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A renewed certificate needs to be re-registered, here's the process, plus how to fix the common "customer already exists" error.
Navigate to My Profile > Register DSC on the e-filing portal.
Rather than a fresh registration, choose to replace your current certificate.
Use the same Java-based utility, this time selecting your new, renewed certificate.
Complete the process as you would for an initial registration.
This error appears when your old DSC is still registered against your PAN and the portal won't allow a duplicate registration. To resolve it, first raise a grievance on the e-filing portal requesting de-registration of your old DSC, attaching a screenshot of the error and the reason for the new registration. Once the old certificate is de-registered (you'll get an email confirmation), you can register your new DSC normally.
We guide clients through DSC updates and the de-registration process when needed, alongside issuing renewed certificates.
The portal ties one DSC registration per PAN, a renewed certificate is technically a new one, so the old registration needs to be cleared first.
This depends on how quickly your grievance is processed, it isn't instant, plan ahead of filing deadlines.
If your CA loads the renewed certificate onto your existing token, you'll likely still need to re-register since it's technically a new certificate, even on the same hardware.