Bulk Generation of e-Invoices on IRP and Pre-requisites, Steps, FAQS

The e-Invoicing system has been introduced to improve machine readability at the source document level itself – the invoice. The sheer number of invoices raised by large businesses can be staggering and tedious for the taxpayer to generate Invoice Reference Numbers (IRN) for each one separately. This is why the Invoice Registration Portals (IRP), such as NIC and Clear IRP, have introduced the feature of a bulk generation facility for e-invoices. Choose Clear IRP, GOI’s officially approved IRP to seamlessly generate e-invoices in bulk.

Latest Update

10th May 2023
CBIC notified the 6th phase of e-invoicing. Hence, taxpayers having more than Rs 5 crore turnover in any financial year from 2017-18 shall issue e-invoices w.e.f 1st August 2023.

06th May 2023
The GST department has deferred the time limit of 7 days to report the old e-invoices on the IRP portals by three months. Further, the department is yet to announce the new implementation date.

13th April 2023
As per the GST Network's advisories dated 12th April 2023 and 13th April 2023, taxpayers with annual turnover equal to or more than Rs.100 crore must report tax invoices and credit-debit notes to IRP within 7 days of invoice date from 1st May 2023.

30th January 2023
Few updates are made on the NIC's e-invoice portal-
(1) User can select POS state code of '96-Other Country' against items where HSN codes are 9965 and 9968 (Services by way of transportation of goods, including by mail or courier).
(2) The documents dated 1/10/2021 or after shall only be considered on the portal.
(3)  The portal has added a new error code 2295 for duplicate requests apart from 2150, with error as 'IRN is already
generated and registered with GSTN Lookup Portal by other IRP'.

11th October 2022
The GST Council may implement the next phase of e-invoicing for businesses with an annual turnover of more than Rs.5 crore from 1st January 2023. The system may get extended to businesses with a turnover of over Rs.1 crore by the end of the next fiscal year.

1st August 2022 
The e-Invoicing system for B2B transactions has now been extended to those with an annual aggregate turnover of more than Rs.10 crore up to Rs.20 crore starting from 1st October 2022, vide notification no. 17/2022. 

24th February 2022
The e-Invoicing system will get extended to those annual aggregate turnover of more than Rs.20 crore up to Rs.50 crore starting from 1st April 2022, vide notification no. 1/2022. 

What is the e-invoice bulk generation facility?

The bulk generation facility is provided by the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) where multiple invoices can be uploaded at once. It is an offline excel-based tool to generate e-invoices by exporting invoice data from the billing system/accounting software or ERP of the taxpayer. The IRP would then accept a bulk request for uploading the JSON file of these invoices. After authentication, the IRP will generate a unique Invoice reference number (IRN) and Quick Response (QR) code for each e-invoice and digitally sign the e-invoice.

Pre-requisites for using bulk generation utility

The taxpayer needs to have the EINV bulk convertor installed in his system. This is an excel-based offline utility of the NIC’s IRP or e-invoice portal which helps convert multiple invoices entered in the excel sheet into a single JSON file for bulk upload. In order to download this tool, visit the e-invoice portal.

Also, users (having turnover Rs.100 crore or more) must ensure that the invoices or credit-debit notes date not reported to IRP beyond 7 days of the invoice/CDN date. However, on 6th May 2023, the department has deferred the time limit of 7 days to report the old e-invoices on the IRP portals by three months. Also, it is yet to announce the new implementation date.

Go to Help > Tools > Bulk Generation Tools. Select the tool which is most appropriate.

Formats available for bulk e-invoice JSON generation

The JSON preparation tool on NIC’s e-invoice portal or IRP comes in 4 formats. These formats have been built as per the requirements of different classes of taxpayers and transactions. The user needs to download the one which is most appropriate for his business.

Format A

Format A contains a single worksheet for invoice and items details to be entered. The user can prepare the JSON file for uploading a large number of e-invoices by a single upload to the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP).

1. Businesses that have 1 or 2 items in their invoices can use this format.
2. This format is advisable for invoices with B2B transactions.
3. Details of payment and reference cannot be entered in Format A.

Format B

Format B contains two worksheets for invoice and items details to be entered separately.

1. This format is advisable for the businesses having several items in their invoices.
2. As the item details are entered in two different worksheets, the user needs to ensure that every item is referenced with the document number, document type and document date of the invoice.
3. The payment and reference details cannot be entered in Format B.
4. Other information such as details of exports can be entered in the Invoice worksheet itself.
5. If e-way bills need to be generated, then Part-B details can also be entered in the Invoice worksheet.

Format C

Format C contains five worksheets for invoice details, items details, payment details, reference details and additional details to be entered separately.

1. This format is advisable for businesses having many items in the invoices with payment details and reference details etc.
2. As the item details are entered in different worksheets, the user needs to ensure that each item is referenced with the document number, document type and document date of the invoice.
3. Other information such as export details can be entered in the Invoice sheet.
4. If an e-way bill is to be generated, then Part-B details of the w-way can also be entered in the Invoice sheet.

Format D

Format D contains a single worksheet for invoice details, item details, payment details, reference details and additional details to be entered in the same worksheet.

1. This format is advisable for businesses having a large number of items in the invoice, having payment details and reference details etc.
2. Other information such as export details can be entered in the Invoice sheet.
3. If an e-way bill needs to be generated, then Part-B details of the e-way bill can also be entered in the Invoice sheet itself.

Steps to upload e-invoice JSON and generate IRN

After downloading the afore-mentioned utility, follow these steps below:

Step 1: Enter all the basic details as required in the ‘Profile’ sheet.

Step 2: Enter all the details of the invoices in the necessary fields as given in the ‘Invoice’ sheet.

Step 3: Once the invoice details are entered, to ensure that e-invoice schema is followed, validate the details using the ‘Validate’ button.

Step 4: Upon successful validation, click on the ‘Prepare JSON’ button. The JSON file will be generated, which will contain details of the multiple invoices entered.

Step 5: Log in to the e-invoice portal. Go to e-invoice > Bulk upload. Click on ‘Choose file’.

Step 6: Select the JSON file generated earlier and click on upload. Ensure that the size of the JSON file is not more than 2MB. A summary of the contents of the JSON file will be displayed.

Step 7: Click on the ‘Confirm’ button. If there are no errors, each invoice will be assigned a 64-character length Invoice Reference Number (IRN) and the option to download the same in excel format will be available.

The system will then update the invoice details to the e-way bill system. The e-way bill system will create Part-A of the e-way bill using this data.  Only the vehicle number will need to be attached in Part-B of the e-way bill.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the benefit of using the bulk generation facility?

The bulk generation facility can help in the generation of multiple IRNs at a time and also help in avoiding data entry mistakes like duplication since the data can be copied from the automated system of the taxpayer into the bulk generation tool directly.

What type of formats of the e-invoice bulk generation tool are available? Which one is best suited for me?

The various formats and their features can be summarised from the below table:

Is it possible to customise the fields in the Bulk Generation tool?

Yes, but only the optional fields can be customised.  

How to resolve ‘Runtime error 13’ error?

The runtime 13 error can be resolved by selecting data from the drop-down list for all the relevant fields. This will ensure that only valid data is entered in those fields.

How to resolve ‘Invalid Doc Date’ error?

Ensure that the format of the date is DD/MM/YYYY.  

How to resolve ‘Invalid To_GSTIN’ error?

The GSTIN of the recipient/buyer needs to be checked.  

How to resolve ‘Invalid From_GSTIN’ error?

The GSTIN of the supplier/seller needs to be checked.