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Dear Members,
We would like to inform you that Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued Circular No. 37/2019 dated, 5th November 2019 regarding Generation and quoting of Document Identification Number (DIN) on any communication issued by the officers of the CBIC to tax payers and other concerned persons on or after the 8th Nov 2019.
In keeping with the Government’s objectives of transparency and accountability in indirect tax administration through widespread use of information technology, the CBIC is implementing a system for electronic (digital) generation of a Document Identification Number (DIN) for all communications sent by its offices to taxpayers and other concerned persons. To begin with, the DIN would be used for search authorization, summons, arrest memo, inspection notices and letters issued in the course of any enquiry. This measure would create a digital directory for maintaining a proper audit trail of such communication. Importantly, it would provide the recipients of such communication a digital facility to ascertain their genuineness. Subsequently, the DIN would be extended to other communications. Also, there is a plan to have the communication itself bearing the DIN generated from the system.
The Board directs that no search authorization, summons, arrest memo, inspection notices and letters issued in the course of any enquiry shall be issued by any officer under the Board to a taxpayer or any other person, on or after the 8th day of November, 2019 without a computer-generated Document Identification Number (DIN) being duly quoted prominently in the body of such communication. The digital platform for generation of DIN is hosted on the Directorate of Data Management (DDM)’s online portal “cbicddm.gov.in”
Whereas DIN is a mandatory requirement, in exceptional circumstances communications may be issued without an auto generated DIN. However, this exception is to be made only after recording the reasons in writing in the concerned file. Also, such communication shall expressly state that it has been issued without a DIN. The exigent situations in which a communication may be issued without the electronically generated DIN are as follows:-
(i) when there are technical difficulties in generating the electronic DIN, or
(ii) when communication regarding investigation/enquiry, verification etc. is required to issue at short notice or in urgent situations and the authorized officer is outside the office in the discharge of his official duties.
The Board also directs that any specified communication which does not bear the electronically generated DIN and is not covered by the exceptions mentioned above, shall be treated as invalid and shall be deemed to have never been issued.
Any communication issued without an electronically generated DIN in the exigencies mentioned above shall be regularized within 15 working days of its issuance, by:
(i) obtaining the post facto approval of the immediate superior officer as regards the justification of issuing the communication without the electronically generated DIN;
(ii) mandatorily electronically generating the DIN after post facto approval; and
(iii) printing the electronically generated pro-forma bearing the DIN and filing it in the concerned file.
In order to implement this new facility of electronically generating the DIN, all Principal Chief Commissioners /Principal Director Generals/Chief Commissioners/Director Generals shall ensure that all their authorized officers who have to electronically generate the DIN are immediately mapped as users in the System and are conversant with the process for auto-generating a DIN.
The genuineness of the communication can be ascertained by recipient (public) by entering the CBIC- DIN for that communication in a window VERIFY CBIC-DIN on CBIC’s website www.cbic.qov.in. Only in those cases where the DIN entered is valid, information about the office that issued that communication and the date of generation of its DIN would be displayed on the screen.
As aforementioned, in the first phase beginning on 8th day of November, 2019, the “Generate DIN” option shall be used for Search Authorizations, Summons, Inspection Notices, Arrest Memos, and letters issued in the course of any enquiry. The format of the DIN shall be CBIC-YYYY MM ZCDR NNNNNN where,
(a) YYYY denotes the calendar year in which the DIN is generated,
(b) MM denotes the calendar month in which the DIN is generated,
(c) ZCDR denotes the Zone-Commissionerate-Division-Range Code of the field formation/Directorate of the authorized user generating the DIN,
(d) NNNNNN denotes 6 digit alpha-numeric system generated random number.
The electronic generation of DIN and its use in official communications to taxpayers and other concerned persons is a transformative initiative. Principal Chief Commissioners/Principal Director Generals / Chief Commissioners/Director Generals must become fully familiar with the process involved. They are also urged to ensure that adequate and proper training is provided to all concerned officers under their charge to ensure its successful implementation. It is reiterated that any specified document that is issued without the electronically generated DIN shall be treated as invalid and shall be deemed to have never been issued. Therefore, it is incumbent upon all officers concerned to strictly adhere to these instructions.
Members are requested to take note of the above measure and check, if needed. This circular is available for reference using below link-
http://cbic.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/customs/cs-circulars/cs-circulars-2019/Circular-No-37-2019.pdf
http://cbic.gov.in/resources//htdocs-cbec/gst/circular-cgst-122.pdf
Thanking you,
Yours Faithfully,
(S. G. Bharadi)
Executive Director
CHEMEXCIL
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