A recent news report about the government planning to launch a facility to generate 'electronic invoice,' i.e., e-invoice with the objective to curb tax evasion gathered a lot of attention. We would like to acquaint you regarding the latest update in this matter -

  • A Committee of Officers (CoO), headed by Dr. Rajeev Ranjan (Special Secretary, GST Council Secretariat) and Shri Manish Kumar Sinha (Joint Secretary, TRU-II, CBIC) was constituted on 22 April 2019 to examine the e-invoice system, currently prevailing in various countries (like South Korea, Latin America, etc.) The committee is working to provide recommendations on the following:
  • To initialize the implementation of a system to generate e- invoice number on the GST portal.
  • Study the possibility to dispensing the e-way bill requirement by integrating e-invoice and e-way bill.
  • To explore the integration of the e-invoice system with various accounting systems currently adopted by companies.
  • To gradually grow from the generation of an e-invoice number to subsequently generating the e-invoice from the GST portal.;
  • As per new reports and statements of officials available in the public domain, the following may be noted:
  • The above mechanism is currently being evaluated for B2B transactions and may later be extended to B2C transactions.
  • Initially, the e-invoice number generating system would be applicable to high turnover/transaction thresholds.
  • The government may launch such a facility by September 2019.

Please click here to view the office memorandum setting out the Terms of Reference of the committee.

Offline Utility of GSTR 9 released on the GST portal

  • Offline utility for preparing the Annual Return Form for GSTR 9 has been released on the GST portal on 8 May 2019.
  • Form GSTR 9 should be filed by the regular taxpayers filing GSTR 1 and GSTR 3B.
  • The due date for filing Form GSTR 9 for the period 1 July 2017 to 31 March 2018 is 30 June 2019.

SKP's Comments

  • In relation to the e-invoicing currently being studied by the committee, the targeted implementation date as per news reports of 1 September 2019 appears ambitious. In our view, since the implementation of the new return filing mechanism itself has been delayed, we foresee that the electronic invoice system is likely to be deferred.
  • The release of an offline tool for Form GSTR 9 is a welcome move which should take forward the process of filing the GST Annual Return and help taxpayers get familiar with the system.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.