All about the einvoice1-trial.nic.in – Trial Invoice Registration Portal

The e-invoicing system is being implemented in phases. This started with having at least one designated Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) – National Informatics Centre (NIC) and later Clear IRP.

einvoice1-trial.nic.in was an e-invoice portal available on a trial basis for taxpayers to get accustomed to using the same. However, since many taxpayers were using this to generate their actual e-invoices, the government withdrew this website.

Latest Updates

10th May 2023
CBIC notified the 6th phase of e-invoicing. Hence, taxpayers having more than 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
The GSTN released an advisory on 12th and 13th April 2023 stating that taxpayers with an annual turnover of Rs.100 crore and more must report tax invoices and credit-debit notes to the IRP within 7 days from the date of issue of the invoice/CDN from 1st May 2023.

What is einvoice1-trial.nic.in?

The website einvoice1-trial.nic.in made it possible for applicable taxpayers to test the e-invoice generation, which currently is on https://einv-apisandbox.nic.in/ for testing integration. Therefore, the trial e-invoice website is no longer available for access as a lot of taxpayers were getting confused with the actual production NIC’s website https://einvoice1.gst.gov.in/. It consisted broadly of the following functions in relation to e-invoicing-

• Generation of unique Invoice Reference Number (IRN)
• Validation of IRN
• Cancel IRN
• Print e-invoice
• Generate MIS reports
• Authorise a sub-user to Generate IRN, cancel IRN or generate reports relating to IRN.

Content of the website

Before logging in-

• Upon accessing the homepage of the website, a section containing updates relating to e-invoice could be found where details regarding new features of the e-invoicing system are provided.
• The ‘Laws’ section contained various rules, forms, notifications and circulars that relate to e-invoicing.
• The ‘Help’ section for the user manuals, FAQs and tools like bulk generation tools can be found.
• A ‘Search’ section where the following information can be looked up:
  • Taxpayer details by entering their GSTIN.
  • Product and services details by entering the HSN Code.
  • Verification of a signed invoice.
  • Status of e-invoice of the taxpayer.
• The ‘Contact Us’ section contained 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.

After logging in-

This is what the main menu screen looks like after successful login-

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

• E-invoice
• MIS Reports
• User Management
• Update
• E-Way Bill

E-invoice

The e-invoice menu contains the following sub-menus-

i. Generate IRN: This option let the taxpayer generate the unique IRN by entering the invoice/debit note/credit note details manually.

The website/IRP allowed one to digitally sign the JSON of the e-invoice and also would make available a QR code to easily access invoice details. The 64 characters long IRN would be unique to each invoice.

ii. Generate Bulk IRN: 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 could 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.

iii. Cancel IRN: Where any mistake has been made in uploading details of an invoice, the generated IRN could 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.

Upon successful cancellation, the system displays the message ‘e-invoice cancelled successfully!!’.

iv. Print e-invoice: The IRN/e-invoice number of the invoice that is required needs to be entered.

A sample of the print can be seen below:

MIS Reports

This option could 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 allowed 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 were given the following type of permissions-

• Generate Invoice Reference Number
• Cancel Invoice Reference Number
• Report 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. 

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 vehicle number remaining to be entered in Part B.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where should I generate e-invoices on the trial website or https://einvoice1.gst.gov.in/?

You should generate e-invoices on 
https://einvoice1.gst.gov.in/ and not on the trial website. You can also use Clear IRP, GST Network’s e-invoice portal or officially government-approved IRP.

I am already registered on the GST common portal. Do I have to register separately on the e-invoice portal?

Yes, a separate GSTIN-based registration will need to be made on the e-invoice portal. However, the taxpayers who are registered on the e-way bill portal need not take separate registration on the e-invoice portal.

Is partial cancellation of e-invoice possible?

No, e-invoices can only be fully cancelled within 24 hours of its generation.

What is the maximum number of sub-users that I can have?

The maximum number of sub-users that can be created for each place of business is 10. For every additional place of business, 10 more sub-users can be added.

Is it compulsory to assign sub-users?

No, it is not compulsory to assign sub-users. The decision regarding the number of sub-users, if any, must be taken by the taxpayer himself based on his business needs.

Why am I not able to generate reports for a particular period, i.e., select a start period and an end period?

Reports can only be generated for a particular day to ensure that the system does not take any additional burden and continues to perform smoothly. Hence, it is advisable to generate a report for each day separately if so needed.

Is it possible to make amendments to an e-invoice?

Amendments are allowed to be made as per the provisions of the GST law but they can be made only on the GST common portal and not on the e-invoice portal.