Browsed by
Tag: gst e-invoice

GST e-invoices spell end to sales under-reporting

GST e-invoices spell end to sales under-reporting

The practice among small businesses of issuing ‘kacha bills’ or informal sales invoices to under-report turnover is likely to become a thing of the past with the government quietly extending the scope of e-invoicing to ever more businesses.

The requirement of e-invoicing —live reporting of business-to-business transactions to a government portal—which is being applied to ever more small businesses is set to make it harder to keep their final retail sales under wraps as the wholesale purchases have already been reported to the authorities.

The effect is two-fold, said experts. One, it makes it easier for small firms to claim credit for taxes already paid on the wholesale purchases and, two, exposes them to questioning by the authorities if final sales are not reported. As per current plan, from 1 April, businesses with sales of more than ₹50 crore will have to generate e-invoices on their business-to-business transactions, down from the current threshold of ₹100 crore. The government’s idea is to make this obligation applicable to all business-to-business deals later this year. The move shows that the government’s idea of formalizing the economy through goods and services tax (GST), which initially faced a backlash from traders and small firms, is now reaching its final stage.

To be sure, GST has already helped in checking tax evasion and large businesses are compliant with the technology-driven tax system. It is segments of the market where retail margins are high that are prone to tax evasion, as high retail margins make it perversely attractive to forgo credit for taxes already paid on procurement and under-report retail sales. Pharmaceuticals and construction materials, excluding cement and steel, are among high-margin businesses, an industry expert said seeking anonymity.

E-invoicing keeps authorities informed about who purchased goods from a distributor or stockist. If the buyer does not report his eventual retail sales, authorities can ask him to show the inventory. Once fully rolled out, e-invoicing is set to give a strong push to the formalization of the economy and give a big boost to tax compliance not only in GST, but also for income tax as under-reporting sales by small firms becomes harder. Experts said this would be a big feat compared to even what has been achieved by some of the western economies.

“The extension of e-invoicing across all business transactions over a period of time would make the GST one of the most advanced information technology-enabled indirect tax system among countries of comparable size and diversity,” said M.S. Mani, partner, Deloitte India.

According to Niraj Hutheesing, founder and managing director of Cygnet Infotech, a tech firm that helps clients digitize businesses, the primary challenge among micro, small and medium enterprises for implementing mandatory e-invoicing is their readiness to manage data. Since e-invoicing is being done in a phased manner, it is comparatively easier for small businesses to replicate the way solutions are implemented by large businesses. Large corporations are helping vendors and suppliers with software systems that will enable them to comply with e-invoicing requirements, and even small accounting software providers are modifying their software to include e-invoicing as a solution, said Hutheesing.

Source: Live-Mint. 

Get Your GST Returns Filed Easily and
Effortlessly!!!

Our GST software enables you to file your GST returns free of any hassle. Get more details by writing to us at gst@xattax.in.

GST: NIC issues list of GSTINs on whom E-Invoicing is Mandatory

GST: NIC issues list of GSTINs on whom E-Invoicing is Mandatory

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) has issued a list of GSTINs dated January 27, 2021, for whom e-invoicing shall be mandatory.

There are 73308 GSTNs who are enlisted by the NIC for whom it is mandatory for the taxpayer to upload the invoice details and register supply transaction on the Government Invoice Registration Portal.

‘E-invoicing’ or ‘electronic invoicing’ is a system where the taxpayer will upload his invoice details and register his supply transaction on the Government Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) and get the Invoice Reference Number (IRN) generated by the IRP system.

The taxpayer will first prepare and generate his invoice using his ERP/accounting system or manually and then upload these invoice details to IRP and get the unique reference number, known as IRN.

It is noteworthy that the e-invoice does not mean preparation or generation of taxpayer’s invoice on the government portal. It is only intimating the government portal that invoice has been issued to the buyer, by registering that invoice on the government portal.

Source: TaxScan. 

XaTTaX is Best GST Software, Simplify your Financial matters with GST eFiling Software for Return Filing & GST Billing Software in India.

  • Automate Invoicing and get Paid Faster
  • Integration with all popular accounting software
  • Manage your GST and E-WayBill Software anytime anywhere using multiple devices

Get Our GST Software DEMO and E-WAY BILL DEMO for FREE

GST e-invoicing for businesses with Rs 500-cr turnover from Oct 1

GST e-invoicing for businesses with Rs 500-cr turnover from Oct 1

The government will notify a new GST e-invoice scheme under which businesses with turnover of Rs 500 crore and above will generate all invoices on a centralised government portal starting October 1, an official said on Thursday. Earlier, the turnover threshold for businesses was set at Rs 100 crore.

CBIC Principal Commissioner (GST) Yogendra Garg said the existing Goods and Services Tax (GST) return filing system would be improved further by incorporating the features proposed in the new system.

“Yesterday, the GST Implementation Committee has recommended that we will go ahead with October 1 deadline (for e-invoice)… To begin with we will not do it for Rs 100 crore and above, as we had notified. We will soon come out with a notification to make it Rs 500 crore from October 1 and as they stabilise, we will bring a date for Rs 100 crore turnover people,” Garg said at an Assocham event here.

The new turnover threshold would be notified by next week, he added.

The e-invoice was aimed at curbing GST evasion through issue of fake invoices. Besides, it would make the returns filing process simpler for businesses as invoice data would already be captured by a centralised portal.

In November last year, the government had said that from April 1 electronic invoice (e-invoice) would be mandatory for businesses with turnover of Rs 100 crore. Later in March 2020, the GST Council extended the implementation date to October 1.

The Council also exempted insurance, banking, financial instituions, NBFCs and passenger transport service from issuing e-invoice.

It had also decided to introduce the new GST returns filing system in phases between October 2020 and January 2021.

Garg said in the last 3 years of GST, there has not been a single month which saw returns being filed by all the businesses registered under GST.

About 70-80 per cent of GST registered businesses file returns within the due date.

“2019-20 has been a year of consolidation of compliance requirement…. We took a call that instead of introducing the new return system which we had promised, we will carry out improvement in the existing return system and take it closer to what we had promised in the new return system to make the certainty of credit,” he said.

Garg said the GST administration is working on a proposal to make a system available to businesses about how much input tax credit (ITC) is available with a taxpayer.

“The endeavour is to make life simpler for taxpayer. The vision for 4th year of GST is compliance burden gets reduced and e-invoice would help in this,” he said.

With regard to GST audits, Garg said central tax officers have been training state officers on the audit experience, some of the states had some good strategies which we are working on.

“To the extent possible these arre not going to be physical audits, these are more going to be desk audits,” he added.

Source: Economic-Times.

XaTTaX is Best GST Software, Simplify your Financial matters with GST eFiling Software for Return Filing & GST Billing Software in India.

  • Automate Invoicing and get Paid Faster
  • Integration with all popular accounting software
  • Manage your GST and E-WayBill Software anytime anywhere using multiple devices

Get Our GST Software DEMO and E-WAY BILL DEMO for FREE

Accounting and Billing Software Providers can enrol with GSTN to Receive Regular updates on E-Invoice: CBIC

Accounting and Billing Software Providers can enrol with GSTN to Receive Regular updates on E-Invoice: CBIC

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has said that Accounting and Billing Software Providers can enrol with GSTN to Receive Regular updates on E-Invoice.

The GST Council has approved the introduction of ‘e-invoicing’ or ‘electronic invoicing’ in a phased manner for reporting of Business to Business (B2B) invoices to GST System.

An e-invoice standard has been finalized after consultation with trade/industry bodies as well as ICAI. The adoption of this new standard ensures the complete inter-operability of e-invoices across the entire GST eco-system. The new system eliminates the need for fresh data entry, reduction of reconciliation errors and population of invoice details directly into Return through Invoice Reporting Portal (IRP).For more details on ‘e-invoice’, CLICK HERE

Being key players in the Indian business eco-system, the role and support of Accounting and Billing Software Providers are crucial for the successful implementation of the GST e-invoice System.

In the coming months when e-invoice implementation takes place, GSTN intends to interact closely with Accounting and Billing Software Providers. This is to get suggestions and feedback as well as to keep them abreast of developments on the new e-invoice framework.

Accounting and Billing Software Providers can ENROL HERE, by providing contact and other details.

Source: Tax-Scan.

XaTTaX is Best GST Software, Simplify your Financial matters with GST eFiling Software for Return Filing & GST Billing Software in India.

  • Automate Invoicing and get Paid Faster
  • Integration with all popular accounting software
  • Manage your GST and E-WayBill Software anytime anywhere using multiple devices

Get Our GST Software DEMO and E-WAY BILL DEMO for FREE

What is E-invoicing?

What is E-invoicing?

E-invoicing

E-invoicing refers to a method in which the entire B2B invoices that are generated by the accounting software, are electronically authenticated by GSTN (Goods and Service Tax Network) for any further use such as generating E-way bills, preparing returns, and the like. In fact, E-invoice does not involve generating or creating invoices from the common portal or the tax department; rather, it includes the submission of invoices already generated from the respective accounting software at the central GST portal.

However, the GST system fails to recognize the invoice formats generated by the different accounting/ billing software. In this scenario, there arises the need for a standard invoice format (schema) which could be easily uploaded on the GST portal. This standard schema needs to be followed by the entire accounting/ billing software in order to generate the JSON of every invoice in that format so as to make the uploading process on the GST portal easy. The E-invoice schema provided by the GST system has mandatory as well as non-mandatory fields which could be used by all types of businesses.

The E-invoice mechanism is likely to be rolled out in different phases starting from January 1st 2020, upon a voluntary basis. In the beginning, it will be applicable only for those taxpayers who are above a particular turnover or an invoice value, and also for volunteers. Later on, it will be implemented for the entire taxpayers in a step-by-step manner.

What do you mean by E-invoicing?

If an invoice is generated by a software on the computer or Point of Sales (PoS) machine then does it become an e-invoice? Is e-invoice as a system where taxpayers can generate the invoices centrally? Many such questions are raised when e-invoice gets discussed.

E-invoice does not mean generation of invoices from a central portal of tax department, as any such centralization will bring unnecessary restriction on the way trade is conducted. In fact, taxpayers have different requirements and expectation, which can’t be met from one software generating e-invoices from a portal for the whole country. Invoice generated by each software may look more or less same, however, they can’t be understood by another computer system even though business users understand them fully. For example, an Invoice generated by SAP system cannot be read by a machine which is using ‘Tally’ system. Likewise there are hundreds of accounting/billing software which generate invoices but they all use their own formats to store information electronically and data on such invoices can’t be understood by the GST System if reported in their respective formats. Hence a need was felt to standardize the format in which electronic data of an Invoice will be shared with others to ensure there is interoperability of the data. The adoption of standards will in no way impact the way user would see the physical (printed) invoice or electronic (ex pdf version) invoice. All these software would adopt the new e-Invoice standard wherein they would re-align their data access and retrieval in the standard format. However, users of the software would not find any change since they would continue to see the physical or electronic (PDF/Excel) output of the invoices in the same manner as it existed before incorporation of e-Invoice standard in the software. Thus the taxpayer would continue to use his accounting system/ERP or excel based tools or any such tool for creating the electronic invoice as s/he is using today.

To help small taxpayers adopt e-invoice system, GSTN has empaneled eight accounting & billing software which provide basic accounting and billing system free of cost to small taxpayers. Those small taxpayers who do not have accounting software today, can use one of the empaneled software products, which come in both flavors, online (cloud based) as well as offline (installed on the computer system of the user).

E-Invoicing Under GST

The GST Council has approved introduction of ‘E-invoicing’ or ‘electronic invoicing’ in a phased manner for reporting of business to business (B2B) invoices to GST System, starting from 1st January 2020 on voluntary basis. Since there was no standard for e-invoice existing in the country, standard for the same has been finalized after consultation with trade/industry bodies as well as ICAI after keeping the draft in public place. Having a standard is a must to ensure complete inter-operability of e-invoices across the entire GST eco-system so that e-invoices generated by one software can be read by any other software, thereby eliminating the need of fresh data entry – which is a norm and standard expectation today. The machine readability and uniform interpretation is the key objective. This is also important for reporting the details to GST System as part of Return. Apart from the GST System, adoption of a standard will also ensure that an e-invoice shared by a seller with his buyer or bank or agent or any other player in the whole business eco-system can be read by machines and obviate and hence eliminate data entry errors.

The GST Council approved the standard of e-invoice in its 37th meeting held on 20th Sept 2019 and the same along with schema has been published on GST portal. Standards are generally abstruse and thus an explanation document is required to present the same in common man’s language. Also, there are lot of myth or misconception about e-Invoice. The present document is an attempt to explain the concept of e-invoice, how it operates and basics of standards. It also contains FAQs which answer the questions raised by people who responded to the draft e-invoice standard used for public consultation. It is expected that the document will also be useful for the taxpayers, tax consultants and the software companies to adopt the designed standard.

Banks, telcos, insurers may be exempted from GST e-invoices

Banks, telcos, insurers may be exempted from GST e-invoices

Banks, airlines, insurance companies, armed forces and telecom service providers are likely to be exempted from mandatory issuing of e-invoices under goods and services tax (GST), said people aware of the matter. “Banks, airlines, telcos and other entities that have direct customer interaction on a large scale may be exempted from filing their e-invoices under GST,” said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified.

Another person said the government would have to specify the exemptions through notification in the rules. Such a move is likely to benefit entities in the sectors that issue a number of invoices to customers directly or have direct debit and credit facilities such as in the case of banks, said experts. Banks and insurance companies are currently allowed consolidated invoices.

“These entities would have to undergo heavy compliance costs if the exemption was not allowed,” said Bipin Sapra,. From April 1, companies with an aggregate revenue of Rs 100 crore or more have been mandated to issue e-invoices, as the government embarks on digital filing of invoices under goods and services tax (GST) regime amid efforts to curb tax evasion and fraudulent claims of GST credits while increasing tax collection.

Source: Economic-Times

XaTTaX is Best GST Software, Simplify your Financial matters with GST eFiling Software for Return Filing & GST Billing Software in India.

  • Automate Invoicing and get Paid Faster
  • Integration with all popular accounting software
  • Manage your GST and E-WayBill Software anytime anywhere using multiple devices

Get Our GST Software DEMO and E-WAY BILL DEMO for FREE

E-commerce cos may get to upload GST e-invoice for vendors

E-commerce cos may get to upload GST e-invoice for vendors

 In a significant relaxation for the ecommerce sector, the government could allow online platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart to upload e-invoice for vendors under the goods and services tax (GST) framework. As part of ongoing trials of e-invoicing, a detailed set of clarifications in the form of frequently asked questions have been issued. “Ecommerce operator can request for e-invoice on behalf of supplier,” the clarification said. The matter has been taken up by the government and could be allowed once the trial period is over, a government official told ET. “Trials are now on…It will require an amendment… The issue has been taken up.” The GST Network has issued a detailed set of FAQs.

“Allowing ecommerce platforms to undertake e-invoice compliance on behalf of suppliers would go a long way in facilitating compliance for such suppliers,” said Prashanth Agarwal, partner. Given the criticality, it’s important for businesses to keep track of them. Further, businesses should participate in the testing phase as part of their preparation to go live on April 1, Agarwal said.

Voluntary uploading of e-invoices on the GSTN portal kicked off from January 1, for businesses having turnover over Rs 500 crore. For businesses having annual turnover over Rs 100 crore will be effective from February 1. Only 10,000 line items per einvoice would be allowed, as per the FAQ. Foreign services providers will have to set up local entities to integrate with the invoice registration portal (IRP), as per the FAQs.

Experts say these clarifications will help businesses gear up for the new system.”With specifications for e-invoice API being released to various companies, the government’s intent to soon implement it is reinforced,” said Abhishek Jain, tax partner, EY. “FAQs released provide clarification on ambiguities such as no requirement of invoice registration portal validation for delivery challans and bill of supply, 10,000 line items being allowed per e-invoice, amendments in the GST law on invoicing to align with e-invoices, etc and its timely release should help businesses gear up better for this new system.” The e-invoice system of uploading invoices on government portal will be mandatorily rolled out for businesses with turnover over Rs 100 crore from April 1.

Also, for B2C invoicing issued by businesses with annual turnover over Rs 500 crore, an electronically scannable quick response (QR) code will be mandatory from April 1. The e-invoice will help streamline the indirect tax system and ensure better compliance by keeping a check on tax evasion.

Source: Economic-Times

XaTTaX is Best GST Software, Simplify your Financial matters with GST eFiling Software for Return Filing & GST Billing Software in India.

  • Automate Invoicing and get Paid Faster
  • Integration with all popular accounting software
  • Manage your GST and E-WayBill Software anytime anywhere using multiple devices

Get Our GST Software DEMO and E-WAY BILL DEMO for FREE

E-Invoicing Under GST – Brief Introduction to E-Invoicing System

E-Invoicing Under GST – Brief Introduction to E-Invoicing System

E-Invoicing Under GST

The GST Council has approved introduction of ‘E-invoicing’ or ‘electronic invoicing’ in a phased manner for reporting of business to business (B2B) invoices to GST System, starting from 1st January 2020 on voluntary basis. Since there was no standard for e-invoice existing in the country, standard for the same has been finalized after consultation with trade/industry bodies as well as ICAI after keeping the draft in public place. Having a standard is a must to ensure complete inter-operability of e-invoices across the entire GST eco-system so that e-invoices generated by one software can be read by any other software, thereby eliminating the need of fresh data entry – which is a norm and standard expectation today. The machine readability and uniform interpretation is the key objective. This is also important for reporting the details to GST System as part of Return. Apart from the GST System, adoption of a standard will also ensure that an e-invoice shared by a seller with his buyer or bank or agent or any other player in the whole business eco-system can be read by machines and obviate and hence eliminate data entry errors.

The GST Council approved the standard of e-invoice in its 37th meeting held on 20th Sept 2019 and the same along with schema has been published on GST portal. Standards are generally abstruse and thus an explanation document is required to present the same in common man’s language. Also, there are lot of myth or misconception about e-Invoice. The present document is an attempt to explain the concept of e-invoice, how it operates and basics of standards. It also contains FAQs which answer the questions raised by people who responded to the draft e-invoice standard used for public consultation. It is expected that the document will also be useful for the taxpayers, tax consultants and the software companies to adopt the designed standard.

1. What is e-invoice?

If an invoice is generated by a software on the computer or Point of Sales (PoS) machine then does it become an e-invoice? Is e-invoice as a system where taxpayers can generate the invoices centrally? Many such questions are raised when e-invoice gets discussed.  

E-invoice does not mean generation of invoices from a central portal of tax department, as any such centralization will bring unnecessary restriction on the way trade is conducted. In fact, taxpayers have different requirements and expectation, which can’t be met from one software generating e-invoices from a portal for the whole country.  Invoice generated by each software may look more or less same, however, they can’t be understood by another computer system even though business users understand them fully. For example, an Invoice generated by SAP system cannot be read by a machine which is using ‘Tally’ system. Likewise there are hundreds of accounting/billing software which generate invoices but they all use their own formats to store information electronically and data on such invoices can’t be understood by the GST System if reported in their respective formats. Hence a need was felt to standardize the format in which electronic data of an Invoice will be shared with others to ensure there is interoperability of the data. The adoption of standards will in no way impact the way user would see the physical (printed) invoice or electronic (ex pdf version) invoice. All these software would adopt the new e-Invoice standard wherein they would re-align their data access and retrieval in the standard format. However, users of the software would not find any change since they would continue to see the physical or electronic (PDF/Excel) output of the invoices in the same manner as it existed before incorporation of e-Invoice standard in the software. Thus the taxpayer would continue to use his accounting system/ERP or excel based tools or any such tool for creating the electronic invoice as s/he is using today.

To help small taxpayers adopt e-invoice system, GSTN has empaneled eight accounting & billing software which provide basic accounting and billing system free of cost to small taxpayers. Those small taxpayers who do not have accounting software today, can use one of the empaneled software products, which come in both flavors, online (cloud based) as well as offline (installed on the computer system of the user).

2. e-Invoice and Tax Department

The e-invoice system being implemented by tax departments across the globe consists of two important parts namely,

     a) Generation of invoice in a standard format so that invoice generated        on one system can be read by another system.

     b) Reporting of e-invoice to a central system.

The basic aim behind adoption of e-invoice system by tax departments is ability to pre-populate the return and to reduce the reconciliation problems. Huge increase in technology sophistication, increased penetration of Internet along with availability of computer systems at reasonable cost has made this journey possible and hence more than 60 countries are in the process of adopting the e-invoice.

GST Council has given the responsibility to design the standard of e-invoice and update the same from time to time to GSTN which is the custodian of Returns and invoices contained in the same. Adoption of e-invoice by GST System is not only part of Tax reform but also a Business reform as it make the e-invoices completely inter-operable eliminating transcription and other errors.

3. Other derived benefits of introduction of e-invoice from GST perspective

 

Objectives

Outcome

Better taxpayer services

• One time reporting on B2B invoice data in the form it is generated to reduce reporting in multiple formats (one for GSTR-1 and the other for e-way bill).

• To generate Sales and purchase register (ANX-1 and ANX-2) from this data to keep the Return (RET-1 etc.) ready for filing under New Return. e-Way bill can also be generated using e-Invoice data

• It will become part of the business process of the taxpayer

• Substantial reduction in input credit verification issues as same data will get reported to tax department as well to buyer in his inward supply (purchase) register.

• On receipt of info thru GST System as buyer can do reconciliation with his Purchase Order and accept/reject in time under New Return

Reduction of tax evasion

• Complete trail of B2B invoices

• System level matching of input credit and output tax

Efficiency in tax administration

• Elimination of fake invoices

Generation of e-invoice will be the responsibility of the taxpayer who will be required to report the same to Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) of GST, which in turn will generate a unique Invoice Reference Number (IRN) and digitally sign the e-invoice and also generate a QR code. The QR Code will contain vital parameters of the e-invoice and return the same to the taxpayer who generated the document in first place. The IRP will also send the signed e-invoice to the recipient of the document on the email provided in the e-invoice.   

Note: To begin with, there will be only one IRP, but more IRPs will be added to provide higher availability, redundancy, speed and a diversified and distributed service to tax payers with a choice.

4. What type of documents are to be reported to GST System?

While the word invoice is used in the name of e-invoice, it covers other documents that will be required to be reported to IRP by the creator of the document:

  • Invoice by Supplier
  • Credit Note by Supplier
  • Debit Note by Supplier
  • Any other document as required by law to be reported by the creator of the document

4. What will be the workflow involved?

The flow of the e-invoice generation, registration and receipt of confirmation can be logically divided into two major parts.  

  1. The first part being the interaction between the business (supplier in case of invoice) and the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP).
  2. The second part is the interaction between the IRP and the GST/E-Way Bill Systems and the Buyer.  

e-invoice

The two parts of the workflow are depicted diagrammatically below and followed up with an explanation of the steps involved. As the process evolves and system matures the same would be intercommunicated between buyer’s software and seller’s software, banking systems etc.

Part A: Flow from Supplier (commonly known as seller) to IRP.  

Step 1 is the generation of the invoice by the seller in his own accounting or billing system (it can be any software utility that generates invoice including those using excel or GSTN’s provided Offline Utility).  The invoice must conform to the e-invoice schema (standards) that is published and have the mandatory parameters.  The optional parameters can be according to the business need of the supplier.  The supplier’s (seller’s) software should be capable to generate a JSON of the final invoice that is ready to be uploaded to the IRP. The IRP will only take JSON of the e-invoice.

e-invoice

Note: Seller should have a utility that will output invoice data in JSON format, either from his accounting or billing software or his ERP or excel/word document or even a mobile app.  Those who do not use any accounting software or IT tool to generate the invoice, will be provided an offline tool to key-in data of invoice and then submit the same. The small and medium size taxpayers (having annual turnover below Rs 1.5 Crores) can avail accounting and billing system being offered by GSTN free of cost. 

 

Step 2 is to generate the unique Invoice Reference Number (IRN) (in technical terms hash of 3 parameters using a standard and well known hash generation algorithm e.g. SHA256). This is an optional step. The seller can also generate this and upload along with invoice data. The 3 parameters which will be used to generate IRN (hash) are:

  1. Supplier GSTIN,
  2. Supplier’s invoice number and,
  • Financial year (YYYY-YY).  (The IRN or hash generation algorithm will be prescribed by GSTN in the e-invoice standard).  

Step 3 is to upload the JSON of the e-invoice (along with the hash, if generated) into the IRP by the seller.  The JSON may be uploaded directly on the IRP or through GSPs or through third party provided Apps.    

Step-4: The IRP will also generate the hash and validate the hash of the uploaded json, if uploaded by the supplier. The IRP will check the hash from the Central Registry of GST System to ensure that the same invoice from the same supplier pertaining to same Fin Year is not being uploaded again. On receipt of confirmation from Central Registry, IRP will add its signature on the Invoice Data as well as a QR code to the JSON. The QR code will contain GSTIN of seller and buyer, Invoice number, invoice date, number of line items, HSN of major commodity contained in the invoice as per value, hash etc. The hash computed by IRP will become the IRN (Invoice Reference Number) of the e-invoice.  This shall be unique to each invoice and hence be the unique identity for each invoice for the entire financial year in the entire GST System for a taxpayer. [GST Systems will create a central registry where hash sent by all IRPs will be kept to ensure uniqueness of the same].

Step 5 will involve sharing the uploaded data with GST and e-way bill system. More details are given in Part-B below.

Step 6 will involve returning the digitally signed JSON with IRN back to the seller along with a QR code. The registered invoice will also be sent to the seller and buyer on their mail ids as provided in the invoice.  

Part B: Flow from IRP to GST System/E-Way Bill System & Buyer

e-invoice

The following diagram shows how e-Invoice data would be consumed by GST System for generation of e-way bill or populating relevant parts GST Returns, stated in Step-5 above.

Step 5 (a) will be to share the signed e-invoice data along with IRN (same as that has been returned by the IRP to the seller) to the GST System as well as to E-Way Bill System.

Step 5b The GST System will update the ANX-1 of the seller and ANX-2 of the buyer, which in turn will determine liability and ITC.  

Step 5c E-Way bill system will create Part-A of e-way bill using this data to which only vehicle number will have to be attached in Part-B of the e-way bill.

Note 1: The e-invoice standardized schema has mandatory and optional items.  The e-invoice shall not be accepted in the GST System unless all the mandatory items are present.  The optional items are to be used by the seller and buyer as per their business need to enforce their business obligations or relationships.

Note 2: Seller may send his e-invoice for registration to more than one registrar.  But the GST system and IRP will perform a de-duplication check with central registry to ensure that the IRN that is generated is unique for each invoice.  Therefore, the IRP shall return ONLY ONE registered IRN for each invoice to the seller.  In case of multiple registrars (more than one IRPs) only one IRP will return a valid IRN to the seller. Except one, all other IRPs will reject the request of registration.

Note 3:  The QR code will enable quick view, validation and access of the invoices from the GST system from hand held devices.

6. Direct Invoice Generation on IRP (Invoice Registration Portal)

Many people think that e-invoice will be generated from government’s tax portal. This is a myth and invoices will continue to be generated using an Accounting or a billing software, keeping in view the varied need of item master, buyer master, UQC etc. along with sub-second response from IR Portal (IRP). Thus, direct creation/generation of e-invoice from GST portal or any other government portal is not envisaged/planned.

Small taxpayers can use one of the eight free accounting/billing software currently listed by GSTN. Also, GSTN will provide Offline Tool where data of an invoice, generated on paper can be entered which in turn will create JSON file for uploading on the IRP. Taxpayers can also use one of the commercially available accounting/billing software for this purpose. All accounting and billing software companies are being separately asked to adopt the e-invoice standard so that their users can generate the JSON from the software and upload the same on the IRP.

7. Features of e-invoice system

The Format of Unique Invoice Reference Number (IRN):

The unique IRN will be based on the computation of hash of GSTIN of generator of document (invoice or credit note etc.), Year and Document number like invoice number.  This hash will be as published in the e-invoice standard and unique for this combination. This way hash will always be the same irrespective of the registrar who processes it. The hash could also be generated by the taxpayers based on above algorithm. The providers of accounting and billing software are being separately asked to incorporate this feature in their product.  One can pre-generate and print it on the invoice book, however, the same will not make the invoice valid unless it is registered on the portal along with invoice details.

Note: The hash algorithm that is to be used by the taxpayers has been specified in the e-invoice standard that is published.  The hash will be the IRN.

To ensure deduplication, the registrar will be required to send the hash to Central Registry of GST System to confirm whether the same has been reported already. In case it has been reported by another registrar (as and when more registrars – IRPs – are added) and the Central Registry already has the same IRN, then the registrar will reject the registration and inform the sender. Only unique invoices from a taxpayer will be accepted and registered by the registrar.

Digital Signing by e-Invoice Registration Portal: The invoice data will be uploaded on the IRP (Invoice Registration Portal), which will also generate the hash in order to verify it and then digitally sign it with the private key of the IRP. In case the taxpayer submits hash also along with invoice data, the same will be validated by IRN system. The IRP will sign the e-invoice along with hash and the e-invoice signed by the IRP will be a valid e-invoice and used by GST/E-Way bill system.   

QR Code: The IRP will also generate a QR code containing the unique IRN (hash) along with some important parameters of invoice and digital signature so that it can be verified on the central portal as well as by an Offline App. This will be helpful for tax officers checking the invoice on the roadside where Internet may not be available all the time. The web user will get a printable form with all details including QR code.  The QR code will consist of the following e-invoice parameters:

  1. GSTIN of supplier
  2. GSTIN of Recipient
  3. Invoice number as given by Supplier
  4. Date of generation of invoice
  5. Invoice value (taxable value and gross tax)
  6. Number of line items.
  7. HSN Code of main item (the line item having highest taxable value)
  8. Unique Invoice Reference Number (hash)

The offline app will be provided on the IRP for anyone to download to authenticate the QR code of the invoice offline and its basic details. However, to see the whole invoice, one will have to connect to the portal and verify and see the details online. The facility to download entire invoice will be provided to tax officers, the way it is currently available under E-way bill system.

Note 4:  The facility of QR code verification will be made available only through the GST System and not the IRP.  This is because the IRP will not have the mandate to store invoices for more than 24 hours.  In order to achieve speed and efficiency, the IRP will be a lean and focused portal for providing invoice registration and verification service, IRN and the QR codes.  Hence, storing of the invoices will not be a feature of the IRP.

Multiple Registrar for IRN System: Multiple registrars (IRPs) will be put in place to ensure 24X7 operations without any break. To start with, NIC will be the first Registrar. Based on experience of the trial more registrars will be added.

Standardization of Invoice: A technical group constituted by the GST Council Secretariat has drafted standards for e-invoice after having industry consultation. The e-invoice schema and template, as approved by the GST Council, are available at https://www.gstn.org/e-invoice/.

8.CREATION OF E-INVOICE

Modes for getting invoice registered: Multiple modes will be made available so that taxpayer can use the best mode based on his/her need. The modes given below are envisaged at this stage under the proposed system for e-invoice, through the IRP (Invoice Registration Portal):

  1. Web based,
  2. API based,
  3. SMS based,
  4. mobile app based,
  5. offline tool based and
  6. GSP based.

API mode: Using API mode, the big tax payers and accounting software providers can interface their systems and pull the IRN after passing the relevant invoice information in JSON format. API request will handle one invoice request at time to generate the IRN.  This mode will also be used for bulk requirement (user can pass the request one after the other and get the IRN response within fraction of second) as well. The e-way bill system provides the same methodology.

Printing of Invoice

The taxpayer can continue to print his paper invoice as he is doing today including logo and other information. E-invoice schema only mandates what will be reported in electronic format to IRP.

General Questions on e-invoice system

Generic questions on e-invoice

1. Will businesses now be required to generate e-invoices on the GST portal or the e-invoice portal or the IRN portal?

a. No.  

b. Businesses will continue to generate e-invoices on their internal systems – whether ERP or their accounting / billing systems or any other application.

c. The e-invoicing mechanism only specifies the invoice schema and standard so as to be inter-operable amongst all accounting/billing software and all businesses.

2. Please clarify whether there the current e-invoice schema is for the invoice to be issued by Govt or has to be maintained in the IT system by the tax payer?

a. The invoice schema has to be maintained and invoices generated using this schema by the taxpayer himself.

b. The GST portal or Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) will NOT provide facility to generate invoices. IRP is only to report the invoice data.

c. The ERP or accounting billing software or any other software tool to generate e-invoice of the seller shall only generate invoices.

3. Will there be separate invoice formats required for Traders, Medical Shops, Professionals and Contractors?

a. No.

b. Same e-invoice schema will be used by all kinds of businesses. The schema has mandatory and non-mandatory fields. Mandatory field has to be filled by all taxpayers. Non-mandatory field is for the business to choose. It covers all most all business needs and specific sectors of business may choose to use those non-mandatory field which are needed by them or their eco-system.

4. How long will the e-invoice generated would be available at the Government portal?

a. It is again clarified that the e-invoice will not be generated at the GST portal.

b. It will be generated only at the seller’s system – whether ERP or the accounting/billing system/other software tools of the seller.

c. It will be uploaded into the GST ANX-1 only once it has been validated and registered by the invoice registration system.

d. After it has been validated and is available in the ANX-1, it will be visible to the counter party in his ANX 2.

e. Thereafter it will be visible and available for the entire financial year and archived.

f. As far as data on IRP is concerned, it will be kept there only for 24 hours.

5. While all businesses generate invoice at the same time, how will the server react?

a. The businesses will generate the invoice at their system and hence that will not impact the servers of IRP.

b. The capacity of the system at IRP shall be built so as to handle the envisaged loads of simultaneous upload based on data reported in GSTR1 for last two years.

c. Subsequently, multiple invoice registrars will be made available that will be able to distribute the load for invoice registration.

6. Is it possible to auto populate fields of the e-invoice based on credentials entered?  That way it can minimize data entry errors.

a. Since the invoice generation is to happen at the business end, this can be built into the ERP or invoicing system of the seller. Most of such software provide this facility in the name of item master, supplier master, buyer master etc.

7. Will it be possible to add transporter details as well?

a. No.

b. The transporter details must be entered in the E-Way bill system only.

Contents of e-invoice

1. There are certain fields today which are optional and some mandatory.  How are these to be used?

a. The mandatory fields are those that MUST be there for an invoice to be valid under e-Invoice Standard.

b. The optional ones are those that may be needed for the specific business needs of the seller/business. These have been incorporated in the schema based on current business practices in India.

c. The registration of an e-invoice will only be possible once it has ALL the mandatory fields uploaded into the Invoice registration Portal (IRP).

d. A mandatory field not having any value can be reported with NIL.  

2. What is the maximum Number of line items supported by e-invoice?

a. The maximum number of line items per e-invoice is 100.

3. Does the e-invoice schema provide the maximum length of the various fields in the schema?

a. Yes.

b. Each field specification has been provided with the type of characters that are to be entered and its length as well.

4. What will be the threshold requirement for E-Invoicing applicability?

a. This will be notified by the Government at the time of rollout.

b. As already mentioned above, the rollout of the e-invoice mechanism will be in phases.

5. Will the e-invoice have columns to show invoice currency?

a. Yes, the seller can display the currency.  Default will be INR.

6. Whether the IRN is to be captured in the Supplier’s ERP?

a. The IRN (hash) will be generated by GST System using GSTIN of supplier or document creator, financial year and the unique serial number of the document/invoice. The IRN can also be generated by the seller.

b. The serial number of invoice will be unique for a GSTIN for a Fin Year and the same has to be captured by Supplier’s ERP.

c. Supplier has to keep the IRN against each of its invoice. It will be advisable to keep the same in the ERP as invoice without IRN will not be a legal document.

7. Whether e-invoice generated is also required to be signed again by the taxpayer?

a. Not mandatory. However, if a signed e-invoice is sent to IRP, the same will be accepted.

b. The e-invoice will be digitally signed by the IRP after it has been validated. The signed e-invoice along with QR code will be shared with creator of document as well as the recipient.

c. Once it is registered, it will not be required to be signed by anyone else.

8. Whether the facility of adding discount amount at line item-level would be mandatory in nature?

a. The e-invoice has a provision for capturing discount at line item level.  

b. The discounting at line item level is to be mentioned only when and if it is applicable in the particular transaction.

9. Can the seller place their LOGO in the e-Invoice Template?

a. There will NOT be a place holder provided in the e-invoice schema for the company logo.

b. This is for the software company to provide in the billing/accounting software so that it can be printed on his invoice using his printer. However, the Logo will not be sent to IRP. In other words, it will not be part of JSON file to be uploaded on the IRP.

10. There should be a space provided for the QR code to be placed.

a. The QR code will be provided to the seller once he uploads the invoice into the Invoice Registration system and the same is registered there.

b. Seller can at his option may print the same on Invoice.

11. Will we be able to provide the address and bill-to party and PAN details in the e-invoice?

a. Yes.

b. It will be possible to provide all these details in the placeholders provided in the schema.

12. Would the Supplier be allowed to issue his own invoice and if yes, will the Invoice number and IRN be required to be mentioned?

a. Yes, the supplier will issue his own system’s invoice, in the standard e-invoice schema that has been published. Invoice number is a mandatory item under GST and hence for e-invoice.

b. IRN (Hash) can be provided after the e-invoice has been successfully reported to the IRP. E-Invoice will be valid only if it has IRN.

13. The current e-invoice template provides for total discount for all the products or services. Will this be possible in the e-invoice?

a. Yes.

b. There is a mechanism and placeholders to provide discounting on item level as well as total discounts on the invoice value.

14. Will there be an option for linking multiple invoices in case of debit note/ credit note?

a. Yes, it will be allowed to link the credit/debit notes as hitherto fore.

15. Will the e-invoice schema cater to reverse charge mechanism?

a. Yes.

b. E-invoice system has a reverse charge mechanism reporting as well.

Method of Reporting e-Invoice to GST System

1. In addition to the above, we understand that electronic invoice which will be uploaded on GST portal will be authenticated and IRN will be allocated for each e-invoices generated.

a. Yes, the e-invoice will be authenticated with the digital signature of the IRP (invoice registration portal).

b. IRN (Invoice Reference Number) will be the hash generated by the IRP.  

c. The registered invoice will be valid to be used by the business.

2. Will it be possible for bulk uploading of invoices for e-invoicing as well?

a. Invoices have to be uploaded on IRP one at a time.

b. The IRP will be able to handle a large sequence of invoices for registration and validate them. Essentially bulk upload will be required by large taxpayers who generate large number of invoices. Their ERP or accounting system will have to be designed in such a way that it makes request one by one. For the user, it will not make any difference.

3. Will the requirement for such invoices to be authenticated by the supplier using a digital signature/signature be done away with?

a. The seller will need to upload the e-invoice into the Invoice Registration Portal.

b. The signing of e-invoice by seller is not mandatory.

4. Will there be a time limit for e-invoice uploading for registration?

a. Yes, that will be notified by the Government.  Without registration of e-invoice the same will not be valid. Required changes will be made in the law.

b. Once uploaded to the invoice registration portal (IRP), it will be registered immediately, on real-time basis.

5. Will it be possible to allow invoices that are registered on invoice registration system/portal to be downloaded and/or saved on handheld devices?

a. Yes.

b. IRP System after registering the invoice, will share back digitally signed e-invoice for record of supplier. It will also be sent to the email address of recipient provided in the e-invoice.

6. Will it be possible to print the e-invoice?

a. Yes.

b. It will be possible for both the seller as well as the buyer to print the invoice, using the QR code as well as signed e-invoice returned by the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP).

Amendment/cancellation of e-invoice

1. Whether e-invoices generated through GST system can be partially/fully cancelled?

a. E-Invoice can’t be partially cancelled. It has to be fully cancelled.

b. The e-invoice mechanism enables invoices to be cancelled. This will have to be reported to IRN within 24 hours. Any cancellation after 24hrs could not be possible on IRN, however one can manually cancel the same on GST portal before filing the returns.

2. How would amendments be allowed in e-invoice?

a. Amendments to the e-invoice are allowed on GST portal as per provisions of GST law. All amendments to the e-invoice will be done on GST portal only.

Relationship with e-way bill

1. With the introduction of e-invoices, what are the documents need to be carried during transit of goods?

a. For transportation of goods, the e-way bill will continue to be mandatory, based on invoice value guidelines, as hitherto fore. This aspect will be notified by the Government when this mechanism will be notified.

Export/Import

1. Please clarify whether exports would require e-invoice compliance.

a. Yes.

b. The e-invoice schema also caters to the export invoices as well. The e-invoice schema is based on most common standard, this will help buyer’s system to read the e-invoice.  

2. Does the e-invoice allow the declaration of export invoices/ zero rated supplies?

a. Yes.

b. It allows the declaration of export invoices / zero rated supplies.

Others

1. What will be the workflow of the end to end e-invoice mechanism?

a. The end to end workflow will be provided by at the time of rollout of the e-invoice system.

2. Will the industry be provided sufficient time for preparation?

a. Yes.

b. The e-invoice mechanism is expected to be rolled out in phases from 01st Jan 2020 on voluntary basis.

c. Initially, the e-invoice mechanism will be allowed for tax payers above a certain turnover or above a certain invoice value or also to volunteers.

d. Subsequently, it will be enabled for all tax payers in a phased step-wise manner.

e. Details of these will be published subsequently.

Source: GSTN

Government sets timeline for GST e-invoicing, trial to start January 1, 2020

Government sets timeline for GST e-invoicing, trial to start January 1, 2020

The Government has come out with the timeline for the new e-invoicing system under GST and the limit of application for each category. Accordingly, it has been decided by the government that businesses having a turnover of Rs.500 crore or more would take up e-invoicing from January 1, 2020 on voluntary and trail basis.

According to a statement, businesses with turnover of Rs.100 crore or more would start e-invoicing on voluntary and trial basis from February 1, 2020. However, from April 1, 2020, which is also the beginning of the net fiscal, e-invoicing will be mandatory for both these businesses categories. For businesses having turnover less than Rs 100 crore, it would remain voluntary and on trial basis from April 1, 2020.

“Having done full preparation for last 6 months to introduce E-invoicing system, the government has decided to start ‘E-invoicing’ in a phased manner for generating business to business (B2B) invoices on voluntary basis,” read the statement.

The e-invoicing system would help to generate invoice in a standard format so that invoice generated on one system can be read by another system and reporting of e-invoice to a central system becomes possible.

“The adoption of these standards would not impact the users of invoice; however, all the accounting software would adopt the new e-invoice standard wherein they would re-align their data access and retrieval in the standard format,” said the statement.

The generation of e-invoice will be the responsibility of the taxpayer who will be required to report the same to Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) of GST. This portal will generate a unique Invoice Reference Number (IRN) and digitally sign the e-invoice and also generate a QR code. The QR Code will contain vital parameters of the e-invoice and return the same to the taxpayer who generated the document in first place. The IRP will also send the signed e-invoice to the recipient of the document on the email provided in the e-invoice.

It is to be noted that e-invoice would not mean generation of invoices from a central portal of tax department or GSTN and the taxpayer would continue to use his accounting system/ERP or excel based tools or any such tool for creating the electronic invoice as s/he is using today.

Source: Economic-Times

Ease Your GST Retrun Filing & Invoice with XaTTaX- GST Software