einvoice1.gst.gov.in - All About First Invoice Registration Portal

einvoice1.gst.gov.in or the e-invoice portal is the first Invoice Registration Portal (IRP), maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). This portal allows eligible GST-registered businesses to generate and validate an Invoice Reference Number (IRN) for e-invoices complying with the GST rules. The e-invoicing system initially became applicable on 1st October 2020 for large taxpayers and is extended to small taxpayers with a turnover over Rs.5 crore since 1st August 2023. You can use Clear IRP, government-approved IRP or e-invoice portal as alternative for seamless e-invoicing experience. 

This article navigates through the facilities available on the e-invoicing portal by NIC before and after logging into it, along with step-by-step guide.

Key takeaways-

• einvoice1.gst.gov.in is NIC’s first official portal for registering GST e-invoices, apart from einvoice2.gst.gov.in.
• It enables taxpayers to generate IRNs and verify invoice details online.
• Website features differ before and after login, offering compliance tools and reports.
• Mandatory for businesses with turnover above Rs.5 crore since August 2023.
• Apart from NIC, government-approved private IRPs like Clear IRP offer alternatives.

What is einvoice1.gst.gov.in?

einvoice1.gst.gov.in is the first website for generating Invoice Reference Numbers (IRN) for e-invoices. The NIC’s einvoice1.gst.gov.in makes it possible for such taxpayers to register, and bulk upload invoices to obtain IRN, validate, track and cancel e-invoices, etc.

Taxpayers with aggregate turnover above Rs.5 crore currently must generate e-invoices. Meantime, India’s smart compliance solution, Clear has also been authorised by the GST Network to be the official IRP in India.

Facilities on the einvoice1.gst.gov.in

The following facilities or functions are available on the e-invoice portal-

• Registration of taxpayers into the e-invoicing system
• Generation of unique Invoice Reference Number (IRN) using the bulk upload option
• Tracking/verifying e-invoice details using IRN
• Search for any taxpayer, Pincode, goods or services, signed e-invoice, or master codes.
• Cancellation of IRN
• Printing e-invoices
• Generating MIS reports
• Authorising a sub-user to generate IRN, cancel IRN or generate reports relating to IRN.

einvoice1 Portal Before Login

• Upon accessing the homepage of the e-invoice website, a section appears on the right-hand side known as ‘Latest Updates’. This displays the latest developments in the implementation along with the new features of the einvoice portal.
• The ‘Laws’ section contains various rules- Rule 48, forms- INV-01, a list of GST notifications and circulars relating to e-invoicing issued under the GST law.
• The ‘Help’ section provides user manuals for managing IRN, FAQs on the same and tools for bulk generation of IRN.
• A ‘Search’ section where the following information can be looked up:
  • Taxpayer details by entering their GSTIN.
  • Pincode search to know the name of the state.
  • Product and service details by entering the HSN Code.
  • Verification of the signature and invoice details by uploading JSON signed file of the e-invoice.
  • Status of e-invoice of the taxpayer by entering the GSTIN.
  • List of GST Suvidha Providers
  • Master codes for states, HSN, Countries, ports, currency and UQC.
• The ‘Downloads’ section contains the following facilities:
  • The ‘QR code verify’ app will be provided.
  • Sample signed e-invoice JSON.
  • A brief document on the QR code will be made available.
  • FAQs on QR codes will also be made available.
  • The public key for e-invoice for the respective periods of IRN generation.
• The ‘Contact Us’ section contains an e-mail address and phone number for support.
• The ‘Registration’ section for first-time registration onto the website to use the e-invoicing system. The registration facility is available for different types of users such as SMS-based, mobile-based, GSP-based, API-based, etc. The mode of generation of e-invoice is available on the basis of the selection made at the registration.
• The ‘Login’ section to enter credentials after registration is successful.

einvoice1.gst.gov.in Contents After Login

Below is the main menu screen of NIC’s einvoice portal after a successful login:

From the above it is observed that there are five main options available:

• E-invoice
• MIS Reports
• User Management
• API Registration
• Change Password
• Update
• E-Way Bill

E-invoice

The e-invoice menu on GST e invoice login contains the following sub-menus:

• Bulk Upload: Rather than uploading details of each invoice one by one, an option has also been made available to upload multiple invoices in one single JSON file. The JSON can be generated by using the bulk converter tool that is also available on the website. Every invoice contained in the JSON will be assigned separate IRNs.
• Cancel IRN: Where any mistake has been made in uploading details of an invoice, the generated IRN can also be cancelled within 24 hours of generating the same. Note that the IRN cannot be deleted and hence even the IRN of a cancelled invoice remains unique. The invoice that is to be cancelled can be found by entering the acknowledgement number.
• Print e-invoice: The IRN/e-invoice number of the invoice that is required needs to be entered. 

MIS Reports

This option can be used to generate an MIS report. A list of invoices uploaded would be provided based on selected parameters and selected dates. This list can also be exported in excel format using the ‘Export to Excel’ tab.

User Management

A large business entity may have different people performing different roles in relation to invoices in an organisation. This portal allows controlling access of such users depending on their role.

As can be seen from the above figure, the various options provided are ‘Create Sub-User’, ‘Freeze Sub-User’, ‘Update Sub-User’ and ‘Change password’. Each such sub-user can generate, cancel and/or report the generation of Invoice Reference Number. The sub-users would each be provided separate login credentials with their user ID being the same as that of the main user, except for the addition of a suffix. 

API Registration

In case the taxpayer chooses to directly integrate his ERP system or through GSP with the e-Invoicing system, click on ‘API Registration’ option > IP whitelisting to register your IP address with the portal.

Thereafter, select ‘Create API User’ under the ‘User Credentials’ option to register the GSTIN for the API interface and set the login credentials. In case the sister concern of your GSTIN has already registered for the API interface then the details thereof will be displayed. Enter the client ID and client secret to set the login credentials for your concern.

Change Password

The user can frequently change the password using this option.

Update

It may be a tedious task to enter business details every time an e-invoice is prepared. Hence, it is possible to use this option to auto-populate certain fields while creating the e-invoice by pulling the data from the GST common portal.

E-Way Bill

The ‘e-way bill’ option can be used to fill up Part A of the e-way bill with only the vehicle number remaining to be entered in Part B.