Excerpts from CGST Guidelines on Invoices

Signing invoices is a matter of interest for a large number of users of Digital Signatures. It is therefore interesting to take a look at what CGST guidelines say about the use of Digital Signatures for signing invoices, and the Type of Signatures that can be used.

The Central GST Rules are available on the GST Council website. The latest guidelines as of today are available here:

http://gstcouncil.gov.in/sites/default/files/NOTIFICATION%20PDF/CGST-Rules-06072018.pdf

[Link moved. New link as of 10/07/2019:
https://cbic-gst.gov.in/pdf/23042019-CGST-Rules-2017-Part-A-Rules.pdf
]

Chapter VI deals with TAX INVOICE, CREDIT AND DEBIT NOTES.

Section 46 begins:

and continues...

specifically (Color added to draw attention to specific words):

"digital signature of the supplier or his authorised representative."

The definition of supplier is found in the CGST Act 2017, as it appears in the Gazette of India, which is available from the GST Council website link below.

http://gstcouncil.gov.in/sites/default/files/CGST.pdf

The definition of supplier in section 2(105) is below:

The definition of person in Section 2 (84) of the CGST Act is below:

Lastly, we could not find any specific mention of whether Class 2 or Class 3 signatures have to be used for signing invoices. However, we know that for various tax filings, corporate filings, EPF and other Government filings, Class 2 signatures are used.

Certifying Authorities issue Class 3 Corporate Document Signing Certificates on an HSM only. However, for Class 2 Corporate Document Signing Certificates, HSM is not required, although security precautions are to be taken in their usage.

31 July 2018 - eSignatures will need VID (Virtual ID)

31 July 2018 is the date from which eSignatures will be done using Virtual ID and Aadhaar numbers will no longer be used. TRUECOPY has been supporting VID-based signing since June 30, and a large number of VID users have already signed documents using VID instead of Aadhaar.

Here is a re-cap of the process.

How to obtain your VID?

An individual can obtain his / her VID from the UIDAI website:

https://resident.uidai.gov.in/web/resident/vidgeneration

The individual enters his / her Aadhaar number and obtains and OTP on registered mobile. After entering the OTP, a VID is communicated to the individual.

A VID is also generated by downloading an eAadhaar document. (It appears under the Aadhaar number on the eAadhaar document)


How to use a VID for eSignatures?

During the eSign process the individual is directed to the ESP gateway, and the VID has to be entered on the ESP page. An OTP is received (as earlier) and the eSign process goes forward.