CBIC implements Mandatory GST E-invoices and QR Code in phased manner

CBIC have issued five Central Tax notifications on 13.12.2019 i.e. Notification no. 68/2019 –Central Tax to Notification no. 72/2019 –Central Tax

Gist of these notifications:

1. E-invoicing facility will effective from 1^st January, 2020 on optional basis.

2. In case of B2B supplies made by the registered person, whose aggregate turnover in a financial year exceeds one hundred crore rupees, this E-Invoices shall be mandatory with effect from 1^st April 2020.

3. In case of supplies by a registered person, whose aggregate turnover in a financial year exceeds five hundred crore rupees, to an unregistered person (hereinafter referred to as B2C invoice), shall have QR (Quick Response )code

4. Following Portal shall be used for the purpose of preparation of these e-invoices w.e.f. 1^st January 2020:  einvoice1.gst.gov.in to www.einvoice10.gst.gov.in

Our remarks:

In theory, the process may seem little complicated. However, basic purpose of this part of the process is to pre-populate data in the relevant GST returns and reduce the reconciliation process. In fact, it is already working effectively in over 60 countries. This will help curb goods and services tax (GST) evasion and make compliance easier. There would be other positive outcomes as well:

• There is no requirement to generate the e-invoice on a government’s tax portal. The industries can continue to use his accounting system such as ERP, Tally and excel based tools for creating the invoice.
• Faster availability of genuine input tax credit.
• Invoices would be digitally signed with the private key of the IRP.
• Lesser possibility of audits/surveys by the tax authorities since the information they require is available at a transaction level.
• Eventually it should also do away with the need of electronic way bill requirement for those companies that opt for the system.
• Over a period of time, this should make the compliances easy, particularly if input credit is completely linked with E invoices.

The e-invoice schema and template, as approved by the GST Council, are available in the GSTN website at https://www.gstn.org/e-invoice/