Govt. Might Introduce E-invoicing Under GST

Source: The Economic Times

To make the GST regime more transparent, the Govt. is now looking at the possibility of introducing the concept of electronic invoicing. This would enable the taxpayers to issue invoices or bills directly via the GST Network and the data will be available to the authorities immediately. Since the invoices will be issued directly from GSTN, the information is not required to be updated separately.

The GST Council has called up a meeting to discuss the feasibility of e-invoicing. Furthermore, the council will undertake an extensive study on similar systems introduced in countries like South Korea and Latin America.

The rise in tax evasion happens to be the prime reason behind this move. Experts say that e-invoicing is a good mechanism to check evasion and would also alleviate the burden of compliances on small businesses.

The panel that will mull over e-invoicing includes GSTN Chief Executive Prakash Kumar, GST officials from state and central governments as members, and GST Council Special Secretary Rajeev Ranjan as the convenor.

“Although introduction of GST aims at fostering transparency, the cases of tax evasion still exist. The concept of Electronic Invoicing would be for sure a great move as this would check evasion and make compliance easier for taxpayers. Looks forward to its smooth implementation.”
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