In this post, we will look into the new Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) press release published on 30th September 2020 about the extension given to implement GST e-invoice.

NEW UPDATE:
CBIC notified that GST e-invoicing for B2B transactions is mandatory for any business whose turnover exceeds Rs 100 crore from January 1, 2021. The limit set earlier was only for turnover above Rs 500 crore.

In December 2019, the government had informed all GST Tax Payers with Aggregate Annual Turnover of Rs. 100Cr and above in the preceding year will require to issue e-invoice for their B2B (Business-to-Business) and export transaction w.e.f 1st April 2020. Any other format of invoice other than the prescribed one will be considered as invalid.

Later in March 2020, this date of implementing e-invoice was extended to 1st October 2020. Due to the COCID-19 pandemic lockdown and the hardship faced by the taxpayers, in July 2020, the limit of Aggregate Annual Turnover of taxpayers who are required to issue e-invoice was increased to Rs. 500Cr.

In September 2020, even after 9 months of initial notification on e-invoice, it is found that the many taxpayers with Aggregate Annual Turnover above 500Cr are not ready for the process.
Hence, as a last chance, the taxpayers are allowed to issue invoices in a non-prescribed format for the month of October 2020.

These invoices will be considered valid and will not attract any penalty as per the Act. Provided, such invoices have to be uploaded to Invoice Reference Portal (IRP) within 30 days of the date of invoice and have to obtain an Invoice Reference Number (IRN).

For e.g. If a registered entity has an invoice dated 5th October 2020, then the taxpayer can issue it without uploading it to IRP and obtaining an IRN. But, such an invoice has to be reported at IRP on or before 4th November 2020 and an IRN for the invoice has to be obtained. If the invoice is not reported within the given time period then a penalty will be imposed on such invoice.

This relaxation is applicable for invoices generated for the month of October 2020 only and any invoice generated from 1st November 2020 will have to follow the prescribed format of e-invoicing.

With that, we have come to the end of this post.

Refer other blogs:

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