A streamlined GST invoicing solutions can help you easily boost sales, reduce outstanding receivables, get deeper insights into the business and reduce the complexities associated with GST return filing. GST invoicing suite integrated with estimates, online payments, receivables management, eWay bill portal and GST filing - can completely streamline revenue cycle management for a small or medium-sized business.

The rollout of GST in 2017 has necessitated changes to the invoice format for millions of businesses. The format for issuing GST invoice and the related rules are laid out in the GST Tax Invoice, Credit and Debit Notes Rules.you can automatically issue GST invoice that conforms to the standards laid out by the GST rules and regulations.

GST Invoice Format

Under GST rules and regulations, all invoice issued by businesses under GST must contain the following information:

• Name, address and GSTIN of the supplier
• A consecutive serial number not exceeding sixteen characters, in one or multiple series, containing alphabets or numerals or special characters hyphen or dash and slash symbolised as "-" and "/" respectively, and any combination thereof, unique for a financial year.
• Date of its issue
• Name, address and GSTIN or UIN, if registered, of the recipient
• Name and address of the recipient and the address of delivery, along with the name of State and its code, if such recipient is un-registered and where the value of taxable supply is fifty thousand rupees or more;
• HSN code of goods or Accounting Code of services;
• Description of goods or services;
• Quantity in case of goods and unit or Unique Quantity Code thereof
• The total value of the supply of goods or services or both
• The taxable value of supply of goods or services or both taking into account discount or abatement, if any
• Rate of tax (central tax, State tax, integrated tax, Union territory tax or cess)
• Amount of tax charged in respect of taxable goods or services (central tax, State tax, integrated tax, Union territory tax or cess)
• Place of supply along with the name of State, in case of a supply in the course of inter-State trade or commerce
• Address of delivery where the same is different from the place of supply
• Whether the tax is payable on a reverse charge basis; and
• The signature or digital signature of the supplier or his/her authorised representative.

When should an invoice be issued?

GST invoice should be issued when payment for goods or services is received or reasonably assured or if the goods or services have been supplied. If goods or services are supplied and payment is not received, then invoice must be issued within 30 days - irrespective of the status of the receivable.

It is important to note that the supplier becomes liable for remittance of GST to the government on the issuance of tax invoice, even if payment is not received from the customer. Hence, if payment is not reasonably assured, and goods or services have not been delivered, an estimate can be issued by the supplier.

Procedure for issuing GST invoice

All GST invoices must be prepared in triplicate in case of a supply of goods. The original copy should be marked as ORIGINAL FOR RECIPIENT. The duplicate copy should be marked as DUPLICATE FOR TRANSPORTER, and the triplicate copy should be marked as TRIPLICATE FOR SUPPLIER.

In case of a supply of services, the invoice should be prepared in duplicate. The original copy should be marked as ORIGINAL FOR RECIPIENT, and the duplicate copy should be marked as DUPLICATE FOR SUPPLIER.

Uploading GST invoice on GST Portal

The serial number of all invoices issued during a tax period should be filed every month in FORM GSTR-1. Also, GSTIN of all recipients registered under GST must be mentioned on GSTR-1 filing for B2B transactions. In case of recipients not registered under GST or B2C transactions, name, address and place of supply should be mentioned for high-value transactions. GSTR-1 filing made by the supplier will automatically be auto-populated in the GSTR-2 filing to be submitted by the recipient of goods or service. Hence, GST invoicing plays a vital role in input tax credit claims for the counter-party.

GST has been implemented in India from 1st July, 2017. Under the new GST regime, over 1.3 crore business in India have been registered and issued GST registration. All entities having GST registration are required to file GST annual returns, as per the GST return due date schedule mentioned below. GST annual return filing is mandatory for all entities having GST registration, irrespective of business activity or sales or profitability during the return filing period. Hence, even a dormant business that obtained GST registration must file GST return.

GST registration holder who obtained the registration anytime before 1st April 2018 are required to file GST annual return for the financial year 2017-18 on or before 30th June 2019. Before filing GST annual return the taxpayer must have filed all GSTR-1 or GSTR-3B or GSTR-4 return for the period of July to March 2018. In case there are overdue GST returns for the above-mentioned period, the GST registration holder will not be allowed to file GST annual return.

GST Annual Return Types

GST Annual Return Filing can be divided into three types based on the form to be filed as under:

• GSTR-9: All entities having GST registration are required to file GST annual return in form GSTR-9.
• GSTR-9A: GST registered taxpayers who have opted for the GST Composition Scheme under Goods and Services Tax (GST) are required to file GSTR-9A.
• GSTR-9C: Form GSTR 9C is meant for filing the reconciliation statement of taxpayers pertaining to a particular financial year. The form is a statement of reconciliation between the Annual Returns in GSTR-9 and the figures mentioned in the Audited Financial Statements of the taxpayer.

GSTR 9C is applicable to taxpayers who are required to obtain an annual GST audit of their accounts. GSTR-9C must be prepared and certified by a Chartered Accountant or Cost Accountant. GST audit is applicable for person having GST registration with an annual aggregate turnover of above Rs. 2 crores in a particular financial year.

GST Annual Return Due Date

The due dates of filing of Form GSTR-9 (Annual Return) and Form GSTR-9C (Reconciliation Statement) for Financial Year 2017-18 to 31st December 2019 and for Financial Year 2018-19 to 31st March 2020. The Government has also decided to simplify these forms by making various fields of these forms as optional.

Srifintax is the leading business services platform in Hyderabad, offering end to end GST services from registration to return filing. Srifintax can help you file GST annual return for your business at an affordable price. The average time taken to file a GST return is about 5 - 10 working days, subject to government processing time and client document submission. Get a free consultation on GST annual return filing by scheduling an appointment with an Srifintax Advisor.

GST eWay Bill is a document for tracking of goods in transit introduced under the Goods and Services Tax. Under GST, a taxable person registered under GST transporting goods with a value of over Rs.50,000 is required to possess an eWay Bill generated from the GST Portal. Portal can make eWay Bill generation and management simple for your business. The portal eWay Bill tool is synced to GST invoices, bill of supply, purchase invoices and customer or supplier accounts. So you can now seamlessly at the click of a button generate eWay Bill and share with your customers or suppliers.

eWay Bill Requirement

GST eWay bill is required for the following cases wherein a person having GST registration is causing movement of goods:

1.If a taxable person under GST supplies any goods and the value of the consignment is over Rs.50,000, a GST EWay Bill would have to be generated.

2.If a taxable person under GST transfers goods located in one godown to another and the value of the consignment is over Rs.50,000, a GST EWay Bill need to be generated.

3.If a taxable person under GST purchases any goods from an unregistered person under GST and the value of the consignment is over Rs.50,000 a GST EWay Bill should be generated.

Generating eWay Bill

GST EWay Bill can be generated Portal users directly. Prior to using portal for eWay Bill generation, ensure that API access is enabled on the GST Portal for eWay bill generation and management.

Once API access is enabled and GST eWay Bill module is activated, you can generate eWay Bill by accessing GST -> Create eWay Bill. Data of customers or suppliers and existing invoices or bill of supply can be quickly retrieved while creating a GST eWay Bill using Portal, making the process extremely simple and easy to use.

Once, an eWay Bill is generated, the person in-charge of conveyance of goods is required to carry the following documents for inspection by authorities at any time:

1.Invoice or bill of supply or delivery challan and invoice reference number from the GST common portal, obtained by uploading a copy of the GST tax invoice issued in FORM GST INV-1.

2.Copy of the e-way bill or the e-way bill number, either physically or mapped to a Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) embedded on to the vehicle.

If a taxable person is registered under GST wants to transport goods using own vehicle or hired vehicle as a supplier or to be received in the course of business as a recipient, the taxable person can generate a EWay Bill in Form GST INS-1 electronically on the GST Common Portal by providing information requested in Part B of FORM GST INS-01.

If a transporter is involved in the transfer of Goods, then the taxable person registered under GST must furnish information about the consignment in Part B of FORM GST INS-01 on the GST Common Portal. Using this information, the transporter would then generate a EWay Bill on the basis of the information provided by the taxable person in Part A of FORM GST INS-01. Transporters are allowed to generate and carry E-Way bill even if the value of the consignment is less than Rs.50,000.

GST is an indirect tax levied on goods and services based on the principle of value addition. Hence, the levy of tax is based on the value added at each stage of the supply chain till the product or service reaches the ultimate consumer. In such a tax system, to negate the cascading effect of the tax, there exists a means to set of taxes paid on procurement of raw materials, consumables, plant and machinery, equipment, services, etc., that are used for the manufacturing or supply of goods and services. This element used to offset the tax liability is called input tax credit.

Input Tax Credit Reconciliation

GST Software supports seamless matching and reconciliation of input tax credit at scale. The input tax credit reconciliation tool can sync with GST Portal through API to fetch GSTR-2A data, prepare the data for matching and reconcile with purchases data.

Purchases that are not matched with GSTR-2A data for flagged for further action like sending reminders to the supplier or updating purchase data and more.

With Software, you can be assured that your business has received all input tax credit due. A streamlined input tax credit reconciliation process will help you reduce your GST payable each month, streamline purchases and boost profitability.

Input Tax Credit

Under GST, each person having a GST registration in the supply chain takes part in the process of controlling, collecting GST tax and remitting the amount collected. However, to avoid double taxation and cascading effect of tax, input tax credit is provided as a means to set off tax paid on procurement of raw materials, consumables, goods or services that was used in the manufacturing and supply and sale of goods or services. By using the input tax credit mechanism, businesses are able to achieve neutrality in the incidence of tax and ensure that such input tax element does not enter into the cost of production or cost of supply of goods and services.

Eligibility for Claiming Input Tax Credit

• An invoice issued by the Supplier as per the GST Rules for Invoice; or
• A debit note issued by a supplier; or
• A bill of entry or any similar document; or
• An ISD invoice or ISD credit note or any document issued by an Input Service Distributor.
• The taxpayer is in possession of a tax invoice or debit note issued by a registered supplier or other tax paying documents.
• The taxpayer has received the goods and/or services.
• The tax charged in respect of the supply has been actually paid to the account of the appropriate Government, in cash or through utilization of available input tax credit.
• The taxpayer has filed the the necessary GST filings.

Goods & Services Not Eligible for Input Tax Credit

• Motor vehicles, except when they are supplied in the course of business or used for providing taxable services like:
  
  Transportation of passengers
  
  Transportation of goods
  
  Providing training on driving, fling, navigating such vehicles
  
  Further supply of such vehicles or conveyance
• Supply of goods and/or services in relation to food and beverages, outdoor catering, beauty treatment, health services, cosmetic and plastic surgery except where such inward supply of goods or services of a particular category is used by a registered taxable person for making an outward taxable supply of the same category of service
• Membership of a club, health and fitness centre
• Rent a cab, life insurance, health insurance, except where it is statutorily obligatory for an employer to provide such services
• Travel benefits extended to employees on vacation such as leave or home travel concession
• Goods and/or services received by the principal in the construction of immovable property, other than plant and machinery except where it is an input service for supply of works contract service
• Goods and services received by a taxable person for construction of an immovable property on his own account, other than plant and machinery, even when used in the furtherance of business
• Goods and services on which tax has been paid under composition schemeli>
• Goods and services used for personal consumption
• Goods lost, stolen, written off or disposed by way of gift or free samples
• Tax paid after detection of fraud, wilful misstatement or suppression
• Tax paid for release of detained or seized goods
• Tax paid for release of confiscated goods