As per Rule 48(4) of the CGST Rules, 2017 read with Notification No. 13/2020-Central Tax, dated 21.03.2020 as amended vide Notification No. 61/2020-Central Tax, dated 30.07.2020, GST e-invoicing will be mandatory w.e.f. 1st October, 2020, for notified classes of registered persons (those having aggregate annual turnover at PAN level more than Rs. 500 Crores).
Under GST e-invoicing, registered persons will continue to create their GST invoices on their own Accounting/Billing/ERP Systems. These invoices will now be reported to ‘Invoice Registration Portal (IRP)’. On reporting, IRP returns the e-invoice with a unique ‘Invoice Reference Number (IRN)’ after digitally signing the e-invoice and adding a QR Code. Then, the invoice can be issued to the receiver (along with QR Code). A GST invoice will be valid only with a valid IRN.
Now a question may arise in the mind of tax payers that once GST e-invoicing is implemented whether still there will be need for generation of e-way bill, the purpose of which was to check tax evasion which can be said to be plugged by GST e-invoicing also.
In this regard it may be noted that users who are already registered on the e-way bill portal need not to again register on the e-invoice system. User can use EWB login credentials to login at e-invoice system.
With the introduction of e -invoicing, is e-way bill still compulsory?
Requirement of E-way Bill generation flows from Section 68 of the CGST Act, 2017 read with Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017 which has not been amended , nor any relaxation has been granted for persons required to generate e-invoice. Accordingly while transporting goods, wherever the e-way bill is needed as per the extant provisions, the requirement continues to be mandatory even upon introduction of e-invoicing.
Whether the e-way bill get auto-generated under GST e-invoicing?
The tax payers can also generate the e-way bill along with the IRN in one go or generate IRN and the e-way bill later based on the IRN.
In case both Part-A and Part-B of e-way bill are provided in the e-invoice schema, the details will be used to generate e-way bill.
In case Part-B details are not provided at the time of reporting invoice to IRP, the same will have to be provided by the user through ‘e-way bill’ tab in IRP log in or e-Way Bill Portal, so as to generate e-way bill.
Will NIC provide new APIs for e -way bill?
No. E-way bill system will continue to function as it is. No new application programming interface (APIs) for e-way bill are required to be published.
IRN generation by E-Way Bill API enabled Tax Payers – System-to-System integration using existing API
Using E-way Bill API credentials
- Before starting to work on e-invoice system, you need to test the API integration in sand-box environment (https://einv-apisandbox.nic.in/). After testing, tax payer has to submit the test summary report, as per the format provided under ‘On Boarding’ at sandbox portal, to the email support.einv.api@gov.in. After verification of the test summary report, tax payer will be provided the production API details.
- If you have already integrated with API under e-Waybill system, then you can use the same API credentials for e-Invoice system. No other steps need to be followed.
- Use the e-way bill purpose whitelisted IPs to access the e-invoice system.
***
[rainbow]Don’t miss the next GST Update / Article / Judicial pronouncement[/rainbow]
Subscribe to our newsletter from FREE to stay updated on GST Law
Resolve your GST queries from national level experts on GST free of cost.
Frah Saeed is a law graduate specializing in the core field of indirect taxes and is the Co-founder of taxwallah.com. She has authored many publications on GST and is into full-time consultancy on GST to big corporates. She as a part of taxwallah.com heads a team comprising of Chartered Accountants and Advocates and plays a key role in our mission to disseminate GST knowledge to all.
