e-Invoicing Validation Rules

As e-invoicing is a fairly new concept under GST, a taxpayer will encounter various challenging situations while generating an e-invoice.

Latest Updates on e-Invoicing

30th June 2021
The CBIC has issued a notification seeking to waive the penalty imposed on non-compliance of dynamic QR code provisions for B2C invoices between 1st December 2020 and 30th September 2021.

1st June 2021
CBIC has notified vide Central Tax Notification no.23 dated 1st June 2021 that the e-invoicing system shall not apply to a government department and local authority.

30th March 2021
The CBIC has issued a notification seeking to waive the penalty imposed on non-compliance of dynamic QR code provisions for B2C invoices between 1st December 2020 and 30th June 2021, provided the said person complies with the provisions of the said notification from 1st July 2021.

This article discusses, in brief, the various errors that a taxpayer may encounter and how can he avoid those errors.

1. Use of unique invoice numbers- A taxpayer is supposed to use unique invoice numbers for each invoice in a financial year. Note that every e-invoice can be generated against a unique invoice number. Even for making corrections to a current invoice, a new invoice must be raised with a unique number.
2. Sorting B2B invoices- E-invoicing applies only to B2B (business-to-business) transactions. So, a taxpayer should sort all B2B invoices for generating e-invoices. If a taxpayer chooses the category of a transaction as B2C (business-to-consumer), then such invoices won’t be considered, and IRN won’t be generated for such invoices.
3. Invoice number should not start with certain characters- The invoice number should not start with 0, / and -. If these characters are used, the request will be rejected.
4. Two IRNs cannot be generated for the same invoice number- If a taxpayer has already generated an IRN for a particular invoice number, then IRN cannot be generated again on the same invoice number. If a taxpayer tries to do so, the request will be rejected.
   If an IRN is cancelled for a specific invoice number, the same cannot be regenerated on the same invoice number. A new invoice number should be used. 
5. Verify the recipient’s GSTIN- A taxpayer shall verify whether the recipient’s GSTIN is registered and active on the GST portal on the invoice’s date of preparation.
6. Verify the first two digits of the GSTIN with the state code- A taxpayer must verify whether the first two digits of the GSTIN match with the state code entered in the supplier/recipient details section while uploading an invoice. If the supply type is ‘export’, then the recipient code will be 96.
7. Verification of PIN code- The master database of the e-invoicing system has a state master which validates the PIN codes against the states. If a particular PIN code does not exist, it will match the first three digits of the PIN code with the PIN code to the state mapping pattern as defined by the postal department. Only after proper validation, an IRN will be generated.
8. An SEZ unit cannot generate an e-invoice but an invoice can be generated with the SEZ unit as the recipient.
9. In case of reverse charge- In reverse charge invoices, the supplier is required to generate IRN. Reverse Charges can be marked as “Y” in the case of B2B and SEZ invoices. But, the tax is to be paid in a reverse manner.
10. Document date is before the filing date- Suppose the invoice document date is before the reporting date to the IRP. Consider that the GSTR-1 is already filed by that date, then the e-invoice will not be declared to that period’s GSTR-1.
11. Blank spaces where a specific master code list needs to be followed- A white space/blank space is counted as a GST system character. For instance: If a state code has been entered as ‘7 ’ instead of ‘7’ or ‘07’ while generating e-invoices, the same will not be auto-populated accurately in the GSTR-1.

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