Advisory on Issuance of Notices/Orders without Digital Signatures
Date: September 25th, 2024
There have been doubts regarding the validity of certain documents issued by tax officers via the GST common portal. These documents, such as Show Cause Notices (SCN), Assessment Orders, and Refund Orders, do not always contain digital signatures on the PDF versions available for download from the common portal. This advisory aims to clarify the legitimacy of such documents.
Clarification on Digital Signatures
While the PDF versions of these documents may not visibly show digital signatures, they are, in fact, generated through the digital signature mechanism. The tax officers log into the GST common portal using their digital signatures, and all actions are performed under that authentication. As such, the absence of a visible digital signature on the downloaded document does not invalidate it.
Documents like SCNs, Orders, and Refund Orders are automatically generated within the portal and stored in JSON format with the issuing officer’s digital signature. This ensures that the document is authorized and valid under the GST system.
Verification of Issued Documents
Taxpayers can verify the validity of any document issued by tax officers, either before or after logging into the GST portal:
- Post-login:
Navigate to: www.gst.gov.in → Dashboard → Services → User Services → Verify RFN - Pre-login:
Visit the link: https://services.gst.gov.in/services/verifyRfn
Critical Actions by Officers
All critical actions performed by tax officers on the GST portal require digital signature authentication, including:
- Issuance of any notice (in any module)
- Issuance of any order (in any module)
- Issuance of refund orders
This process ensures the authenticity and security of all actions taken within the GST system.
Documents issued through the GST portal, though they may not display digital signatures on downloaded PDFs, are generated and authenticated via the issuing officer’s digital signature. Taxpayers can confidently rely on these documents as valid and can verify their authenticity via the GST portal using the provided verification tools.
Thanks,
Team GSTN
Visit www.cagurujiclasses.com for practical courses
