APL-06. The manual-filing proviso was omitted by Notification No. 13/2025-CT dated 17.09.2025, w.e.f. 22.09.2025. Rule 110(3): signed in the manner specified in Rule 26. Rule 110 →

What to do on receiving notice of an appeal

1. Diarise forty-five days from receipt of the notice.
2. Read the first appellate order again, in full — not only the parts the appellant challenges. List every issue and how each was decided.
3. Identify what went against you. Findings on suppression, on penalty, on quantum, on a ground rejected, or on an issue decided against you while the overall outcome was favourable.
4. Assess each for cross-objection. Would a favourable finding on it change the outcome, the penalty, or the position in later periods?
5. Consider findings, not only outcomes. An order that allowed the appeal on limitation but recorded an adverse finding on the merits leaves that finding available to the department for other years. A cross-objection can put it in issue.
6. File APL-06 electronically, signed as Rule 26 requires, within the forty-five days.
7. Also file the reply to the appellant's appeal — the cross-objection does not replace it.

What a respondent can do without cross-objecting

Worth distinguishing, because not everything needs a cross-objection.

Supporting the order on any ground available on the record does not require a cross-objection. A respondent may argue that the order should be upheld for reasons the first appellate authority did not adopt.

Attacking a part of the order that went against you does require one — because that is asking the Tribunal to alter the order, not to sustain it.

The dividing line is whether you are asking the Tribunal to keep the order as it stands or to change it. Keeping needs no cross-objection; changing does.

Key takeaways

• Section 112(5) lets a respondent attack any part of the order without having appealed.
• Forty-five days from receipt of notice, plus forty-five on sufficient cause under s.112(6).
• It is disposed of as if it were an appeal filed in time.
• The s.112(8) pre-deposit conditions an appeal under sub-section (1), not a cross-objection under sub-section (5).
• File APL-06 electronically; the manual-filing proviso was omitted from 22.09.2025.
• Supporting the order needs no cross-objection; changing it does.

Read next

• Section 112: Appeal to the GSTAT and the Second Pre-Deposit
• Rule 110: APL-05, APL-02A and GSTAT E-Filing
• Section 107(2): The Departmental Appeal and the Review Order
• Section 113: Orders of the Tribunal, and the Power to Remand

Disclaimer: Positions stated as on 5 September 2026, based on the CGST Act and Rules as amended to 31 March 2026 (ICAI Bare Law, 12th edition).