NEW DELHI: 71,000 users have generated up to 69.5 lakh invoice reference numbers in the first week of implementation of the electronic invoicing system for goods and services tax (GST) for companies with an annual turnover of at least ₹500 crore, the Finance Ministry said on Friday.
Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said it was a big step forward as buyers and sellers could now have real-time information on invoices. “It replaces the physical invoice and will soon replace the existing electronic invoicing system and taxpayers will not have to generate separate electronic invoices,” he said in a statement after reviewing the performance of the electronic invoicing system.
Additionally, Pandey said that the electronic invoicing system may also eventually do without the current GST filing system for smaller businesses and MSMEs because the electronic invoice will pre-fill their returns and they will simply have to pay the taxes. “Returns will be generated automatically for all supplies for which an electronic invoice has been issued,” he added.
Although it is currently mandatory for companies with a turnover of ₹Rs 500 crore, by January 1, will be available for taxpayers with a turnover of more than ₹100 crore a year. Finally, it will be available to all contributors for B2B transactions from April 1, 2021.
Initially, the electronic invoicing system was planned to be implemented starting on April 1. However, it was postponed until October 1 due to the covid-19 pandemic and taking into account the difficulties that taxpayers face due to the shutdown. For the convenience of taxpayers, an exemption window from the penalty provisions has been made available, provided that the IRN for such invoices is obtained from the Invoice Reference Portal (IRP) within 30 days of the date of the invoice.
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