Guidelines for Using e-filing DSC Management Utility

Filing income tax returns electronically in India has become an essential process for taxpayers, and the Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) is a key tool in ensuring secure and authentic submissions. The DSC Management Utility is a vital tool for managing your DSCs, allowing users to register, re-register, update, or manage the DSC.

Who are Required to Sign Using DSC?

Taxpayers belonging to the below categories are required to mandatorily sign their income tax returns using a DSC or Digital Signature Certificate:

• Individual, Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), Partnership firm and Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) whose accounts are audited under section 44AB
• Companies
• Political parties Once an ITR is digitally signed using a DSC, the taxpayer is not required to e-verify the ITR or send a printed copy of the ITR V to the Centralised Processing Center.

Before affixing a DSC, it is mandatory to register the DSC in the taxpayer’s login on the e-filing portal. In addition to the digital signing of the ITR, the tax audit reports have to be signed using a DSC by tax auditors and approved by the taxpayers. If you have not been able to use your DSC successfully in the recent past, it may be due to your browser settings. Java applets which were used by the e-filing website are not working in latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla or Internet Explorer. To resolve this issue the tax department has developed a software utility called ‘e-filing DSC management utility’. To be able to use your DSC for your income tax return and for other purposes, you’ll have to download this utility in your computer and use it for signing with your DSC.

How to Sign Income Tax Return with Digital Signature Certificate

Step 1: Download ‘ITD e-filing DSC Management Utility’ from the link provided in e-filing at the time of XML upload.

Step 2: Extract zip folder and open the utility (DSC_MGMT_UTILITY.jar)

Step 3: The utility will be opened as below

Step 4: Use the ‘Browse’ button to select your valid XML file for e-filing. Step 5: Select the type of Digital Signature Certificate

Step 5(1): Using .pfx file

A success message will be displayed and the signature file will be generated and saved at the location where XML was stored.

Step 5(2): Using USB token

A success message will be displayed and the signature file will be generated and saved at the location where XML was stored.

Do reach out to us support@cleartax.in if you have any questions.