The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and its Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) have lately observed that certain persons engaging improperly are creating and distributing fake notices to taxpayers who may or may not be the subject of a DGGI inquiry.
Since these fake summonses include a Document Identification Number (DIN), they may appear authentic; nevertheless, in the case of these entities, the DIN numbers are not provided by DGGI.
To address this problem, DGGI has been taking significant action, notifying the police and filing complaints against those who create and distribute fake and fraudulent summonses.
Circular No. 122/41/2019-GST, dated November 5, 2019, has been released by CBIC about the creation and reference of DIN in correspondence between CBIC staff and taxpayers.
For the benefit of taxpayers, it highlights that they can use the DIN Utility Search on the Directorate of Data Management (DDM), CBIC online portal or the ‘VERIFY CBIC-DIN’ window on the CBIC website to confirm the authenticity of any communication from the Department (including summonses).
Any taxpayer who receives a summons from a DGGI/CBIC formation that appears suspicious or maybe fake should report it right away to the jurisdictional DGGI/CBIC office in question for verification, to enable appropriate action against those in charge of these fraudulent actions.
