CONTROVERSY OF E-FILLING AUDIT REPORT: SHOULD AUDIT REPORT BE SIGNED OR UNSIGNED

One more controversy is going on with respect to uploading of the financial statements i.e. “Balance sheet and profit and loss account” with Form 3CD/ 3CB and this controversy is related to the physical signatures on the “Financial statements” before uploading the same on the site. 50% of the questions received by us are related to this problem hence we are discussing the same here today.

The first option is get the signature of the client and the CA on the financial statements, get it scanned on the in PDF form and upload it. If you are doing it then there is no controversy and perfectly you are taking an uncontroversial course of action in this respect.

The second option is to prepare an unsigned PDF file and upload it and in that case scanning is not required and you can convert the word file directly in PDF. There are views that this is also a correct process and convenient also because these financial statements are uploaded with the digital signatures of the CA and approved by the assessee with the DSC. The timing of taking signature of the assessee on financial statements and then scanning it is saved. This is the second view.

We are the follower of the first option and while uploading our report we are following the same process. The first option is perfectly correct hence if you are following it then there is no need for you to give any heed to this controversy since it is perfectly OK we are following it but since here we are sharing only our practical experience with the readers with claiming any expertise hence we are not disregarding the second option totally.

The first reason for opting the second option is wastage of time in getting the signatures of the assessee on the financial statements is not a valid reason because if you have completed the audit then taking signature of the client on Financial statements are mandatory and even after that you can upload the tax audit report legally. If you want to upload the audit report and financial statements without taking the signatures on the “Financial statements” then this is not valid legally. Practically by opting the second method you are merely saving the time of taking scanned copy of the Financial statements because in any case you cannot upload the Financial statements without taking signatures on it. If you are doing it then you may be extra ordinary practical but legally not correct.

One thing may be noted here that you can also sign the Financial statements with your DSC and also get it signed by the assessee with DSC before uploading the same but submitting the Financial statements with DSC of the CA and approving it with the DSC of the assessee as per the current practice of the uploading at IT site is not alternate of signing the Financial statement. There is a system of signing the PDF file with the DSC and some software are available in this respect and in that case you will find a mark of “digitally sign” on the financial statements and this is also the correct method of uploading the financial statements.

So before taking any decision in this respect please consider the facts mentioned above and then decide the right course of action.

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