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GST Eway Bill
From 5.72 crore in Feb, e-way bills issued falls to 86 lakh in April

From 5.72 crore in Feb, e-way bills issued falls to 86 lakh in April

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Even after the government repeated multiple times that all goods trucks are exempt from movement restrictions, their movement in April fell drastically to 15 per cent of what it was in February. The number in March fell by nearly 30 per cent compared to that in February.

Data of e-way bills issued — which is mandatory for transporting goods worth over Rs 50,000 — shows that even after the Centre allowed movement of all trucks and goods carriers on March 29, goods movement on the road has barely been able to bounce back since the nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25.

GST Network data shows that against 5.72 crore e-way bills issued in February, only 86.09 lakh such bills were issued in April. These numbers include both inter as well as intra-state e-way bills. In March, when truck movement had nearly come to a halt, the total e-way bills issued were nearly 4.07 crore. In the first five days of May, 10.46 lakh bills have been issued. This means that from an average of 19.7 lakh e-way bills issued daily in February, the number slipped to 13.1 lakh daily e-way bills in March, then drastically to 2.87 lakh in April and 2.09 lakh for May so far.

However, it is important to note that the Centre had, in March, extended the validity of all e-way bills issued before March 24, due to the disruption caused by the lockdown. Usually, each e-way bill is valid for a day for a 100-km stretch of the truck’s journey.

The government, in a notification issued on May 5, extended all the e-way bills issued before March 24 till May 31. It had also extended the deadline to file Goods and Services Tax (GST) returns for entities with turnover of over Rs 5 crore by 15 days from the due date without payment of any late fee, interest and penalty. GST returns for transactions in March were to be filed by April 20, which was extended till May 5.

Even as almost all goods movement froze after the lockdown was announced, the government first clarified that movement of essential goods is allowed. Through another order on March 29, it allowed movement of all essential as well as non-essential goods.

In a letter to the chief secretaries of states, Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla clarified that “transportation of all goods, without distinction of essential and non-essential, have been allowed”, giving permission for trucks and goods carrier to move within the states and across states as well.

However, the GST Network data shows that not only has intra-state movement of trucks and goods carriers been severely hit, their movement between states has been affected even more.

While the inter-state e-way bills issued for February and March were about 40 per cent of the total e-way bills for these months, in April, the share of inter-state e-way bills in the total was just 28.3 per cent. Of the 86.09 lakh bills, inter-state e-way bills in April were only 24.43 lakh. For the first six days of May, inter-state e-way bills account for only 30.8 per cent of the total e-way bills.

Interestingly, the Centre is yet to disclose the GST collection figures for April. GST numbers for each month are usually released on the first day of the next month, but the government has deferred the release of the April GST figures. GST mop-up in March 2020 had slid below Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 97,597 crore, an 8 per cent fall from the March 2019 collection of Rs 1.06 lakh crore.

Source: Indian-Express

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gstr 9
CBIC extends due date for Filing GST Annual Return

CBIC extends due date for Filing GST Annual Return

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The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs ( CBIC ) has extended the due date for filing GSTR-9 (Annual Return) for the Financial Year 2018 – 19 to be extended till the 30th of September, 2020.

The GST Council, in its 39th meeting, had extended the due date for filing GSTR-9 (Annual Return) and GSTR-9C (Reconciliation Statement) for the Financial Year 2018 – 19 to 30th June 2020.

GSTR 9 is an annual return to be filed yearly by taxpayers registered under GST. It consists of details regarding the outward and inward supplies made/received during the relevant previous year under different tax heads i.e. CGST, SGST & IGST, and HSN codes. It is a consolidation of all the monthly/quarterly returns (GSTR-1, GSTR-2A, GSTR-3B) filed in that year. Though complex, this return helps in extensive reconciliation of data for 100% transparent disclosures.

The late fees for not filing the GSTR 9 within the due date is Rs 100 per day, per act. That means late fees of Rs 100 under CGST and Rs 100 under SGST will be applicable in case of delay. Thus, the total liability is Rs 200 per day of default. This is subject to a maximum of 0.25% of the taxpayer’s turnover in the relevant state or union territory. However, there is no late fee on IGST yet.

Read Notification here: https://www.taxscan.in/preview/?previews=15ax53cDwCpa7kwoRqfcTGX6Lai_q4Go_

Source: TaxScan.

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GST collection
Govt defers release of April GST collection data amid Covid-19 lockdown

Govt defers release of April GST collection data amid Covid-19 lockdown

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The government on Friday deferred the release of April GST revenue collection data as the ongoing lockdown led to a lower mop-up during the month and extended the deadline for filing returns, sources said.

The government had in March extended the deadline to file GST returns for entities with a turnover of over Rs 5 crore by 15 days from the due date without payment of any late fee, interest and penalty. However, a reduced rate of 9 per cent interest will be levied if the return is filed after May 5 till June 30.

For the business transactions in March, GST return was to be filed by April 20, which was extended till May 5. According to convention, the government releases GST revenue collection number on the basis of cash collection in a particular month. However, with the situation arising out of Covid-19, the government has decided to wait till the extended deadline for filing return before release of collection figure, a source said.

Sources said due to the “unprecedented situation” arising out of the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, it has been decided to defer the April GST collection data release. No date has yet been decided to release this data, they said.

“The government is expecting that more returns will be filed and will wait till May 5 before announcing the collection data,” a source said, adding a decision on extension of this date will also be taken. Businesses with turnover exceeding Rs 5 crore have to file GST return for a particular month by the 20th of the next month.

In 2019-20 fiscal, Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection had remained above the key Rs 1 trillion mark for 7 months out of 12. The collection was Rs 97,597 crore in March. According to another source, low collection figure till now for April could have been the reason for deferment of GST data release on Friday. The nationwide lockdown to contain spread of Covid-19 disease was imposed on March 25. Data released by the government on Thursday showed that output of 8 core sector contracted by 6.5 per cent in March. The real impact of the lockdown on GST revenue will be reflected in the revenue collections in May (for business activity in April) as the country was in complete lockdown last month with only essential services permitted. Experts said the GST mop-up in May would mainly come from sectors like telecom, FMCG, food processing and pharma.

Source: Business-Standard.

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GST-Returns
With 9% interest on delayed payment, taxpayers avoid deferring GST filings

With 9% interest on delayed payment, taxpayers avoid deferring GST filings

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Many large taxpayers, those with annual turnover of Rs 5 crore or more, are not availing the extension for paying GST and filing returns as many of them find the 9 per cent per annum interest from the due date too exorbitant.

The government has, in order to lessen the compliance burden on businesses given the outbreak of coronavirus, extended the dates of filing GSTR 3B returns due in March, April and May 2020 to last week of June 2020. Usually, the date for filing returns for a particular month is 20th of the next month. So, for March, the date of filing returns in 20 April, and that for April is 20 May.

Those having aggregate annual turnover less than Rs 5 crore, no interest but late fee and penalty will be charged. But for those with turnover of Rs 5 crore or more, an interest at the reduced rate of 9 per annum from due date (against the current rate of 18 per cent) will be charged.

For businesses with large tax liabilities, delaying the tax payment by three months would mean a large interest outgo, and hence those taxpayers, who have sufficient cash-in-hand are planning to pay the taxes and file returns on time.

“The industry has taken a mixed approach on the delayed return filing, depending upon the cash flow situation. The comparison which is done is the 9 per cent interest (on late payment of GST) and the interest on bank loan. However, filings have slowed down on an overall basis,” says Ritesh Kanodia, partner.

But not all businesses are weighing options between paying interest on late payment of GST and interest on bank loan. For many SMEs with turnover of Rs 5 crore or more, the question is whether to pay the salaries or file GST returns.

Nidhi Goyal, managing partner, says: “Those SMEs which have enough cash flow to pay salaries would like to pay GST liabilities on time and save on the 9 per cent interest cost that they otherwise would incur.

Some businesses are also taking advantage of the fact that the load on GST Network, the IT backbone of the GST regime, will be somewhat less, and are finishing some of the compliances despite the extension of dates.

Rajat Mohan, partner in chartered accountancy, says unlike in normal times around the due dates, one invariably face problems in filing returns, right now the GST Network is working smoothly.

Rajesh Gupta, Co-Founder & Director, says: “Due to lockdown, business transactions have been reduced and left with only 10-20 per cent in total, so accordingly, the load on the network is less as compared to normal. So the network is working smoothly and helping taxpayers to work at home. It has enabled almost more than 20,000 registrations with 10-13 days of the first phase of lockdown.”

Source: Business-Today

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gst moblie
GST filing deferment no relief for mobile phone makers after recent rate hike

GST filing deferment no relief for mobile phone makers after recent rate hike

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The deferred filing of Goods and Services Tax returns won’t provide much of a breather for mobile phone manufacturers, which face a 6 percentage point rate increase on handsets from April 1 and a further drag on demand, already plunging amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Though returns can be filed till June 30, any phone sold after April 1 (including inventory) will be billed at 18% GST (from 12% currently),” said Abhishek Rastogi, a partner at law firm Khaitan & Co.

What the sector needed was an allowance to pay this tax in a deferred way over the next six months, otherwise it is hardly any relief, Rastogi said.

According to market research firm International Data Corporation, even after the 21-day nationwide lockdown ends in mid-April, it will take at least two quarters for demand to revive. Realme and Samsung have already said the increase in GST will be passed on to consumers.

An intelligence firm that tracks the smartphone market has cut this year’s growth estimate to 5.5% from 8% earlier. Realme has estimated that phone prices could go up by 12-15% for reasons including fluctuation in rupee-dollar exchange rates, impact of Covid-19 on the supply chain for components, an increase in memory prices of smartphones, and higher GST.

“At Realme, we are trying to absorb the first three impacts. However, it will not be feasible for us to absorb GST increase impact,” it had said.

The GST Council increased the rate on mobile phones to 18% from 12% on March 14 to correct an inverted duty structure that taxed components at a higher rate than the device.

“While Samsung and Realme have written to us about their decision to pass on the new rates, others have communicated verbally,” Arvinder Khurrana, president of the All India Mobile Retailers Association, told ET. Xiaomi and Vivo said they are yet to take a call on this.

ET had reported that the decision could lead to job losses and nullify efforts to make India a smartphone manufacturing hub.

In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday that traders with an annual turnover of less than Rs 5 crore can file GST returns for March, April and May by June 30 without late fees or penalties.

Source: The-Economic-Times

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gs returns
GST Return filing date extended, relief from late fee, penalties

GST Return filing date extended, relief from late fee, penalties

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To provide relief to businesses grappling with the economic impact of Covid 19, the government on Tuesday said it is extending the filing of Return for the month of March, April and May 2020 and composition returns under GST June 30.

Addressing the press, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman added that staggered filing will apply. “While I announce 30th June as the date, specific regions will have dates like 27, 29 or 30th.

Significantly, the FM also said companies which have less than Rs 5 crore turnover will not have to pay interest, late fee or penalty. For bigger companies late fee and penalty will not apply and only interest at a reduced rate of 9% will be charged. “This is only for bigger companies. Majority of companies will have no interest, late fee or penalty,” said Sitharaman.

The date for opting for composition scheme has also been extended to June 30, 2020.

“The extension of GST return filing timelines together with the deferment of e-invoicing and new returns announced earlier would allow businesses to focus on resumption of business processes once normalcy resumes in future, “says MS Mani, Partner, India.

He adds that the waiver of interest, late fees and penalties for SME’s would enable them to focus on reviving their businesses once things are back to normal.

There has been a clamour from taxpayers to provide relief from compliances and especially GST. Today’s announcement is likely to provide some relief. “Some key filing and payment relaxations that should bring rejoice to the industry. One hopes this is the first tranche and there are other tranches to follow, wherein benefits like GST rate reductions, exemption from import duties, reduced compliances etc. are announced.” said Harpreet Singh, Partner,  India.

The Government has also decided that the due date for issue of notice, notification, approval order, sanction order, filing of appeal, furnishing of return, statements, applications, reports, any other documents, time limit for any compliance under the GST laws where the time limit is expiring between 20th March 2020 to 29th June 2020 will be extended to 30th June 2020.

Source: Economic-Times

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gstr-3b
CBIC notifies Due Date for Filing GSTR-3B from April 2020 to Sep 2020

CBIC notifies Due Date for Filing GSTR-3B from April 2020 to Sep 2020

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The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs ( CBIC ) has notified the due date for filing Monthly Return GSTR-3B of the said rules for each of the months from April, 2020 to September, 2020.

In a Notification issued by CBIC said that, that the due date of return in FORM GSTR-3B of the said rules for each of the months from April, 2020 to September, 2020 shall be furnished electronically through the common portal, on or before the twentieth day of the month succeeding such month.

The Notification also said that, for taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of up to rupees five crore rupees in the previous financial year, whose principal place of business is in the States of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, the Union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands or Lakshadweep, the return in FORM GSTR-3B of the said rules for the months of April, 2020 to September, 2020 shall be furnished electronically through the common portal, on or before the twenty-second day of the month succeeding such month.

The Notification also said that, for taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of up to rupees five crore rupees in the previous financial year, whose principal place of business is in the States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand or Odisha, the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Chandigarh or Delhi, the return in FORM GSTR-3B of the said rules for the months of April, 2020 to September, 2020 shall be furnished electronically through the common portal, on or before the twenty-fourth day of the month succeeding such month.

Regarding the Payment of taxes for the discharge of tax liability as per FORM GSTR-3B, the notification added that, Every registered person furnishing the return in FORM GSTR-3B of the said rules shall, subject to the provisions of section 49 of the said Act, discharge his liability towards tax by debiting the electronic cash ledger or electronic credit ledger, as the case may be and his liability towards interest, penalty, fees or any other amount payable under the said Act by debiting the electronic cash ledger, not later than the last date, as specified in the first paragraph, on which he is required to furnish the said return.

Presently the due dates of filing GSTR-3B returns for every taxpayer is 20th of every month. From now on, the last date for filing of GSTR-3B for the taxpayers having an annual turnover of Rs 5 crore and above in the previous financial year would be 20th of the month. Thus, around 8 lakh regular taxpayers would have the last date of GSTR-3B filing as the 20th of every month without late fees.

GSTR-3B is a monthly self-declaration that has to be filed a registered dealer from July 2017 till March 2020. Every person who has registered for GST must file the return GSTR-3B including Nil returns.

Source: TaxScan

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revenue collection from Goods and Services Tax (GST)
Coronavirus lockdown: GST collections may see a sharp drop in March and April

Coronavirus lockdown: GST collections may see a sharp drop in March and April

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Virtual lockdown and closure of offices across states will have impact on GST collections in March and April even as taxpayers demand extension of date of filing of returns from March 20 to some other date.

Businesses across the board would operate at minimal level. Primarily, sectors such as travel, hotel and food will see a sharp fall in the business.

According to an SBI research report, the inoperability analysis for three sectors namely Transport, Tourism and Hotels shows significant impact on demand and hence output. “On an aggregate basis, we estimate that the impact of a 5 per cent inoperability shock could be 90 basis point on GDP from Trade, Hotel and Transport to Storage and Communication segment. It could be spread over 2019-20 and 2020-21, with a larger impact in the latter year.”

The report further says on an average 25 million and 300 million people use airplanes and trains, respectively each month. “A 10 per cent reduction will lead to loss of revenue of Rs 3,500 crore on a monthly basis.”

Trade, hotels, transport, communication and broadcasting were likely to generate Rs 33 lakh crore worth of value of services in the current financial year. This number might be revised downward, impacting GST collections from this segment.

GST is charged at 5 per cent on economy class airfare and 12 per cent on business class airfare, while GST on train fare is 5 per cent. The GST on hotel rooms with tariffs of up to Rs 7,500 per night is 12 per cent and the tax on room tariff of above Rs 7,500 is 18 per cent. Impact on transport, tourism and hotels would further impact sectors such as fuel minerals, electricity and water and rubber, plastic, coke and petroleum products.

All these would impact the GST collections immediately further squeezing the government’s fiscal situation in the current financial year though finance ministry officials expects the impact of corona virus to be visible only in the next financial year. The government had a GST collection target of Rs 1.25 lakh crore in March. That looks unlikely now. In February, the monthly GST collection was Rs 1.06 lakh crore against the revenue department’s target of Rs 1.10 lakh crore.

As per the central government’s revised budget estimate, revenue from GST in the current financial year is likely to be Rs 6.12 lakh crore. Till January, the collection was around Rs 5 lakh crore.

Meanwhile, with most offices have been forced to work on minimal staff and many have asked their employees to work from home, many businesses would find it difficult to file returns on the due date – 20th March. There is now demand from some quarters that GST filing dates should be deferred.

“As the taxpayers short of staff as most of them are unable to report to offices, an extension of due date of payment of GST and filing of return is eagerly being awaited,” says Pritam Mahure, a Pune-based chartered accountant.

Rajat Mohan, partner, says though they are not facing any problem technologically, flow of data is a big issue. “There are no discussions around issues with the data that we have of our clients as they are shutting down offices. We are just pushing across the same to the servers and getting it filed,” he says.

Source: Business-Today

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einvoicing
New upgraded IT system for GST by July, e-invoicing to be implemented from Oct 1

New upgraded IT system for GST by July, e-invoicing to be implemented from Oct 1

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The GST Council on Saturday demanded Infosys to upgrade the Information Technology (IT) backbone by July 30. In the meantime, the council decided to defer introduction of e-invoicing till September 30.

Non-executive Chairman of Infosys, Nandan Nilekani, who made a presentation before the Council on Saturday has suggested that in order to smoothen the rollout of the new return system, and to ensure a better uptake, the transition may be made in an incremental manner. He suggested that the process may be initiated by addressing the compliance related issues first, so that the problem of tax evasion and gaming of the system due to non-linking of FORM GSTR-1 and FORM GSTR-3B is addressed immediately.

Nilekani informed the Council that to augment the capacity of the IT system to concurrently handle 3 lakh taxpayers from the present level of 1.5 lakh taxpayers, hardware procurement process has been initiated, which is slightly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. He sought time till January 31, 2021 to complete the task. However, the Council decided to cut short the time to July 30, 2020.

To support the timely implementation of various initiatives, the Council gave a go ahead for deployment of additional manpower (60 in number) on T&M (Time and Material) basis and assured that both on procurement of additional hardware and hiring of manpower, expeditious approvals would be given. However, the GST Council insisted on immediate removal of technical glitches in filing returns.

Considering proposed change in the IT system, it has been decided to implement e invoicing system from October 1, while new return will also be introduced from the same date. Earlier, April 1 was the date for these two aspects.

Annual Return

Meanwhile, the Council decided to give relaxation to MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) from furnishing of Reconciliation Statement in FORM GSTR-9C, for the financial year 2018-19, for taxpayers having aggregate turnover below ₹5 crore. Due date for filing the Annual return and the Reconciliation Statement for financial year 2018-19 has been extended to June 30 and late fees not to be levied for delayed filing of the annual return and the Reconciliation Statement for financial year 2017-18 and 2018-19 for taxpayers with aggregate turnover less than ₹2 crore.

MS Mani, Partner at Deloitte India said that the approach of the GST Council to proceed with changes in returns and e-invoicing on an incremental basis would permit businesses to embrace these changes in a calibrated manner. Introduction of multiple changes from April 1, as was proposed earlier , would have put added pressure on businesses, which have been grappling with multiple business and regulatory headwinds. “The concerted efforts to overcome the technology challenges faced by businesses in GST would result in more businesses coming under the ambit of GST,” he said.

Rajat Bose, Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co said that deferment of introduction of new return formats and E-invoicing to October 2020 should give enough time to the industry for getting their systems in place.

Interest on delayed payment

Giving relief to businesses, the council decided Interest for delay in payment of GST to be charged on the net cash tax liability with effect from July 1, 2017. For this law will be amended retrospectively.

Parag Mehta, Partner with NA Shah Associates, said substantial litigation was expected due to notices issued by the department to recover interest in case of late filing of GST returns on liability paid by utilising Input Tax Credit. The issue is now settled as GST council has proposed to charge interest only on the net amount i.e cash liability and amend the law retrospectively. “This will almost nullify the recovery notices for interest amounting to ₹49,000 crore,“ he said while adding that it is a valid and required amendment.

Source: The-Hindu-Business-Line

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  • 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 Structure, as Envisioned by GSTN

E-invoicing Structure, as Envisioned by GSTN

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e-invoicing Structure

The government has recently released a blueprint for implementing the E-invoicing system all over India, which proposes a working model as well as a standard format for the generation of E-invoices.

We shall look into the fundamentals of E-invoicing, to understand its mechanics in a better way.

The Two Important Components of the E-invoicing Model

The E-invoicing working pattern has been agreed upon globally with some minor variations in the mode of implementation. In India, it comprises of two essential components as given below:

  1. Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) – The invoices, credit notes, and debit notes which are generated by the taxpayers, should be registered on the IRP, which subsequently generates a unique reference number known as the Invoice Reference Number (IRN), a QR code, and a digital signature for these items. In fact, an invoice will be valid for the purpose of Input Tax Credit, refund, etc., only if it is registered on the IRP
  2. A standard format for the E-invoice – This standard pattern comprises of data fields and the necessary specifications. It is highly recommended for the businesses/taxpayers to upgrade their systems so as to follow this E-invoice format which enables seamless interoperability as well as data exchange all through the system.

The E-invoice Standard

The standardized E-invoice format recommended for India has been formulated in accordance with the global practices and the industry requirements for businesses in India. Further, this format has been confirmed after consulting with the respective trade authorities, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), and also as per the opinions from the public.

There are around 120 fields, out of which about 50 are to be uploaded mandatorily on the Invoice Registration Portal for attaining the reference number as well as the digital signature.

Section

 Compulsory Non-compulsory Total Scope
Details of Invoice

11

 7

18

 Recognizing the distinctiveness and nature of invoices like the invoice number, type, date, etc., and also the IRP-generated details like the IRN
Details of Items

9

 24

33

 Details of line items like quantity, HSN, tax rate, etc.

Invoice Reference Details

 2 8

10

 Provides reference for previously generated or supplementary documents for the invoice
Additional Details of Items

1

 8

9

 Extra details which are related to line items like batch, barcode, serial numbers, etc.

Details of the Suppliers

 5 5

10

 GSTIN and address of the suppliers
Details of the Buyers

6

 3

9

 GSTIN and address of the buyers
‘Ship To’ Details

7

2

9

 Address and other information like mode of supply, type of transaction, etc.

‘Dispatch From’ Details

 4 4

8

 Address and other information like E-commerce operator through which it was dispatched, state, etc.
*Details of Supporting Documents

0

 2

2

 The URLs which support the documentation, if any
*Payment Details

4

 5

9

 Payment terms, account information, etc.
Total 49 68 117

These sections are non-compulsory. If used, the mandatory fields are highly recommended. For other sections, ‘compulsory’ indicates that it is essential for registering on the IRP. In the case of line item, the data would repeat for each of these.

The E-invoicing Workflow

After the taxpayers generate the invoice using their respective accounting/ERP systems, the procedure of getting it registered with the government on the IRP, should be carried out.

There exists two components for the E-invoicing workflow namely,

  • The communication between the government and the taxpayers
  • The communication between GST, E-way bill system, and the IRP

Now let us look into the details of these two E-invoicing components.

The communication between the government and the taxpayers

The taxpayers are required to upload the compulsory fields from the invoices to the IRP in the JSON format. Further, there is provision to upload it through different methods like offline tools, GSPs (GST Suvidha Providers), web portal, mobile app, SMS, and via direct API.

Apart from providing a standard format for E-invoice, the government has also offered a model in which a unique IRN would be generated, which is technically referred to as ‘hash’, using SHA-256. Although the taxpayers could generate the IRN using their respective systems, the invoice would be valid only if it is registered with the IRP. The IRN thus generated along with the digital signature and QR code, would be reverted to the taxpayers through the same channel.

The communication between GST, E-way bill system, and the IRP

Considering the high volume of transactions on the IRP system while getting the invoice registered, the IRP comes with multiple nodes known as ‘Registrars’. The taxpayers have the option to register their invoices via any of these Registrars, and further, the latter preserves the data for the past 24 hours.

The IRP system is connected to the GST system, which acts as the repository of all IRNs, so as to ensure that there is no duplication of records. This arrangement also enables the populating of GST ANX-1 for the suppliers. Further, the E-invoice data is made available in the E-way bill system, and the transporters/taxpayers would just have to update the information on Part B in order to obtain a valid E-way Bill Number.

In fact, the taxpayers would have to upload the invoice data only once to the IRP system, wherein, the GST and E-way bill requirements would be dealt with.

To conclude, the basics of the E-invoice standard has been dealt with in detail here, which helps you to understand the entire process in a better manner.