Errors under e-invoicing you need to know

India implemented e-invoicing under the Goods and Services Tax in October 2020 and while it is only applicable to businesses exceeding a specific turnover threshold, the invoice registration portal has authenticated close to 5 crore e-invoices in its first month.

At present, only businesses with an annual turnover exceeding ₹500 crores need to generate e-invoices on their business-to-business transactions. The next category of businesses viz. those falling under annual turnover between ₹100 crore and ₹500 crore will be brought under the purview of e-Invoicing starting 2021. These businesses have plenty of time to learn from the most common errors made by businesses while generating e-invoices at present.

Each error on the invoice registration portal has already been anticipated and has been assigned its individual code along with an error message. This article explains each error and also tells you how they can be resolved.

Error Code: 2150
Error Message: Duplicate IRN
Probable Reason for Error: This error usually occurs when a taxpayer submits an invoice that has already been authenticated by the IRP.
How to Resolve the Error: Taxpayers must submit the same document again only if the IRN wasn’t received at first. Otherwise the system will continue to show the same error message.

Error Code: 2172
Error Message: For intrastate transaction IGST amounts are not applicable for items – {0} and Sl. No {1}, only CGST and SGST amounts are applicable.
Probable Reason for Error: This error will occur when the taxpayer enters the amount for IGST in fields where SGST and CGST is applicable.
How to Resolve the Error: Taxpayers must double check the taxes applicable to a transaction.

Error Code: 2176
Error Message: Invalid HSN code(s)
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when the taxpayer incorrectly furnishes an HSN code.
How to Resolve the Error: To resolve this error, taxpayers must cross check the HSN code from the list on the e-Invoicing portal.

Error Code: 2182
Error Message: Taxable value of all items must be equal to total taxable value.
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when the sum of the taxable amounts of all items does not equal the taxable amount at an invoice level.
How to Resolve the Error: To resolve this error, taxpayers must check the request payload for the taxable value validation.

Error Code: 2189
Error Message: Invalid total Invoice Value
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when the total value has not been calculated as per the passed values.
How to Resolve the Error: This error will be resolved when the total item value furnished will be the sum of the assessable value, all tax and cess values, other charges with a tolerance limit of plus or minus one.

Error Code: 2193
Error Message: AssAmt value should be equal to (TotAmt – Discount) for HSN – {0} and Sl. No {1}
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when an incorrect assessable amount is furnished for a specified transaction item.
How to Resolve the Error: To resolve this issue, taxpayers must arrive at the assessable amount by deducting the discount from the total amount.

Error Code: 2194
Error Message: Invalid total item value for HSN – {0} and Sl. No {1}.
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when the amount of the total value is incorrectly furnished.
How to Resolve the Error: This error will be resolved when the total item value furnished will be the sum of the assessable value, all tax and cess values, other charges with a tolerance limit of plus or minus one.

Error Code: 2211
Error Message: Supplier and recipient GSTIN should not be the same.
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when the GSTIN furnished for the supplier and the buyer is the same.
How to Resolve the Error: As this is a furnishing of transaction details, taxpayers must ensure that both GSTINs furnished are not the same.

Error Code: 2212
Error Message: The recipient GSTIN cannot be URP for supply type {0}.
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when invoices related to Unregistered Persons (URP) are incorrectly furnished as B2B transactions.
How to Resolve the Error: Taxpayer must furnish details of transactions where a valid GSTIN is available.

Error Code: 2227
Error Message: SGST and CGST Amounts should be equal for HSN – {0} and Sl. No {1}
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when CGST and SGST amounts are unequal.
How to Resolve the Error: To resolve this error, the taxpayer must ensure that the CGST and SGST amount is the same.

Error Code: 2233
Error Message: Duplicate SI nos are not allowed in items.
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when a duplicate serial number for transaction items has been furnished in the item list.
How to Resolve the Error: To resolve this error the taxpayer must ensure that the serial number for each transaction item is unique.

Error Code: 2234
Error Message: Invalid SGST and CGST Amounts for HSN – {0} and Sl. No {1}.
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when the incorrect SGST and CGST amounts are furnished under the specified item in the item list.
How to Resolve the Error: The taxpayer must enter the correct SGST and CGST values to resolve this error.

Error Code: 2235
Error Message: IGST amount given with HSN -{0} and Sl. No {1} is Invalid.
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when the incorrect IGST amount is furnished under the specified item in the item list.
How to Resolve the Error: The taxpayer must furnish the correct SGST and CGST rates to resolve this error.

Error Code: 2240
Error Message: Invalid GST rate for HSN -{0} and Sl. No {1}.
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when the incorrect GST rate is furnished under the specified item in the item list.
How to Resolve the Error: To resolve this error, the taxpayer must mention the correct GST rate.

Error Code: 2244
Error Message: Recipient pincode is mandatory for transaction -{0}
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when the taxpayer’s PIN code is missing for the specified transaction type.
How to Resolve the Error: To resolve this error it is mandatory that the taxpayer furnish the correct PIN code for the specified transaction.

Error Code: 2265
Error Message: Recipient GSTIN state code should be the same as the state code passed in recipient details.
Probable Reason for Error: This type of error occurs when the taxpayer enters a state code different from the one mentioned in the GSTIN
How to Resolve the Error: Taxpayers must ensure that the first two digits of the state code furnished are the same as the first two digits of the GSTIN.

Error Code: 2275
Error Message: Recipient PIN code should be 999999 for direct export.
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when the PIN code furnished  under the taxpayer details field has been passed as other than 999999 for the specified type of transactions.
How to Resolve the Error: The taxpayer must furnish the PIN CODE of 999999 under taxpayer details for specific transactions.

Error Code: 3028
Error Message: GSTIN is not present in invoice system
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when the GSTIN of the taxpayer is either invalid or not present under the e-invoicing system.
How to Resolve the Error: Taxpayers must ensure they have furnished the correct GSTIN. If they believe that the GSTIN is valid, the taxpayer must use the Sync from GST CP API to pull details of their GSTIN from the GST portal. Once this data is pulled, the taxpayer will be able to reissue their request for generation of an invoice reference number.

Error Code: 3029
Error Message: GSTIN is not active
Probable Reason for Error: This error occurs when the GSTIN of the taxpayer is inactive or has been cancelled by GST authorities.
How to Resolve the Error: Taxpayers must ensure they have furnished the correct GSTIN. If they believe that the GSTIN is valid, the taxpayer must use the Sync from GST CP API to pull details of their GSTIN from the GST portal. Once this data is pulled, the taxpayer will be able to reissue their request for generation of an invoice reference number.

While these manual errors can be resolved easily, there is a high possibility of such errors to reoccur causing problems in reconciliation and slowing down the e-invoicing process, especially if a taxpayer is involved in uploading bulk invoices. However, they are unlikely to occur if a business implements an e-invoicing solution which helps sanitise data before sharing it with the invoice registration portal for authentication. Avalara can help a business offload all of the concerns and challenges around e-invoicing including tasks like bulk upload, authentication and cancellation of e-invoices. This would streamline the GST return filing as well and greatly reduce the chances of reconciliation challenges.