All invoices of sales and purchase will be replaced via the government prescribed e-invoice pan-India from January 2020, people aware of the matter told CNBC-TV18. The goods and services tax (GST) council will deliberate on new format and system for issuing of e-invoice during their meeting on September 20.

The Union government has already announced the proposal of an e-invoice system to replace all sales and purchase invoices from January 2020 and in the next GST council meeting, which is scheduled on September 20, the government is going to unveil the new prescribed format and the system through which an e-invoice can be generated.

The move will be up for council’s approval.

There will be a standard template of GST invoice and a unique invoice number which will be generated through a system created by the GST Network. This unique invoice reference number (IRN) or the unique invoice number, will be based on the computation of a firm's GSTIN, which is its GST registration number.

Also, the government nominated registrars will issue the e-invoice on request of a taxpayer that is a seller or a buyer. Invoice requests can be sent by a taxpayer through web, API, SMS, mobile app or offline tool to registrar to ensure wide coverage even in the remote areas.

This will be digitally signed by the registrar and it will also have a QR code. Earlier, CNBC-TV18 reported the government's intention to incentivise digital payments made via QR codes. The government wants a mandatory QR code, which will be printed by the GST registrar and a print can be taken out by the taxpayer to be sent as an invoice number. #casansaar (Source - CNBC - TV 18)