Improved APIs in version 1.04 will be released on the IRP on 10th June 2021

The e-invoice portal has a new update regarding the e-Invoice API version and its implementation. As per the update, all-new improved APIs of the e-Invoicing system in version 1.04 will be released in the production environment on 10th June 2021. The final implementation shall begin in July 2021. Before that, the applicable taxpayers must adopt these changes in their IT and ERP systems to continue with a smooth generation of Invoice Reference Number (IRN) from the e-invoice portal. 

The advisory applies to all taxpayers who are using direct integration as the mode of generating e-invoices. The National Informatics Centre (NIC), which currently manages the e-invoice portal, also known as the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP), has issued this advisory on the new release. The e-invoicing API sandbox portal was previously updated on 6th April 2021 with the latest version for allowing these taxpayers sufficient time to carry out testing.

The release is based on the upcoming authentication API version 1.04 that replaces the current version of 1.03. Three APIs known as the eivital, the eicore, and the eiewb have undergone improvements. IRNs can be obtained if the supplier’s GSTINs is in an ‘active’ status. 

IRN does not get generated if the status of supplier’s GSTINs is ‘suspended’ or ‘provisional’ in nature or ‘inactive’ or ‘cancelled’. However, IRN can be generated if the recipient’s status or buyer’s GSTIN is ‘active’ or ‘suspended’. However, it is not possible if the recipient’s GSTIN is ‘provisional’ or ‘inactive’ or ‘cancelled’. The supplier can continue to generate IRN even when the GSTIN is cancelled for invoices whose issue date falls between registration date (‘DtReg’) and date of cancellation or de-registration (‘DtDReg’). Both these new attributes are added to the response JSON of ‘Get GSTIN details’ API and JSON of ‘Sync GSTIN details from CP’ API.

The only supply types accepted by the e-invoice system are ‘SEZWP’ and ‘SEZWOP’ for cases where the recipient is registered as an SEZ unit or an SEZ developer. In line with the change in GST law from 1st April 2021, the minimum HSN code length must be six digits for reporting in invoices by taxpayers with more than Rs.5 crore as annual aggregate turnover. However, this particular change in API is not being put to production on 10th June 2021 with other releases.

Other new validations have been introduced. If the field ‘IGST on Intrastate supply’ (‘IgstOnIntra ‘) is set to ‘yes’ (‘Y’), then the value against whether a reverse charge applies (‘RegRev’) must be ‘Y’. By default, if the transportation mode is selected as a ship (‘4’), then the selection made against the vehicle type (‘VehType’) has to be an over-dimensional vehicle (‘O’) for the e-way bill generation.

It must be noted that the API version undergoes a change, and the version number gets updated if there are changes in the request or response JSON schema or format. These could be on new validations, fixing bugs, legal updates, range of data getting updated. These changes will first be available on the Sandbox portal for thorough testing by taxpayers.

Depending on the need and urgency, the NIC announces the date of implementation of the new version in the production environment. However, both the previous and latest versions can simultaneously run for a week or so, allowing taxpayers to streamline their IT and ERP systems with the changes. After that, only the latest version, being 1.04, shall run on the e-invoice portal.

For any clarifications/feedback on the topic, please contact the writer at annapoorna.m@cleartax.in