The Ultimate Checklist for e-Invoicing

Phase 1 of mandatory e-invoicing under India GST was implemented on October 1, 2020 for all registered businesses with an annual turnover exceeding ₹500 crores. Phase 2 and Phase 3 will soon roll out and businesses need start preparing for the new reform under GST before the deadline in order to avoid losing revenue. So we created an ultimate checklist to ensure you have met all compliance requirements while adapting to and integrating e-Invoicing into your business’s tax function.

Getting started with e-invoicing under GST

Like every project, the integration of e-invoicing will start with determining the scope of the project. 

• Determine the stakeholders involved including buyers, suppliers, customers, branches, etc. 
• Determine what business functions need to be involved in integrating e-Invoicing including IT, Legal, Data Risk, Compliance, Finance, Accounting, Human Resources, Administration, Operations, Purchase and Procurement.  

Determining a budget 

Once you know your requirements and everyone involved in making this project a reality, you need to figure out numbers

• Check if there is any e-invoicing update from your current financial system provider
• Conduct a cost benefit analysis for purchase of an e-invoicing solution
• Determine the costs for training your team to generate e-invoices on a regular basis.
• Compare different e-invoicing solutions (but don’t let cost be the only determining factor)

Run an alpha test 

It is important to know if an e-invoicing solution works as per your expectations before making a purchase decision. Run a series of pilot tests to determine which e-invoicing solution works best with your current financial software.

Rolling out 

Once you have integrated an e-invoicing solution into your financial technology software, you need to ensure all chinks are running smoothly.

• Notify all stakeholders of the integration and the new practice 
• Train relevant staff to understand and proceed with e-invoicing 
• Find and fix initial bugs in the testing environment
• Conduct periodical reviews to ensure there are no glitches

I have implemented an e-invoicing solution, now what? 

Updating business systems with a new mechanism is not enough. Once you have updated your systems and implemented an e-invoicing solution to generate e-invoices, you need to ensure your GST returns, e-way bills and reconciliations also keep running smoothly. 

• Ensure all compliance requirements are being met. 
• Keep updating - is your e-invoicing solution still ideal?
• Would automating GST compliance with e-invoicing make things easier?

The above checklist is perfect for a company that is looking to implement e-invoicing for their businesses. Find out how Avalara can help with the India GST e-Invoicing solution suite