GST e-Invoicing process in India

From sales tax to VAT to GST, it was a long journey that the Indian taxing system took to evolve. The purpose of the process is to bring maximum businesses, however big or tiny, under the tax umbrella. The beauty of the evolution process was that different bodies of industry and trade were allowed to participate in the decision making process.

The current standard for e-invoice was taken at the 37th meeting of the GST council. Leading bodies like ASSOCHAM, ICAI, and FICCI were consulted before a decision was reached.

Efficiency and User-Friendliness

The new system introduced a standard protocol that ensures the readability of an invoice generated by particular software by all other e-invoicing software. This reduces a lot of workload for enterprises and merchants alike since there is no need for manual entry.

Ease of Compliance

The initial procedure for GST filing burdened a business with large quantities of paperwork. During the course of a year, in some cases, more than thirty forms had to be submitted. The new electronic invoicing system has done away with the burden of compliance on tax payers. The simple e-invoicing process requires monthly filing. A good taxation company will do it for the taxpayer meeting all deadline requirements. 

Who All Should Use E-Invoicing?

All tax payers are required to generate an e-invoice. To give time and awareness, the system is being introduced in a phased manner depending upon the annual turnover. The slabs and dates are given below:

Turnover

Date to start e-invoicing

Rs. 500 Crore and above

07 January 2020

Rs. 100 Crore to Rs. 500 Crore

01 February 2020

 
Generating An E-Invoice

A tax payer should follow the below steps in that order to comply with the new regulations:

i) Download and use the e-invoice format to integrate into your software.

ii) Generate IRN (Invoice Reference Number.) Although this is not a mandatory step, the GST system will anyway create it for you.

iii) Upload the JSON file of the invoice to the IRP (Invoice Registration Portal.)

iv) Put the digital signature on e-invoice and generate a QR code.

v) GST laws considers only those e-invoices signed by the IRP to be valid.

vi) The IRN is valid throughout the financial year as the unique identity of the e-invoice.

vii) The IRN also acts as authentication in the central registry of GST against any duplication.

A reputed company that specializes in filing GST e-invoices will take the responsibility out of your hands and do it for you.

What Happens After Generating the E-Invoice

The information will be stored in a central registry. This ensures that the data cannot be manipulated thus protecting the identity of the merchant tax payer.

a) The invoice will obtain IRP’s digital signature along with a QR code after successful verification.

b) Auto-population return will use the uploaded data to share with the GST system and e-waybill. 

c) The IRN, QR code and the digitally signed JSON will be sent to the seller as well the buyer.

Contents of An E-Invoice

i) E-invoice schema.

ii) Masters.

iii) E-invoice template.

Although GST e-invoicing is a simple process, taking the services of an experienced taxation specialist will save you a lot of time and money. If you selected a professional company, it will take care of all your e-invoicing requirements for the year. 

Drafted By:
CS.A.Maniraj.,B.Com.,ACS.,CA(Fin), Independent Director 
Certified CSR Professional., Certified GST Professional.