E-Invoice – Quick Reference Code (QR Code)

Types of QR Code

There are two different concepts of QR Codes when it comes to e-Invoicing in India.

  • QR Code for a Business-to-business B2B E-Invoice containing details of the Invoice (this article)
  • Payment QR Code for a Business-to-consumer B2C Invoice (different article)

In order to issue an e-Invoice, a taxpayer has to prepare a valid invoice in electronic format as per the e-Invoice schema and submit it to a government authorized Invoice Registration Portal (IRP).

The IRP will validate the invoice and also generate a QR code containing the unique Invoice Reference Number along with some important parameters of invoice and digital signature so that any person such as the recipient or tax officer could verify the details of the invoice. The QR Code contains important details of the invoice so that one can check those details even without internet access. The QR code will consist of the following e-invoice parameters:

  • GSTIN of supplier
  • GSTIN of Recipient
  • Invoice number as given by Supplier
  • Date of generation of invoice
  • Invoice value (taxable value and gross tax)
  • Number of line items.
  • HSN Code of main item (the line item having highest taxable value)
  • Unique Invoice Reference Number (IRN)

It is expected that suppliers include the QR Code while generating PDF format of the invoice or printing the invoice on paper. However, there is no legal requirement at present to display the QR code on the invoice.