What is e-invoicing?

E-invoicing refers as per Rule 48(4) of CGST Rules, notified class of registered persons have to prepare invoice by uploading specified particulars of invoice (in FORM GST INV-01) on Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) and obtain an Invoice Reference Number (IRN)

What is the applicability of e-invoicing?

e-Invoicing was made applicable to businesses with turnover exceeding Rs.500 crore from 1st October 2020. It has been extended to businesses with turnover exceeding Rs.100 crore from 1st January 2021. Recently, the government notified that businesses with more than Rs.50 crore turnover have to comply with e-invoicing from 1st April 2021. It is important to note that the taxpayer should comply with e-invoicing if their turnover exceeds the specified turnover in any financial year from 2017-18 onwards.

What is the e-invoicing schema?

E-Invoice schema is the standard for issuing e-invoices, which lists the mandatory and optional fields in the e-invoice and the descriptions and explanatory notes for each field.

What type of documents are covered under e-invoice?
  • B2B invoices issued by the supplier (including RCM transactions)
  • Credit notes issued by the supplier pertaining to B2B invoices
  • Debit notes issued by the supplier pertaining to B2B invoices
  • Any other document as required by the law from time to time

    Is it mandatory to generate the IRN?

The invoice will be considered invalid if it does not contain an IRN. Hence, it is suggested to immediately upload invoices to the IRP on a real-time basis so that the IRN can be generated and placed on the invoice.

What indicates that the IRP has approved the e-Invoice?

When the IRP returns the signed JSON along with the QR code, it can be considered that the IRP has approved the e-invoice. The QR code will contain the GSTIN of the supplier, the buyer, the invoice number and date, HSN codes of major commodities, IRN, etc. (Note: The QR code will not have the status of an invoice.

Does the IRP provide an archiving facility?

No, the details will be stored in the IRP for only 24 hours, after which the same will be available in the GSTN in the GSTR-1 return.

Is the QR code required to be printed on the invoice?

It is mandatory to print the QR code on the e-invoice. Even if a business prints the invoice in its format, it still needs to contain the QR code returned by the IRP, as this QR code will also contain the IRN.

Will the e-Invoice be mapped to the GSTR-1 by the IRP?

Yes, the IRP will push the data to the GST portal, and the data will be populated in GSTR-1 of the seller.