E-invoicing does not mean emailing a PDF. It means reporting each B2B invoice to the government's Invoice Registration Portal (IRP), which returns an Invoice Reference Number (IRN) and a signed QR code. Only an invoice carrying both is a valid e-invoice.
Does it apply to you?
E-invoicing applies to a registered business whose aggregate turnover exceeded ₹5 crore in any financial year from 2017-18 onwards. The test looks back: cross ₹5 crore in any one year since 2017-18 and you stay in scope, even if turnover later falls.
Turnover here is aggregate turnover — all GSTINs on the same PAN, across India — not the turnover of one branch.
Some classes are exempt by notification, whatever their turnover. They include:
- SEZ units (an SEZ developer is not exempt);
- insurers, banks and other financial institutions, including NBFCs;
- goods transport agencies;
- passenger transport services;
- admission to cinema halls in multiplexes;
- government departments and local authorities.
Which documents are in scope
| Document | E-invoice? |
|---|---|
| Tax invoice to a registered buyer (B2B) | Yes |
| Credit note and debit note to a registered buyer | Yes |
| Export invoice | Yes |
| Supply to an SEZ unit or developer | Yes |
| Invoice to a consumer (B2C) | No |
| Delivery challan, bill of supply | No |
B2C invoices are outside e-invoicing, but businesses above a much higher turnover have a separate dynamic-QR requirement for them.
Timing: the 30-day limit
Taxpayers with aggregate turnover of ₹10 crore or more cannot report an invoice, credit note or debit note to the IRP more than 30 days after its date; the IRP refuses it (GSTN advisory of 5 November 2024, in force from 1 April 2025). Below ₹10 crore there is no such block.
Treat the IRN as part of issuing the invoice, not a month-end task. An invoice that should carry an IRN and does not is not a valid invoice, and your buyer's input credit is at risk.
Cancelling an e-invoice
An IRN can be cancelled on the IRP within 24 hours of generation, and only in full — never in part. After 24 hours the IRP will not cancel it: correct it with a credit note, itself reported to the IRP, or, where GSTR-1 is not yet filed, through the GSTR-1 amendment route — check with your CA. An IRN with an active e-way bill cannot be cancelled until the e-way bill is.
The invoice number of a cancelled IRN cannot be used again for a fresh IRN.
What the IRP data feeds
The IRN details flow automatically into your GSTR-1 and, where you give transport details, into the e-way bill. That is the real benefit: report once, and the same data shows up in your return and your buyer's GSTR-2B.
How Books by finzko handles it
Books by finzko generates the IRN and signed QR from the invoice itself and prints them on the PDF, and you can create the e-way bill from the same invoice, with dispatch from any of your places of business (the number of places depends on your plan). To cancel, cancel the IRN from the invoice within 24 hours; after that, raise a credit note. Because the invoice and the IRN come from the same record, the numbers in your GSTR-1 match what the IRP holds.
Thresholds and exemptions change by notification. Check the latest CBIC notifications for the figures that apply to your business before relying on this summary.