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GST · 17 June 2026

Do I Have to Issue e-Invoices? The ₹5 Crore GST Threshold for FY 2026-27

E-invoicing is mandatory for any business whose aggregate turnover crossed ₹5 crore in any financial year since 2017-18, under CBIC Notification 10/2023-Central Tax (effective 1 August 2023). It applies to B2B supplies, exports, supplies to SEZ, and reverse-charge supplies, not to B2C sales. You keep raising invoices in your own system; you must register each covered invoice with the Invoice Registration Portal first, which returns an Invoice Reference Number (IRN) and a signed QR code to print on the document. ₹5 crore remains the floor for FY 2026-27.

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Myth

E-invoicing means you stop making your own bills and start typing each invoice into the GST portal.

Fact

You still raise the invoice in your own billing software. E-invoicing only means each one is registered with a government portal (the IRP) first, which returns an IRN and a signed QR code to print on it.

Do I have to issue e-invoices?

Short answer

Yes, if your aggregate turnover crossed ₹5 crore in any financial year since 2017-18. CBIC Notification 10/2023-Central Tax[1] sets the threshold at ₹5 crore with effect from 1 August 2023, and ₹5 crore is still the floor for FY 2026-27.

  • The threshold is tested on aggregate turnover, the PAN-level total of all your GST registrations, not on any single GSTIN or branch.
  • Once you cross ₹5 crore in even one financial year from 2017-18 onward, e-invoicing stays mandatory, even if a later year falls back below ₹5 crore.
  • Why it matters: an invoice that should carry an Invoice Reference Number (IRN) but does not is not a valid tax invoice under Rule 48(5) of the CGST Rules[2]. Your buyer then loses input tax credit, the GST they paid you that they were entitled to set off, and you face a penalty for an incorrect invoice.
  • The ₹5 crore figure is year-variable: the GST Council has discussed cutting it to ₹2 crore, but as of FY 2026-27 no lower threshold has been notified. Check the CBIC notifications page[5] before assuming you are below the line.

What counts towards the ₹5 crore aggregate turnover?

Short answer

Aggregate turnover is the all-India, PAN-level total of taxable supplies, exempt supplies, exports, and inter-state supplies, computed for any financial year since 2017-18.

  • It is computed across every GSTIN registered under the same PAN, so a business with units in three states adds all three together.
  • It includes exempt and zero-rated supplies, not only the taxable ones, which pulls some businesses over the line sooner than they expect.
  • It excludes the GST itself (CGST, SGST, IGST, and cess) and the value of inward supplies taxed under reverse charge, where you pay the tax instead of your supplier.
  • The test reaches back: a year as far back as 2017-18 counts. The current FY turnover alone does not decide it.

Which of my supplies need an IRN, and which do not?

Supply typeE-invoice (IRN) needed?Why
B2B (sale to a GST-registered buyer)YesThe buyer claims input tax credit; the IRN locks the invoice into the system.
Export of goods or servicesYesTreated like a B2B supply for e-invoicing.
Supply to an SEZ (Special Economic Zone) unitYesA supply into an SEZ is covered, even though SEZ units as sellers are exempt.
Reverse-charge supplyYesCovered where the supplier is over the ₹5 crore threshold.
B2C (sale to an unregistered consumer)NoNo input tax credit at the buyer end, so no IRN is required.
Credit notes and debit notes on covered suppliesYesThese follow the underlying B2B invoice.

IRN means Invoice Reference Number, the unique number the government portal returns for each registered invoice. B2B = business to a registered business; B2C = business to consumer. Source: Rule 48(4), CGST Rules[2].

Decision flow for GST e-invoicing: first test turnover above ₹5 crore in any year since 2017-18, then test whether the supply is B2B or export (IRN required) or B2C (no IRN required).
The two tests, turnover then supply type, that decide whether a given invoice needs an IRN. See the full e-invoicing IRN decision exhibit.

Who is exempt even above ₹5 crore?

Short answer

Some classes of registered person are exempt from e-invoicing regardless of turnover, under Notification 13/2020 and 61/2020[3]. If you fall in one of these, you issue an ordinary Rule 46 tax invoice with no IRN.

  • Banks, insurers, financial institutions, and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs).
  • Goods Transport Agencies (a GTA, a road-transport operator that issues a consignment note) for their transport services.
  • Suppliers of passenger transport services.
  • Admission to the screening of films in a multiplex cinema.
  • SEZ units, as suppliers. Note the split: an SEZ unit selling out is exempt, but a supply made into an SEZ is covered.

What changes in my billing once I cross the threshold?

Short answer

You register each covered invoice with the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) before issuing it; the IRP returns an IRN and a signed QR code that must be printed on the invoice given to the buyer.

One common mix-up: an e-invoice is not an e-way bill. The IRN proves the invoice was reported to the government; the e-way bill is a separate transport document for moving goods above a value threshold. Crossing into e-invoicing does not remove the e-way bill requirement. For the field-by-field anatomy of the tax invoice itself, see what fields a GST tax invoice must carry under Section 31 and Rule 46, and for the informal-slip trap, pakka bill vs kaccha bill.

  • Step 1, raise the invoice as usual: you keep using your own billing software. E-invoicing does not mean typing invoices into the GST portal by hand.
  • Step 2, send it to the IRP: your software uploads the invoice data to the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP), the government system that validates and registers each invoice.
  • Step 3, receive the IRN and signed QR: the IRP returns an Invoice Reference Number (IRN), a unique 64-character code, and a digitally signed QR code. Both must be printed on the invoice you hand the buyer.
  • Step 4, GSTR-1 fills itself: a registered e-invoice auto-populates your GSTR-1 (the monthly outward-supply return), so the B2B invoice details flow into the return without re-keying.
Generate a Rule 46-complete GST tax invoice in 60 seconds

References

  1. 1.CBIC Notification 10/2023-Central Tax (₹5 crore e-invoicing threshold) — Lowered the e-invoicing turnover threshold to ₹5 crore with effect from 1 August 2023.
  2. 2.Rule 48(4) and 48(5), Central Goods and Services Tax Rules 2017 — CBIC — E-invoicing mandate; an IRN-required invoice without an IRN is not a valid tax invoice.
  3. 3.Notification 13/2020-Central Tax and 61/2020-Central Tax — CBIC — Classes of registered persons exempt from e-invoicing, including SEZ units.
  4. 4.GST e-Invoice System — National Informatics Centre — IRN generation, the Invoice Registration Portal, and IRN lookup for B2B supplies.
  5. 5.CBIC GST notifications portal — Official portal listing CBIC GST notifications; check here for any change to the e-invoicing turnover threshold.

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