Background
The Secretary, GST Council at 35th Meeting held on 21st June, 2019 presented the agenda item regarding generation of e-invoice before the Council. Considering the benefits of e-invoicing Council approved, to launch a pilot project on voluntary basis for online generation of B2B e-invoices from January 2020.
E-Invoicing
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) vide Notification No. 68/2019 dated 13th December, 2019 inserted the following sub-rules after sub-rule (3) of Rule 48 of CGST Rules 2017:
Rule 48(4) of CGST Rules 2017, the invoice shall be prepared by such class of registered persons as may be notified by the Government, on the recommendations of the Council, by including such particulars contained in FORM GST INV-01 after obtaining an Invoice Reference Number by uploading information contained therein on the Common Goods and Services Tax Electronic Portal in such manner and subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be specified in the notification.
Rule 48(5) of CGST Rules 2017, every invoice issued by a person to whom sub-rule (4) applies in any manner other than the manner specified in the said sub-rule shall not be treated as an invoice.
Rule 48(6) of CGST Rules 2017, the provisions of sub-rules (1) and (2) shall not apply to an invoice prepared in the manner specified in sub-rule (4).
| Rule 48(1) of CGST Rules 2017 | Manner of the invoice shall be prepared, in the case of Supply of Goods |
| Rule 48(2) of CGST Rules 2017 | Manner of the invoice shall be prepared, in the case of Supply of Services |
Purpose
The main purpose of the introduction of e-invoicing is to curb fake invoices and tax evasion on account of generating fake invoices.
What is the meaning of E-Invoicing in layman’s terms?
E-Invoicing basically involves reporting details of specified GST documents to a Government-notified portal i.e. Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) and obtaining an Invoice Reference Number (IRN) from that Portal for each GST Invoice. It doesn’t mean the generation of an invoice by a Government portal. However, it means registering invoice to the Government-notified portal.
Applicability of E-invoicing in a phased manner on Mandatory basis
Government has introduced e-invoicing in a phased manner on a mandatory basis for the B2B invoices subject to the aggregate turnover in a financial year, details are as under:
| S. No. | Notifications | Aggregate Turnover | Applicable From |
| 1 | 13/2020 dated 21st March, 2020 | exceeding Rs. 500 Crores | 1st October, 2020 |
| 2 | 88/2020 dated 10th November, 2020 | exceeding Rs. 100 Crores | 1st January, 2021 |
| 3 | 05/2021 dated 8th March, 2021 | exceeding Rs. 50 Crores | 1st April, 2021 |
Applicability of QR code
The Government has notified by Notification No. 14/2020– Central Tax dated 21.03.2020 that an invoice issued by a registered person, whose aggregate turnover in any preceding financial year from F.Y. 2017-18 onwards exceeds INR 500 crores to an unregistered person (‘B2C invoice’), shall have Dynamic Quick Response (QR) code w.e.f. 1st December 2020.
It was further provided that that where such registered person makes a Dynamic Quick Response (QR) code available to the recipient through a digital display, such B2C invoice issued by such registered person containing cross-reference of the payment using a Dynamic Quick Response (QR) code, shall be deemed to be having Quick Response (QR) code.
However, vide Notification No. 89/2020–CGST dated 29.11.2020 Government has waived off the amount of penalty payable by any registered person under section 125 of the said Act for non-compliance of the afore said provision, for the period between 1st December 2020 to 31st March 2021, subject to the condition that the said person complies with the provisions of the said notification from 1st April, 2021.
Further, as per the Notification No. 06/2021 the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) extended the waiver of penalty for non-compliance of capturing dynamic QR code in GST Invoice from December 2020 to June 30, 2021, fixed deadline of compliance to July 1, 2021.
Furthermore, as per the Notification No. 28/2021 the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) extended the waiver of penalty for non-compliance of capturing dynamic QR code in GST Invoice from December 2020 to September 30, 2021.
Hence, Companies having turnover above 500 Cr. can initiate adding dynamic QR Code on B2C invoices from 1st October 2021. In any case if the taxpayers fail to comply with dynamic QR Code requirements from 1st October 2021, penalty will be levied from 1st December 2020.
Applicability of E-Invoice:
- Registered Person whose aggregate turnover (AT) in any preceding FY from 2017-18 onwards exceeds the prescribed limit.
- Invoices between two different GSTINs under same PAN
- Invoices issued by SEZ Developers
- Invoices issued by notified person for supplies made by him but attracting reverse charge under Section 9(3)
Cases where E-Invoice not applicable:
- Government Departments and Local Authorities
- Special Economic Zone Units
- Insurance,
- Banking [including NBFCs],
- Goods Transport Agency [transporting goods by road in goods carriage],
- Passenger Transport Services,
- Multiplex Cinema Admissions
- NIL-rated or wholly-exempt supplies
- Financial/commercial credit notes
- Invoices issued by Input Service Distributors (ISDs)
- High sea sales and bonded warehouse sales
- Supplies to Government Departments where they don’t have any registration under GST
- Where supplies are received by notified person from
- an unregistered person attracting reverse charge under Section 9(4) or
- through import of services
Verification of an E-Invoice from the Portal
There are two ways to verify the genuineness or correctness of an e-invoice from the portal, details are as under:
- Scanning the QR code
Follow the steps below to download the QR Code app:
-
- Go to the URL: https://einvoice1.gst.gov.in/Others/QRCodeVerifyApp
- Select the operating system of Mobile from Android (V2.4.1) or IOS (V2.4.1)
- Enter the mobile number and click on Submit.
- Enter the OTP received.
- On successful validation, NIC-GSTN send a message to the mobile number with a link of E-invoice QR Code Verify App Link
- Install the App by the given link
- Scan the QR Code with the help of this App
- Uploading the JSON
- This Option is used to Verify the Signature and the content of the Invoice by uploading the JSON Signed file.
- Go to the URL: https://einvoice1.gst.gov.in/Others/VSignedInvoice
- Upload JSON File and Submit the same
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GST E-invoicing mandatory from 01.01.2021 if TO exceeds Rs. 100 Crores
E-Invoice under GST for turnover above 500 crore, SEZ excluded
GST E-Invoice exemption & Deferment of implementation date notified
Author Bio
We are into service sector. We provide native advertising to clients. So raise invoice once months is over. For e.g Feb month is over we will raise invoice with feb date but on 1st March. So is there any provision in e-invoice wherein invoice date and IRN date should be same. As of now it is different in our case. There are two dates – Invoice date and IRN date .If its is compulsory can you share notification/ rule/act for same.
Thanks for sharing this knowledgeable article