The Information Technology Act, 2000 provides for the use of Digital signatures on the documents submitted in electronic form in order to ensure the security and authenticity of the documents filed electronically. This is the only secure and authentic way that a document can be submitted electronically. As such, all filings done by the companies under MCA21 e-Governance programme are required to be filed with the use of Digital Signatures by the person authorised to sign the documents.
A digital signature is issued by a Certification Authority (CA) and is signed with the CA’s private key. A digital signature typically contains the Owner’s public key the Owner’s name Expiration date of the public key the Name of the issuer (the CA that issued the Digital ID) Serial number of the digital signature and the digital signature of the issuer. Digital signatures deploy the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology.
If you file electronically using digital signature you do not have to submit a physical copy of the return. Even if you do not have a digital signature you can still e-File the returns. However you must also physically submit the printed copy of the filled up Form along with the copy of the Provisional Acknowledgement Number of your e-Return.
The Digital signature Certificates are typically issued with one year validity and two year validity. These are renewable on expiry of the period of initial issue.
There are a total of seven Certification Agencies authorised by the CCA to issue the Digital Signature Certificates:
| Name of Certifying Agency | Website |
| Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. | http://www.tcs-ca.tcs.co.in/ |
| National Informatics Centre | http://www.nic.in/ |
| Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) | idrbtca.org.in |
| MTNL | http://www.mtnltrustline.com/ |
| Customs & Central Excise | icert.gov.in |
| (n)Code Solutions Ltd. (A division of Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilisers Company Ltd.) | http://www.gnvfc.com/ |
| Safescrypt | http://www.safescrypt.com/ |
A person/company who already has the specified Digital Signature for any other application can use the same for filings for the Income tax return and is not required to obtain a fresh Digital Signature.
In case the electronic return is being signed digitally using a digital certificate then the digital certificate should be that of the Authorized Signatory in accordance with the provisions of Section 140 of the IT Act. Therefore for company returns the digital certificate should be that of the Managing Director or the Director of the company.