What is GST e-invoicing, and does my business need it?
You need GST e-invoicing once your aggregate annual turnover has crossed Rs 5 crore in any financial year from 2017-18; that has been the threshold since 1 August 2023. Every B2B invoice, export invoice, credit note and debit note is then reported to an Invoice Registration Portal such as einvoice1.gst.gov.in, which returns a 64-character Invoice Reference Number and a QR code to print on it. An invoice without a valid IRN is not a valid tax invoice, and your buyer cannot claim input tax credit on it. Sales to consumers stay outside it. If your turnover is Rs 10 crore or more, each invoice must be reported within 30 days of its date, a rule in force since 1 April 2025. A cut to Rs 2 crore has been proposed but not brought in. In practice your accounting software files it: Zoho Books, for one, is a GST Suvidha Provider that uploads to the IRP directly.
Explains who must e-invoice: businesses with annual turnover above ₹5 crore since 1 August 2023, and the rule from 1 April 2025 that businesses above ₹10 crore must report B2B invoices to the IRP within 30 days.
The history of the threshold from Rs 500 crore in 2020 to Rs 5 crore in August 2023, the 30-day rule from 1 April 2025, and the proposed Rs 2 crore limit that has not been implemented.
The government's Invoice Registration Portal, where businesses above the e-invoicing threshold report B2B invoices and get an Invoice Reference Number. Its notices also set rules such as the 6-digit HSN code for taxpayers with turnover above ₹5 crore.
