In a recent advisory, the Goods and Services Tax Network ( GSTN ) has addressed growing concerns regarding the validity of documents issued by tax officers through the common portal, particularly Show Cause Notices ( SCNs ), Orders of Assessment, and Refund Orders. The advisory admits that many of these documents, downloaded in PDF format, lack the digital signatures of the issuing authorities, raising questions about their authenticity.
The GSTN clarified that such documents are indeed generated through the common portal after the officer logs in using their digital signature. Therefore, while the documents may appear unsigned when downloaded, they are still valid as they are generated under the secure digital framework established by the GST system.
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The advisory stated that the physical signatures are not necessary since the issuance of these documents is inherently linked to the officer’s digital authentication.
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
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Furthermore, all generated documents are stored in the GST system in a secure JSON format, complete with the order details and the issuing officer’s information. Taxpayers can verify the authenticity of these documents before and after logging into the GST portal. The verification process can be initiated post-login by navigating to the path: www.gst.gov.in → Dashboard → Services → User Services → Verify RFN. For pre-login verification, taxpayers can use the link: Verify RFN.
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