IT Department Now Uses ICAI's UIDN To Authenticate Audit Reports

The Income Tax department said on that its e-filing portal has been linked with ICAI's (Institute of Chartered Accountants) portal to validate the unique identification numbers (UIDN) chartered accountants generate for documents attested by them.

Tax audit reports filed by businesses will be rejected if they are not authenticated by ICAI, the professional regulator of chartered accountants.

The system-level integration allows the tax department to verify the UDIN provided for the audit reports and certificates submitted by CAs in the e-filing portal. "This will help in weeding out fake or incorrect tax audit reports not duly authenticated with the ICAI," it said.

CAs can also file the tax audit report or other certificates with the income tax department without the UIDN if they are not able to generate it. However, this number has to be generated and updated in the document within 15 days.

"If the UDIN for the audit report or certificate is not updated within the 15 days provided for the same, such audit report or certificate uploaded shall be treated as invalid submission," the department said.