1. What is an e-Invoice under GST?
An e-Invoice or electronic invoice is a B2B invoice that is made by the supplier in a standard format, validated & digitally signed by the government through an official portal. Accountants create e-Invoices in the ERPs/Billing systems in the SCHEMA format given by the Government, & validate the same through the official e-Invoicing Portal. Post Validation, the portal will generate a unique IRN & QR code for the e-Invoice.
2. What are the IRNs & QR Codes?
IRN or Invoice Reference Number & QR Codes are the identification of a validated e-Invoice. All e-Invoices that are successfully validated are assigned with a unique IRN & QR that contain the details of the e-Invoice used for quick accessing the details & to identify the e-Invoice. IRN is generated using Hash Algorithm & QR Codes contain the invoice details & payment reference codes for scan & pay.
3. What is SCHEMA Format?
The Government has enabled a standard format to generate e-Invoices that will be the same for all types of businesses & transactions. The SCHEMA format has certain mandatory fields & some optional fields. Taxpayers will have to make sure to comply with this format & furnish all the mandatory fields as the IRP will validate the e-Invoice for these fields. SCHEMA format has a total of 12 sections out of which 5 are mandatory for taxpayers to furnish whereas 7 are optional.
4. To whom will e-Invoicing apply?
E-Invoicing will apply to all businesses having an annual aggregated turnover of Rs. 500 Crores and above. The Government has however exempted certain businesses from e-Invoicing- SEZ Units & Developers, Insurance companies, Banking Companies, Financial institutes, Passenger transportation service, etc. As for documents e-Invoicing applies to B2B, B2G, Export & RCM Invoices as well as on Credit Notes & Debit Notes.
5. What are the pre-requisites to generate an e-Invoice?
The only pre-requisite to generate an e-Invoice is that the person should be registered on either the e-Way Bill Portal or the IRP.
6. Where can I generate an e-Invoice?
All e-Invoices are to be generated by the taxpayers via the IRP or Invoice Registration Portal. The Government has also provided other means to generate an e-Invoice using APIs through ASPs & GSPs. Using these APIs you can generate e-Invoice directly from your ERP as well.
7. What is the process of Registration to the IRP?
You need not register on the IRP again if you are an existing user on the e-Way Bill Portal. You can simply use the e-Way Bill credentials to log into the IRP. If you are not registered on the e-Way Bill Portal, you can register on the IRP using the ‘Register’ option on the IRP dashboard using your GSTIN.
8. What is the process of Generating an e-Invoice?
Following is the process of generating an e-Invoice-
9. Can there be multiple IRNs for the same e-Invoice?
No, the IRNs are unique to a particular e-Invoice & there are no chances of a single e-Invoice having multiple IRNs.
10. For how long will the e-Invoice be available on the e-Invoicing Portal?
After generation, the e-Invoice will be available for the next 24 hours on the IRP & you can access & download the same at any time.
11. Which Documents are exempted from e-Invoicing?
All documents except B2B, B2G, Export & RCM Invoices and Credit Notes & Debit Notes are exempted from e-Invoicing, including B2C Invoices, Delivery Challans etc.
12. Which businesses are exempted from e-Invoicing?
The following businesses are exempted from e-Invoicing-
13. Is e-Invoicing also applicable to B2C Invoices?
No, e-Invoicing is not applicable to B2C Invoices, taxpayers must not try to validate B2C Invoices as the IRP will reject them. However, Businesses need to self-generate QR Codes for B2C Invoices from December 2020. These QR Codes will contain the details of the e-Invoice along with a payment reference link, so recipients can scan & pay.
14. Is the B2C QR Code implementation deferred?
Yes, earlier the Government had mentioned that QR code generation would be implemented along with e-Invoicing but as per a recent CBIC tweet the QR Code generation has been deferred to later this year that is December 2020.
15. What are sub-users, and why do you need them while e-Invoicing?
Businesses have multiple points of operation other than the principle place of operation. It may be difficult for businesses to generate & operate e-Invoices when there are multiple points of businesses & to overcome this issue GSTIN has enabled the option to create sub-users who can use the same login credential in multiple locations to generate & operate e-Invoices. The admin can grant the permissions to sub-users to perform certain or all operations as per their convenience.
16. I have entered wrong values in my invoice, for which e-Invoice has been generated. What can I do to rectify the error?
You cannot rectify an e-Invoice once the IRN has been generated for the same. You cannot amend or make any changes to an e-Invoice for which an IRN has already been generated. The only thing you can do in such case is to cancel the e-Invoice.
You can then generate an e-Invoice with a fresh IRN.
17. Can I cancel my e-Invoice for which IRN has been generated?
Yes, you can cancel your e-Invoices in case of errors though the IRP, but within 24 hours of generation only. Post the time limit you will not be allowed to cancel the e-Invoice.
18. I have crossed the time limit of 24 hours. How can I cancel my e-Invoice now?
In case you have exceeded the limit of 24 hours you will not be able to cancel your e-Invoice. The alternative to this is that you can create a Credit Note against that e-Invoice using the IRN & the document number.
19. Are there any other ways to generate & operate e-Invoices?
Yes, the government has enabled various options to generate an e-Invoice, such as using APIs, Bulk uploads, using APIs, Through ASPs, GSP based, Mobile App based.
However, the most effective ways out of these is using APIS & GSP based solutions.
20. Which is the best solution to generate, operate & manage e-Invoices?
The best Solution to generate, operate & manage e-Invoices is using GSPs & API Solutions.
Prachi Wankhede is a GST Expert coming from a background of core finance indirect taxation. She has an experience of around two years working in the field of GST( Indirect taxation). With her knowledge, research, experience and expertise in the field, she writes detailed perceptive blogs articles, whitepapers, other informational quality content for readers who are interested in gaining knowledge of the subtleties of the GST regime.
