What does India's GST e-invoicing mandate require?
Effective: 2020-10-01 · Authority: GSTN (Goods and Services Tax Network)
India's GST e-invoicing mandate requires businesses above the turnover threshold to upload B2B invoice data to the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP), obtain a unique IRN (Invoice Reference Number) and QR code, and include these on the invoice. The mandate applies progressively: from 2020 for large businesses down to businesses with turnover above INR 5 crore from August 2023.
How does the IRP invoice registration process work?
The business generates an invoice in its billing system and uploads the data in JSON format to one of six authorized IRPs. The IRP validates the data against GSTIN (GST Identification Numbers), assigns a unique IRN (a 64-character hash), generates a signed QR code, and returns the IRN and QR code to the business. The business then prints or embeds the IRN and QR code on the invoice.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the turnover threshold for Indian GST e-invoicing?
- As of August 2023, the threshold is INR 5 crore (approximately USD 600,000) annual aggregate turnover. The government has progressively lowered the threshold from INR 500 crore (October 2020) to INR 100 crore (January 2021) to INR 50 crore (April 2021) to INR 20 crore (April 2022) to INR 10 crore (October 2022) to INR 5 crore (August 2023).
- What is an IRN and what happens if it is not obtained?
- The IRN (Invoice Reference Number) is a 64-character hash generated by the IRP that uniquely identifies a registered e-invoice. Without an IRN, the invoice is not a valid tax document for GST purposes. Buyers cannot claim input tax credit on invoices without valid IRNs. Non-registration attracts GST penalties.
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