The GST (Goods & Service Tax) was launched in India on July 1, 2017. Taxes like VAT, Sales Tax & Service Tax have been subsumed under the all-encompassing GST. Businesses are required to upload invoices of their transactions every month on the GSTN (Goods & Services Network).

GSTN Chairman Mr Navin Kumar has confirmed that starting July 24, businesses can start uploading their sale & purchase invoices (generated post July 1) on GSTN. Uploading invoices on the portal is something that will become standard practice going forward.

As of now, 69 lakh assessees of VAT and Service tax have migrated to the GSTN in anticipation of the shift in the taxing process. Five lakh new registrations have occurred with more people signing up every day.

"We plan to launch the invoice upload utility on the portal on July 24 so that businesses can come forward and start uploading the invoices on a daily or weekly basis to avoid month-end rush," Mr Navin Kumar said in a comment to PTI.

Last month, the GSTN had launched an offline excel sheet for businesses to download on which they could keep track of their invoice records. This sheet can also be uploaded starting July 24. The excel tool is capable of uploading 19,000 invoices at a time and the process will take less than a minute.

For those unsure of how to upload their invoices on the portal, GSTN promises to upload a video that will address questions and bring some clarity to the process. Also, a call-centre help desk is in operation to help with any queries that tax-payers call in with.

For businesses that are invoice intensive and have more than 10,000 invoices a day, Chairman Navin Kumar advises, “They should upload it on the GSTN portal on a daily/weekly basis to avoid last moment rush.” 

Items that need mentioning when uploading an invoice to the GSTN:

• Invoice number and date
• Customer name
• Shipping and billing address
• Customer and taxpayer's GSTIN
• Place of supply 
• HSN code

Also, the taxable value and discounts and rates of CGST, SGST and IGST would have to be filled, along with item wise details including description, quantity and price.