Section 233 — Authentication of notices and other documents

(1) Every notice or other document communicated in electronic form by an income-tax authority under the Act shall be deemed to be authenticated,—
(a) in case of electronic mail or electronic mail message (herein referred to as the e-mail), if the name and office of such income-tax authority—(i) is printed on the e-mail body and if the notice or other document is in the e-mail body itself; or(ii) is printed on the attachment to the e-mail and if the notice or other document is in the attachment, and the e-mail is issued from the designated e-mail address of such income-tax authority;
(b) in case of an electronic record, if the name and office of the income-tax authority—(i) is displayed as a part of the electronic record and if the notice or other document is contained as text or remark in the electronic record itself;or(ii) is printed on the attachment in the electronic record and if the notice or other document is in the attachment,and such electronic record is displayed on the designated website.
(2) The Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) shall specify the designated e-mail address of theincome-tax authority, the designated website and the procedure, formats and standards for ensuring authenticity of the communication.
(3) For the purposes of this rule, the expressions—
(a) "electronic mail" and "electronic mail message" shall have the same meanings as respectively assigned to them in the Explanation to section 66A ofthe Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000); and(b) "electronic record" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in section 2(1)(t) of the said Act.