Cancellation of Invoice Reference Number (IRN) under GST

Slowly and steadily, the Government is making e-invoicing mandatory for wide numbers of suppliers. Currently, an e-invoice is mandatory for the registered person having an aggregate turnover of more than INR 100 Crores in a Financial Year. However, from 1^st April 2021, e-invoice is going to be mandatory for all registered person having an aggregate turnover of more than INR 50 Crores in a Financial Year.

Accordingly, it is important to understand the generation as well as the cancellation of the Invoice Reference Number (IRN). The present article highlights all the provisions relating to the cancellation of the Invoice Reference Number.

Basic reasons for cancellation of Invoice Reference Number (IRN)-

Cancellation of IRN is possible for the invoice which is already uploaded/ reported to the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) and for which IRN is generated. Some of the basic reasons for the cancellation of IRN by the supplier are highlighted hereunder-

• Cancellation of order by the buyer, or
• Mistakes in e-invoice, or
• Incorrect/ wrong entry in e-invoice, or
• Duplicate entry.

Thumb rule for cancellation of Invoice Reference Number (IRN)-

Some of the important rules relating to the cancellation of IRN are highlighted hereunder-

• Cancellation of IRN is possible only within 24 hours of the generation of the IRN. Post completion of 24 hours, the supplier will have to issue either a debit note/ credit note or edit Form GSTR-1 modifying the respective invoice details.
• Cancellation of IRN is not possible in case the e-way bill is already generated/ active for the respective IRN.
• Once the e-invoice (IRN) is cancelled, the same invoice number cannot be re-used to generate another IRN.
• Partial cancellation of e-invoice (i.e., IRN) is not possible.

Steps for cancellation of Invoice Reference Number–

In order to cancel the IRN within 24 of generation of IRN, the supplier can adopt any of the following modes-

1. Cancellation via e-invoice portal; or

2. Cancellation via ERP/ accounting software using API direct integration or GSPs integration with the portal.

Steps to be followed for cancelling IRN via e-invoice portal-

STEP 1 – Visit site https://einvoice1.gst.gov.in/.

STEP 2 – Click ‘Login’ and enter the appropriate ‘User name’; ‘Password’ and characters mentioned in the image.

STEP 3 – Select ‘e-invoice’.

STEP 4 – Select ‘Cancel’ from the drop-down list.

STEP 5 – Enter either ‘Ack No.’ or ‘IRN’.

STEP 6 – Click ‘Go’.

STEP 7 – Respective e-invoice will be displayed. Select ‘Cancel Reason’ from the drop-down list and mention remarks, if any.

STEP 8 – Click ‘Submit’.

Notably, cancellation of IRN is much easier and faster when cancellation is done via ERP/ accounting software using API direct integration or GSPs integration with the portal. Here, the supplier just needs to mark the respective invoice as cancelled. Accordingly, the software will automatically integrate with the Invoice Registration Portal (e-invoice portal) for cancelling the respective IRN.