GSTN portal to allow businesses to upload their sale and purchase invoices

Businesses can start uploading their sale and purchase invoices generated post 1 July on the GSTN portal from 24 July, a top company official said on 17 July. The Goods and Services Tax has kicked in from 1 July and so far, the GST Network, the company handling the 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 Rs 200 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 last month 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 help desk 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, they should upload it on GSTN portal on a daily/weekly basis to avoid last moment rush,” Kumar said. So far, over 69 lakh excise, 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 invoices 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 GSTIN, place of supply and HSN code. Also, the taxable value and discounts and rates of CGST, SGST and IGST would have to be filled, along with item wise details like description, quantity and price.