The De-linking of original invoices and credit and debit notes are incorporated on the GSTN portal. The same was amended vide CGST amendment Act, 2018 with the effect of February 1, 2019. However, the same is incorporated on September 14, 2020, on the portal.
After more than one and a half years of the amendment in Section 34 of the Central Goods and Services Act, 2017, Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN) has finally enabled the facility to report consolidated credit or debit notes under GST in GSTR-1.
Section 34 of the Central Goods and Services Act, 2017, which deals with Credit/Debit notes under GST law, wherein a registered person has to issue two or more different credit or debit notes in respect of the multiple tax invoices raised in a financial year under GST.
For instance, Mr. X has issued five tax invoices in the month of September 2020, there are sale returns against these invoices for which he has to issue a credit note under GST.
The issue is whether Mr. X has to issue five different credit notes or he can issue a consolidated credit note for these 5 tax invoices.
Before the amendment under Section 34 Mr. X has to issue 5 credit notes, however, after the amendment, he may issue one consolidated credit note for 5 tax invoices in that particular financial year.
Before the coming up of this facility on the GSTN portal, a registered person needs to furnish the “Original date and number of the tax invoice” in order to report credit or debit note issued under GST in his GSTR-1.
The taxpayers especially selling through online platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm, etc. claim this task to issue different credit or debit notes for different tax invoices under GST law a cumbersome compliance as they need to spend more time, money, and effort to maintain the records of credit or debit notes with meagre amounts.
After the facility to issue a consolidated/single credit note, against one or more tax invoices raised in a financial year, implemented on the GST portal, one can easily interpret that the GST portal does not ask for “original date and number of the tax invoice” as credit or debit note is delinked from original invoice on the common portal which in turn helps the taxpayers to report single credit or debit note in respect of the multiple tax invoices raised in one financial year in their GSTR-1.
However, despite the above amendment in the CGST Act, 2017, the GSTN portal did not have a functionality to link multiple invoices with a single credit note/debit note.
In this regard, the much-awaited de-linking of original invoices and credit/debit notes has now been allowed on the GSTN portal.
