If your shop's turnover crossed ₹5 crore in any year since 2017-18, GST e-invoicing is not optional — every B2B invoice needs a government-issued IRN and QR code before it's legally valid. Miss it and your buyer loses Input Tax Credit on that bill.
Most retailers only find out about this the hard way — a client rejects an invoice, or a GST notice shows up asking why IRNs are missing. Here's the current rule, who it actually applies to, and how to stop worrying about it.
Who must generate e-invoices in 2026
The threshold has been ₹5 crore Aggregate Annual Turnover (AATO) since 1 August 2023, and it hasn't moved since. But the trap is in how AATO is calculated: it's not just this year's turnover. If your business crossed ₹5 crore in any financial year from 2017-18 onward, you're in the e-invoicing net permanently — even if turnover has since dropped below ₹5 crore.
That catches a lot of retailers off guard after a strong festive season pushes them over the line once, then business normalises. The GST system doesn't forget.
The 30-day rule for ₹10 crore+ businesses
Since 1 April 2025, retailers with AATO of ₹10 crore or more face a stricter deadline: invoices, credit notes, and debit notes must be reported to the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) within 30 days of the invoice date. Miss the window and the portal simply refuses to issue an IRN — the invoice is blocked, not just delayed.
Below ₹10 crore, you still must e-invoice above the ₹5 crore threshold, but the 30-day hard cutoff doesn't apply to you (yet).
What happens if you skip it
- An invoice without a valid IRN and QR code is treated as not a valid tax invoice under GST law.
- Your buyer cannot claim Input Tax Credit on it — which means B2B customers will simply stop accepting your bills.
- For ₹10 crore+ businesses, invoices older than 30 days can't get an IRN at all, no exceptions.
How billing software fixes this automatically
Manually logging into the IRP for every sale doesn't scale past a handful of invoices a day. A POS with built-in GST e-invoicing generates the IRN and QR code the moment you close a bill, pushes it to the IRP in the background, and stores the signed response against the invoice — so nothing sits unreported past day 29.
This is the same gap that trips up stores still running billing on spreadsheets or basic software: e-invoicing compliance needs a system that talks to the IRP directly, not a manual export-and-upload routine.
2026 compliance checklist for retailers
- Check your AATO history since FY 2017-18, not just current-year turnover.
- If you've ever crossed ₹5 crore, confirm e-invoicing is switched on for every B2B and export sale.
- If you're at ₹10 crore+, set a hard internal rule: no invoice sits unreported past day 25.
- Make sure your GST reporting workflow reconciles IRNs against your sales register monthly.
- Pick billing software that generates the IRN automatically at the point of sale — not a separate manual step.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the GST e-invoicing turnover limit in 2026?
- ₹5 crore Aggregate Annual Turnover. This threshold has been unchanged since 1 August 2023.
- My turnover was above ₹5 crore two years ago but is lower now. Do I still need to e-invoice?
- Yes. Once your AATO crosses ₹5 crore in any financial year from 2017-18 onward, e-invoicing applies permanently, regardless of later turnover.
- What is the 30-day e-invoice rule?
- Businesses with AATO of ₹10 crore or more must report invoices to the IRP within 30 days of the invoice date, effective 1 April 2025. Reporting later blocks IRN generation entirely.
- What happens if an invoice doesn't have an IRN?
- It isn't a valid tax invoice under GST law, and the buyer cannot claim Input Tax Credit on it.
- Can RichPOS generate e-invoices automatically?
- Yes — RichPOS pushes B2B invoices to the IRP and attaches the IRN and QR code at billing time, so nothing is left for manual upload later. See the GST reports feature or check pricing to get started.
Source: GST e-Invoice Portal — revised 30-day reporting time limit notification.
Want to see this working before your next GST filing? Compare RichPOS against other Indian POS software or check RichPOS pricing.
