Digital signature certificate or DSC is the electronic version of a signature that can be used to identify the signer of the form.
You have three different type of digital signature certificate i.e. class 1,2 and 3. In this article we will be talking about class 2 digital signature certificate.
Class 2 DSC is required for filing income tax return, company registration, annual return and financial statements filing with ROC, GST registration and return filing.
DSC for company registration and filing
In case of a OPC, private and public limited company, you are required to have digital signature certificate at the time of registration.
While filing the registration form SPICe, all subscribers and one director is required to have DSC in addition to the professional who is certifying the form.
Post incorporation, in all the e-forms including the e-form uploaded for company’s financial statements and annual return, you are required to use the authorized person’s DSC to sign it.
Therefore, if you have incorporated or going to register a company, then digital signature certificate is a must. Before using it, you need to register the DSC in MCA site against the role assigned. If the person will be signing the e-form as a director, then DSC must be registered against the director identification number and PAN of that person.
Digital Signature Certificate for GST
Similar to company registration, in case of GST also you require Digital Signature Certificate for return filing. It’s a mandatory requirement.
For a proprietorship and Partnership firm’s GST return filing, DSC is not mandatory. However, if you want to use it, then you can do so.
To use DSC in GST, you first require to register it against the PAN of the person authorized to file returns.
DSC for Income Tax Return filing
For company income tax return and tax audit filing DSC is a must. Without a Digital Signature Certificate, you can’t file the ITR with tax department.
However, in other cases you can use DSC even though it’s not mandatory. Before using, you need to register it against the authorized person’s and company’s PAN.
In addition to above uses, you can also use your digital signature certificate or DSC for applying to government tenders.
How to get a digital signature certificate
Digital signature certificate can be obtained from a certifying authority such as eMudra, encode solution, safescript and others
To get a DSC, you can visit any certifying authority’s website and submit all your documents to get it issued.
Instead of that you can get it with the help of a agent appointed by these certifying authority nearest to you locality. If you don’t know them, then better to contact your chartered accountant to help you out.
These agents will be asking for following documents:
- Permanent account number or PAN of the applicant.
- Address proof such as Aadhar, driving license, passport and voter ID etc.
- Passport size photo
- Application form duly filled in
In addition to these documents, you are also required to give your email ID and mobile number. After filing your form, you will be getting one message to confirm your email ID and mobile number in return SMS.
After confirmation, you will get a link to capture a video stating that you are applying for the Digital Signature Certificate. The agent will guide you through the process to get the certificate issued.
After all this process is over, the agent will give you a token and password. Inside this token, you will find your DSC. Password can be changed. You just required to plugin the token to your laptop or desktop to sign the document electronically.
