Aiming to collect almost the same sum as taxes as last year, the revenue department is tightening compliance requirements related to e-invoicing. The buyers are required to ensure proper e-invoices are issued to them by listed large GST-registered businesses; in the absence of such e-invoices, the buyers could lose input tax credit.
A list released by the department includes over 28,000 GST identification numbers that must only issue e-invoice for the B2B sale of items. The rule came into effect from October 1 for firms with more than Rs 500-crore turnover.
E-invoicing system is connected to a central portal which receives and validates invoices in real time. It has been touted as a game changer, and one of the reasons why the proposed overhaul of the GST return-filing system was abandoned earlier this year as it was thought that e-invoicing could achieve the same objective without unsettling the current system.