Is your Income Tax notice real? New 2026 CBDT rules require a DIN for official income tax correspondences like notice, orders, others

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on March 31, 2026 withdrew the old 2019 DIN circular and notified a new 2026 DIN circular with new instructions. As per this new circular (no. 4/2026), CBDT said that all income tax correspondence sent to taxpayers like notice, letter, order, etc is to be referenced by a Document Identification Number (DIN) number without which the tax correspondence can be…

By replacing the 2019 rules with these new 2026 rules, this directive by CBDT ensures that taxpayers can verify the authenticity of any communication they receive from the tax department.

CBDT said in the circular: Referencing by Document Identification Number (DIN) by an income-tax authority referred in para above, henceforth, shall be in accordance with the following, namely:-

Any correspondence such as notice, letter, order or draft order, summons etc. [hereinafter referred to as ‘communication’] by an income-tax authority referred in the first para with any person (not being any officer or authority under the Income-tax Act or any other law) shall be required to be referenced by DIN.
Referencing by DIN in such communication shall also mean and include attaching a sepa…

However, CBDT has clarified that a public communication shall not be required to be referenced by DIN in any manner, for example communication in nature of guidelines, frequently asked questions etc.

S. Ramakrishnan, former chief commissioner of Income Tax Department said to ET Wealth Online: “The Income Tax Department introduced DIN as a process for taxpayers to check the authenticity of departm…

According to Taxsutra, in view of the retrospective amendment vis-a-vis the hotly litigated issue of DIN being mandatory or otherwise, CBDT withdraws its earlier circular on this subject dated August 14, 2019 by issuing a new circular with respect to ‘Referencing by Document Identification Number’ (DIN), CBDT spells out how and when DIN is to be referenced to in communications/correspondences by a…

Exceptional situations where DIN number quoting is not possible
CBDT said that in certain situations, it may not be possible to reference a communication by DIN. Communication in such situations can be issued without referencing by DIN as a matter of exception. Such situations illustratively are:-

Where there are technical difficulties in referencing by DIN or issuance of communication electronic…