Rule 233 — Authentication of notices and other documents.
The rule says when a notice or other document communicated in electronic form by an income-tax authority is deemed to be authenticated.
Sub-rule (1)(a) covers electronic mail and electronic mail messages. The e-mail is authenticated if the name and office of the income-tax authority is printed on the e-mail body and the notice or other document is in the e-mail body itself, or is printed on the attachment to the e-mail and the notice or other document is in the attachment — and, in either case, the e-mail is issued from the designated e-mail address of that authority. Sub-rule (1)(b) covers an electronic record: it is authenticated if the name and office of the authority is displayed as a part of the electronic record and the notice or other document is contained as text or remark in the record itself, or is printed on the attachment in the electronic record and the notice or other document is in the attachment, and the electronic record is displayed on the designated website.
Sub-rule (2) leaves the machinery to the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the Director General of Income-tax (Systems), who shall specify the designated e-mail address of the income-tax authority, the designated website and the procedure, formats and standards for ensuring authenticity of the communication. Sub-rule (3) takes "electronic mail" and "electronic mail message" from the Explanation to section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and "electronic record" from section 2(1)(t) of that Act.
A notice signed on paper carries its own proof of who issued it. An e-mail or an electronic record does not, and without a test for authentication a taxpayer could not tell a genuine notice from anything else, nor could the Department show that what it sent was validly issued. The rule supplies a deeming test built on two elements that can be checked from the face of the communication — the authority's name and office appearing in the right place, and the communication coming from a designated address or appearing on a designated website.
Two conditions must hold together in each limb, and the second is the one that does the work. For an e-mail, the name and office of the authority must appear in the same place as the notice — in the body if the notice is in the body, on the attachment if the notice is in the attachment — and the e-mail must issue from the designated e-mail address; an e-mail from any other address is not authenticated however complete its contents. For an electronic record, the parallel requirement is that the record is displayed on the designated website. What counts as the designated address and the designated website is not in the rule: sub-rule (2) leaves that, and the procedure, formats and standards, to the Systems authority. The rule creates a deeming — a communication meeting the test is deemed authenticated — and does not require a separate signature on top of it.
An assessee receives a notice as a pdf attached to an e-mail. The attachment carries the name and office of the issuing income-tax authority, and the e-mail has come from the designated e-mail address of that authority. Under sub-rule (1)(a)(ii) the notice is deemed to be authenticated. The same pdf forwarded from an officer's ordinary mailbox would not meet sub-rule (1)(a), because the e-mail would not be issued from the designated e-mail address.
You meet it on receiving any electronic notice, order or communication from the Department, and again if the validity of that communication is disputed and the question is whether it was authenticated.
Every notice or other document communicated in electronic form by an income-tax authority under the Act shall be deemed to be authenticated
and the e-mail is issued from the designated e-mail address of such income-tax authority
The Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) shall specify the designated e-mail address of the income-tax authority, the designated website and the procedure, formats and standards for ensuring authenticity of the communication.