GSTN portal to be ready for invoice uploading from 24 July

NEW DELHI: Businesses can start uploading their sale and purchase invoices generated post 1 July on the GST Network (GSTN) portal from 24 July, a top company official said on Sunday.

The goods and services tax (GST) has kicked in from 1 July and so far, GSTN, the company handling the information technology (IT) backbone for new tax regime, has been facilitating registration of businesses.

“We plan to launch the invoice upload utility on the portal on 24 July so that businesses can come forward and start uploading the invoices on a daily or weekly basis to avoid month-end rush,” GSTN chairman Navin Kumar told PTI.

Generating invoices for dealings above Rs200 and keeping invoice records in serial number even if maintained manually, are pre-requisites for claiming input tax credit under the GST regime.

The GSTN had in June launched an offline Excel format for businesses to keep their invoice records and from 24 July, this Excel sheet can be uploaded on the portal.

Kumar said GSTN would put up a video on its portal to assist businesses in uploading invoices.

  

Besides, a call centre helpdesk has been set up to assist taxpayers regarding any query they might have about the new tax regime.

“We have been reaching out to trade and industry associations telling them that those who have about 10,000 invoices a day should upload it on GSTN portal on a daily/weekly basis to avoid last moment rush,” Kumar said.

So far, over 69 lakh excise, value-added tax (VAT) and service tax assessees have migrated to the GSTN portal and nearly five lakh new registrations have happened under GST.

Under GST, which is a single tax in place of multiple central and state levies like excise, service tax and VAT, businesses are required to upload on GSTN portal invoices of their trade every month.

Kumar had earlier said that the offline Excel tool can upload 19,000 invoice data on GSTN portal at one go and the process takes just half a minute. So, if businesses which generate about 10,000 invoices a day upload the data on a daily or weekly basis, it would be less cumbersome for them.

While uploading invoice on the GSTN portal, a business would need to mention the invoice number and date, customer name, shipping and billing address, customer and taxpayer’s GST identification number, place of supply and HSN code. Also, the taxable value and discounts and rates of central GST (CGST), state GST (SGST) and integrated GST (IGST) would have to be filled, along with item-wise details like description, quantity and price.

Source::: Live Mint, dated 17/07/2017