Validity of notice/letter issued by Proper Officer

[Krishna Murthy]

Sir, In one case, the proper officer has issued a notice/letter requiring the registered person to submit all the invoices, e-waybills and bank statements so as to prove the genuineness of the ITC claimed by the registered person.

My question is, is such letter/ notice is a valid notice. The said letter/ notice does not contain any provision or section under which such information is asked for. I feel that such information can be asked only when there is express provision under the law. Say for example Sec 61 of CGST Act which talks about scrutiny of returns. Is it valid to ask such information without valid express provision under the law.

The information asked for is much voluminous. As per Sec 160, once a notice is acted upon, the validity of the same cannot be questioned at a later date.

AI Summary

Validity of notice requiring records: a DIN can render the request valid; taxpayers advised to comply with document demands.
Validity of notices requesting invoices, e-waybills and bank statements turns on whether a DIN is present and whether the information relates to returns; contributors note that a notice with a DIN is treated as valid even without a cited statutory provision, while the scope of an Information Return regime and its notification affects whether specific persons may be required to file such returns, and practical advice favours complying with document requests.