ADMISSIBILITY OF MICRO FILMS, FACSIMILE COPIES OF DOCUMENTS AND COMPUTER PRINTOUTS AS DOCUMENTS AND AS EVIDENCE [SECTION 145] - Handbook of GST Law & Procedures (CBIC) [October 2024] - GST

4. ADMISSIBILITY OF MICRO FILMS, FACSIMILE COPIES OF DOCUMENTS AND COMPUTER PRINTOUTS AS DOCUMENTS AND AS EVIDENCE [SECTION 145] 4.1. Document has been defined in Section 2(41) of the CGST Act, 2017 to include written or printed record of any sort and electronic record as defined in the Information Technology Act, 2000. 4.2. Deemed documents- As per Section 145(1) of the CGST Act, 2017, the following shall be deemed as documents : (i) A micro film of a document or the reproduction of the image(s) embodied in such micro film, whether enlarged or not - Microfilms are films containing microphotographs of a document. Such images are generally provided as negatives (ii) A facsimile copy of a document - A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of a document that is as true to the original source as possible. An exact copy of a document is a facsimile. (iii) A statement contained in a document and included in a printed material produced by a computer. (iv) Information stored electronically in any device or media, including any hard copies made of such information - It refers to the information stored in digital form, which requires the use of computer hardware and software. Also, such information is normally created and altered in the digital form. This category would include the information stored in ERP systems that are employed by most businesses presently. It also includes printouts of such digital information. 4.3. Such documents shall be admissible in any proceedings under the CGST Act, 2017, without further proof or production of the original, as evidence of any contents of the original or of any fact stated therein of which direct evidence would be admissible. 4.4. Certification - As per Section 145(2) of the CGST Act, 2017, a certificate, - (a) identifying the document containing the statement and describing the manner in which it was produced; (b) giving such particulars of any device involved in the production of that document as may be appropriate for the purpose of showing that the document was produced by a computer, shall constitute evidence of any matter stated in the certificate. 4.5. A certificate shall be sufficient for a matter to be stated to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person stating it.