Relaxation for generation of e-invoice for one month, now applicable from November 01, 2020

The CBIC vide Notification No. 72/2020- Central Tax dated September 30, 2020 issued Central Goods and Services Tax (Eleven Amendment) Rules, 2020 effective from September 30, 2020. Amendments are discussed below:

1. Sub- rule (r) inserted in Rule 46 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (“CGST Rules”) for mentioning Quick Refence code having embedded Invoice Reference Number (“IRN”) in tax invoice referred to in Section 31 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“CGST Act”):

“(r) Quick Reference code, having embedded Invoice Reference Number (IRN) in it, in case invoice has been issued in the manner prescribed under sub-rule (4) of rule 48.”.

2. Inserted proviso to sub-rule (4) of Rule 48 of the CGST Rules to give power to the Commissioner to exempt person or a class of registered persons from issuance e-invoice under Rule 48(4) of the CGST Rules. Relevant portion is reproduced below:

“(4) The invoice shall be prepared by such class of registered persons as may be notified by the Government, on the recommendations of the Council, by including such particulars contained in FORM GST INV-01 after obtaining an Invoice Reference Number by uploading information contained therein on the Common Goods and Services Tax Electronic Portal in such manner and subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be specified in the notification.

Provided that the Commissioner may, on the recommendations of the Council, by notification, exempt a person or a class of registered persons from issuance of invoice under this sub-rule for a specified period, subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be specified in the said notification.”

3. Substituted sub-rule (2) of Rule 138A of the CGST Rules to provide for Quick Refence code having embedded IRN in the invoice issued under sub-rule (4) of Rule 48 of the CGST Rules for electronic verification; meaning thereby now there is no need for physical verification of invoice. Relevant portion is reproduced below:

“(2) In case, invoice is issued in the manner prescribed under sub-rule (4) of rule 48, the Quick Reference (QR) code having an embedded Invoice Reference Number (IRN) in it, may be produced electronically, for verification by the proper officer in lieu of the physical copy of such tax invoice.”

Further, press release dated September 30, 2020 has been released providing relaxation of one month i.e., during the month of October, 2020 taxpayers required to generate e-invoice can issue invoice without following the manner prescribed under rule 48(4) of the CGST Rules provided that such taxpayers obtain IRN for such invoices from the Invoice Reference Portal (“IRP”) within 30 days of date of invoice. No such relaxation would be available for the invoices issued from November 1, 2020. Relevant portion of is reproduced below:

“2.1 It has been reported that even after more than 9 months of the first notification in this regard, some of these taxpayers having aggregate turnover of Rs. 500 Cr. and above are still not Accordingly, as a last chance, in the initial phase of implementation of e-invoice, it has been decided that the invoices issued by such taxpayers during October 2020 without following the manner prescribed under rule 48(4), shall be deemed to be valid and the penalty leviable under section 122of the CGST Act, 2017, for such non-adherence to provisions, shall stand waived if the Invoice Reference Number (IRN) for such invoices is obtained from the Invoice Reference Portal (IRP) within 30 days of date of invoice.

2.2. The same is illustrated with an example: In case a registered person has issued an invoice dated 3^rdOctober, 2020 without obtaining IRN but reports the details of such invoice to IRP and obtains the IRN of the invoice on or before 2^nd November, 2020 then it shall be deemed that the provisions of rule 48 (5) of the CGST Rules, 2017 are complied with and the penalty imposable under section 122 of the CGST Act, 2017 shall also stand waived. Relevant notifications would follow.

3. It may be noted that no such relaxation would be available for the invoices issued from 1st November 2020 and such invoices issued in violation of rule 48(4) of the CGST Rules 2017 would not be valid and all the applicable provisions of CGST Act and Rules would apply for the said violation.”

The Central Goods and Services Tax (Eleven Amendment) Rules, 2020 can be accessed at: https://www.cbic.gov.in/resources//htdocs-cbec/gst/notfctn-72-central-tax-english-2020.pdf