1. There are certain fields today which are optional and some mandatory. How are these to be used?
The mandatory fields are those that MUST be there for an invoice to be valid under e-Invoice Standard.
The optional ones are those that may be needed for the specific business needs of the seller/business. These have been incorporated in the schema based on current business practices in India.
The registration of an e-invoice will only be possible once it has ALL the mandatory fields uploaded into the Invoice registration Portal (IRP).
A mandatory field not having any value can be reported with NIL.
2. What is the maximum Number of line items supported by e-invoice?
The maximum number of line items per e-invoice is 1000.
3. Does the e-invoice schema provide the maximum length of the various fields in the schema?
Yes, each field specification has been provided with the type of characters that are
to be entered and its length as well.
4. What will be the threshold requirement for E-Invoicing applicability?
This will be notified by the Government at the time of rollout.
As already mentioned above, the rollout of the e-invoice mechanism will be in phases.
5. Will the e-invoice have columns to show invoice currency?
Yes, the seller can display the currency. Default will be INR.
6. Whether the IRN is to be captured in the Supplier’s ERP?
The IRN (hash) will be generated by GST System using GSTIN of supplier or document creator, financial year and the unique serial number of the document/invoice. The IRN can also be generated by the seller.
The serial number of invoice will be unique for a GSTIN for a Fin Year and the same has to be captured by Supplier’s ERP.
Supplier has to keep the IRN against each of its invoice. It will be advisable to keep the same in the ERP as invoice without IRN will not be a legal document.
7. Whether e-invoice generated is also required to be signed again by the taxpayer?
Not mandatory. However, if a signed e-invoice is sent to IRP, the same will be accepted.
The e-invoice will be digitally signed by the IRP after it has been validated. The signed e-invoice along with QR code will be shared with creator of document as well as the recipient.
Once it is registered, it will not be required to be signed by anyone else.
8. Whether the facility of adding discount amount at line item-level would be mandatory in nature?
The e-invoice has a provision for capturing discount at line item level.
The discounting at line item level is to be mentioned only when and if it is applicable in the particular transaction.
9. Can the seller place their LOGO in the e-Invoice Template?
There will NOT be a place holder provided in the e-invoice schema for the company logo.
This is for the software company to provide in the billing/accounting software so that it can be printed on his invoice using his printer. However, the Logo will not be sent to IRP. In other words, it will not be part of JSON file to be uploaded on the IRP.
10. There should be a space provided for the QR code to be placed.
The QR code will be provided to the seller once he uploads the invoice into the Invoice Registration system and the same is registered there.
Seller can at his option may print the same on Invoice.
11. Will we be able to provide the address and bill-to party and PAN details in the einvoice?
Yes, it will be possible to provide all these details in the placeholders provided in the
schema.
12. Would the Supplier be allowed to issue his own invoice and if yes, will the Invoice number and IRN be required to be mentioned?
Yes, the supplier will issue his own system’s invoice, in the standard e-invoice schema that has been published. Invoice number is a mandatory item under GST and hence for e-invoice.
IRN (Hash) can be provided after the e-invoice has been successfully reported to the IRP. E-Invoice will be valid only if it has IRN.
13. The current e-invoice template provides for total discount for all the products orservices. Will this be possible in the e-invoice?
Yes, there is a mechanism and placeholders to provide discounting on item level as well as total discounts on the invoice value.
14. Will there be an option for linking multiple invoices in case of debit note/ credit note?
Yes, it will be allowed to link the credit/debit notes as hitherto fore.
15. Will the e-invoice schema cater to reverse charge mechanism?
Yes, e-invoice system has a reverse charge mechanism reporting as well.