GSTN Issues Advisory on Issuance of Notices/Orders without Digital Signatures of the Issuing Authorities


Quick Summary
The GST Network (GSTN) has issued an advisory to address concerns about the validity of tax notices and orders issued through the common portal. Documents like show cause notices and refund orders, generated and digitally signed by officers within the system, are considered valid even if the downloaded PDF does not display a physical digital signature. Taxpayers can verify the authenticity of these documents pre-login or post-login on the GST portal.

Doubts have been created regarding the validity of documents issued by the tax officers on the common portal viz. Show cause Notices, Order of Assessment, Refund Orders etc. which are not containing the Digital signatures on the pdf. document downloaded from the common portal. In this context, it is to be mentioned that such documents (i.e. SCN/Orders) are generated on the common portal from the login of the officer, who logs in through Digital Signatures. Further, these documents being computer generated on the command of the officer, may not require physical signatures of the officer as these documents can be issued by the officer only after logging into the common portal using Digital Signature. Thus, all these documents in JSON format containing the order details along with the issuing officer details are stored in the GST system with the digital signature of the issuing officer.

GST Notices Valid Without Digital Signatures, Says Advisory

The validity of the document in question vis-à-vis who and for what purpose these documents have been issued can also be verified by the taxpayer pre-login as well as after login from the GST common portal by navigaƟng to the following path:

Post-login: www.gst.gov.in-->Dashboard-->Services-->User Services-->Verify RFN

All communications from the officers to the taxpayer/ any other person iniƟated through the system can also be verified pre-login through the link https://services.gst.gov.in/services/verifyRfn.

It is further mentioned that all the critical actions on the part of officers are performed through digital signature authentication of the officer concerned who is authorised for taking that action, such as:

1. Issue of any notice in any module
2. Issue of any order in any module
3. Issue of any refund order

FAQ :

Yes, according to the GSTN advisory, documents generated through the GST common portal are valid. The system digitally signs these documents upon issuance by the authorised officer, even if the signature isn't visible on the downloaded PDF.

Documents are digitally signed by the issuing officer when they log into the common portal using their digital signature. The order details and issuing officer information are stored in the GST system with this digital signature.

Yes, taxpayers can verify the validity and issuance details of these documents on the GST common portal, both before and after logging in.

You can verify communications by navigating to Services > User Services > Verify RFN on the GST portal after logging in. Alternatively, you can use the link https://services.gst.gov.in/services/verifyRfn for pre-login verification.

Critical actions such as issuing any notice, issuing any order, or issuing any refund order in any module require digital signature authentication by the authorised officer.




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Finance news reporter covering taxation, GST, income tax, business compliance, and economy updates. I simplify complex financial topics into easy-to-understand articles for professionals, taxpayers, and business owners on leading finance and tax platforms.

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