Avalara Introduces E-invoicing Solution to Help Businesses Manage GST Compliance in India

Pune: Avalara, Inc. (NYSE:AVLR), a leading provider of cloud-based tax compliance automation for businesses of all sizes, today announced the availability of Avalara India GST e-invoicing, an end-to-end solution that helps companies manage e-invoicing requirements and comply with India’s e-invoicing reform. The new offering builds on Avalara’s range of technological solutions available to improve the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compliance experience for businesses in India by validating, storing, and managing invoices, and providing the option to automate GST returns and e-way bills.

New e-invoicing mandate in India places increased challenges on businesses

The latest announcement on e-invoicing enforcement, beginning October 1, 2020, has created urgency among businesses to conform with the new legislative reform and has increased the compliance and technological challenges on businesses.

Under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs rule, businesses having an annual turnover above Rs. 500 Crores (approximately USD 68 million) in India will be required to generate tax invoices or debit-credit notes from their enterprise resource planning (ERP) or other accounting systems and register their transactions with the government-authorised invoice registration portal. After the portal verifies the invoice, it is digitally signed by the GST Network (GSTN), which generates the signed e-invoice with an Invoice Reference Number (IRN) and a Quick Response code (QR Code). These e-invoices are then issued to the business for maintaining records and sharing with their business stakeholders.

Complying with new e-invoicing requirements means that businesses must update their ERP and accounting systems to manage their GST reporting obligations effectively. Global enterprises operating in India will also need to comply with e-invoicing requirements, which requires the continuous generation of e-invoices with correct IRNs and QR codes. Due to the real-time nature of e-invoicing, businesses that manually generate e-invoices will face added complexity and burden.

Automate and gain control over e-invoicing and GST compliance in India with Avalara

Avalara India GST e-Invoicing helps businesses generate bulk e-invoices in real-time and in batches for their transactions while effortlessly automating GST returns and e-way bills. This enables businesses to:

· Simplify the e-invoice management at-scale. Drop manual compliance processes while generating millions of e-invoices with GST Identification Numbers (GSTINs) and enable customised invoice printing.

· Provide seamless integration with an existing software stack. Leverage flexible API integrations or file uploads to minimise disruptions to current workflows within ERP and other accounting systems.

· Improve governance and reduce business risk. Utilise a complete India-specific GST compliance suite to automate GST returns, reconciliations, and e-way bills.

· Create a transparent, frictionless experience. Reduce disruptions due to flawed or missing information with built-in validation of invoice data during e-invoice creation.

· Scale resources and increase efficiency. Increase return-on-investment by allocating internal resources time and attention towards higher-value work.

“Starting in October, e-invoicing is set to revolutionise invoice management” said Sanjay Parthasarathy, Chief Product Officer at Avalara. “Avalara India GST e-Invoicing provides a robust GST compliance platform that supports the GST compliance life cycle, including e-invoicing, GST calculations, GST returns filing, invoice reconciliation and e-way bills, helping businesses accomplish more with less manual effort and greater efficiency.”

“During these times of economic uncertainty in India, technology-savvy businesses tend to focus on improving internal efficiencies by removing manual, repetitive tasks like the ones involved in GST compliance,” said Manjula Muthukrishnan, Managing Director – India at Avalara. “Now that e-invoicing is all set to become mandatory from October 1, 2020, companies have a week barely to align themselves with the new system, choose a solution partner who can handhold them through the entire process and make the journey from e-invoices to GST compliance seamless. The new mechanism will gradually bring companies with lower turnovers also under its realm, meaning companies below Rs. 500 crores need to start finalising plans and integrate their ERPs with an e-invoicing solution. As these companies will have enough time, they should better utilise that to get acquainted with the system and even test the mechanism well in time for the next phase of the rollout.”

Avalara India GST e-Invoicing can be leveraged as an integrated solution or as a stand-alone module for generating e-invoices and supporting compliance needs in India. Avalara India GST e-Invoicing solution can be combined with Avalara AvaTax for tax calculations across business transactions and other indirect tax types, including U.S. Sales and Use Tax.