FINANCIAL EXPRESS, APRIL 29,20T9

'GST e-invoice generation system on govt portalPRESSTR.USTOF INDIANew Delhi, April 28

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GST OFFICERS ARE workingon a systemwhere businessesabove a certain turooverthreshold will have to generate'e -invoice' on the governmentor GST portal for every sale,thereby effectively reducingthe room fortax evasion.

To start with, businessesabove a specifi ed thresholdwilliust get a unique number forevery electronic invoice or e-invoice generated. This num-ber can be matched withinvoices reported in salesreturn and taxes paid, an offi-cial said. Going forward, busi-nesses willbe requiri:d to gen-erate full electronic tax invoiceor e-invoice recording entirevalue ofsales.

The official said businessesbeyond a turnover thresholdwould be provided a softwarewhichwill be linked to the GSTor a government portal forgenerating e-invoice. Thethreshold can also be fixed onthe basis of the value of invoice.

"The requirement of e-invoice generation could beeither on the basis ofturnoverof the registered person orvalue of invoice. The thinkingis, ideally, it shouldbe based onturnover threshold so as toavoid splitting of salesi'an offi -cial said.

Giving example,the officialsaid if the rninimum invoicevalue is fixed at {1,0O0,thereis a possibility of businesses ofsplitting the bills to avoid theinvoice-based threshold cap.

The method for generating

e-invoice will be similar to theone being followed for e-waybill on the'ewaybill.nic.in'por-tal or payment of GST on theGSTN portal.

The proposed system of e-invoice will eventually replacethe requirement of generationof e-way bill for movement ofgoods, as invoices wouid be

generated through a cen-tralised government portal.Currently, e-waybill is requiredfor moving goods exceedingr50,000.

The officialsaidonce full e-tax invoice starts getting gen-erated, it would significantlyease burden ofreturn filingbybusinesses as invoice-wise

data would be auto-populatedin retur:nforms.

'We will have to study globalmodels followeclbycountries inLatin America, South Korea andthose in Europe. We will alsolookatways to incentivisebusi-nesses to adopt the methodof e-invoice generationi theofficialsaid.

An officers committee,comprising central, state taxofficials and GST Networkchief executive,has been set upto look into the feasibility ofintroducing e-invoice systemto streamline generation ofinvoices and easing compli-ance burden. The committeewill finalise an interim reportnextmonth.

The proposed'e-invoicerispart of the exercise to checkGSTevasion.

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