E-Invoicing APIs Under GST | Step-wise Guide To Obtain E-Invoicing APIs

Are you in search of e Invoicing APIs that will help you to integrate your ERP system with the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP)?

With an increase in the number of e Invoice applicability for the businesses from April 2022, businesses are now finding a way to directly generate e-Invoices from their ERP system. To generate e-Invoices from ERP system it is essential that yours ERP or e Invoicing software is integrated with the IRP portal.

This article covers comprehensive details about the e-Invoicing APIs and the simple guide to obtain the APIs from the GST Suvidha Providers (GSP).

E Invoicing API | Easy explanation

API stands for Application Programming Interface.

In an easy to understand way, APIs act as a medium between the ERP system or the e Invoicing software used by the taxpayer AND the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP).

APIs facilitate as a communication channel between the taxpayers and the IRP portal. E invoice applicability for the businesses from April 2022 will have to generate e-Invoices from on his accounting system and upload the same on the IRP portal directly and these APIs will facilitate this process.

These APIs can be obtained from a Government authorized GST Suvidha Provider (GSP). In the later part of the article, e invoice applicability to all businesses available different types of e-invoice API integration.

we have discussed different types of e-Invoice API integration available to all the e Invoice applicable businesses.

What are the pre-requisites to implement API integration under GST?

For successful e-Invoicing API integration, following conditions are to be satisfied:

• Businesses must have adequate internet bandwidth.
• It is essential for the businesses to have a pre-production system in place to test the API integration.
• The e invoice generation or the billing software should be automated.
• The businesses must strictly adhere to the Information Technology Act of 2000.
• The IT infrastructure at the taxpayer’s side must support Secure Socket layer (SSL).

Different types of API Integrations

There are two different modes to implement e-Invoicing API integration:

a. Direct API Integration

Taxpayers can obtain APIs directly from the GST Network. To obtain these APIs following are the steps that the taxpayers need to follow:

Step 1:

Taxpayers must test the API integration on the pre-production system first.

This is to be done on the Sandbox portal developed by the GSTIN.

Step 2:

After the API integration testing, taxpayer must upload the successful & failure cases to the test result template provided.

Step 3:

These integration test results are to be sent to the email id [email protected].

This email has to go out from taxpayer’s registered email id.

Step 4:

With these test results, the taxpayer must send the IP addresses on which the further e-Invoicing operations shall be carried out. Taxpayers are allowed to submit FOUR IP addresses for the API integration.

Step 5:

The taxpayer is supposed to provide the contact number of the person that will be further dealing with the technical & integration processes of the e-Invoice generation process.

After all these processes, the taxpayer will be provided with the raw e-Invoicing APIs by the e-Invoicing portal.

This seems to be a long and tedious process and the APIs received from the government are in a very raw form. It means that the features and specifications are limited.

Hence, there’s one simpler way to obtain e Invoice API from the government authorized GST Suvidha Providers (GSPs).

b. GSP based API Integration

Who is a GSP?

GST Suvidha Providers or GSPs are appointed by the government for enabling easy access to the SGT services to the taxpayers & businesses.

Filing a GST return via a GSP can be safe because the taxpayer need not worry about the GST compliance and other issues. Provided that the GSP is government authorized. GSPs like GSTHero stay 100% compliant with the GST laws because that is the primary requirement of holding a GSP license from the government.

What is GSP based API integration?

GSPs are easily accessible to the businesses and hence, small & medium sized businesses can reach out to them easily. It is also evident from the data that, most of the MSMEs trust government authorized GSPs for all their GST return filing activities.

In GSP based API integration, the e-Invoicing APIs are purchased from the GSPs. The major advantage of purchasing e-Invoicing APIs from GSPs is, they enhance these raw APIs with advanced features for smoother e-Invoicing under GST.

These APIs cans seamlessly integrate with your existing ERP like Tally or SAP and you can generate e-Invoices directly from your ERP.

Following are some of the benefits of using APIs provided by GSPs like GSTHero:

a. Seamless ERP Integration – These APIs gel easily with the popular ERP software like Tally, SAP, Marg, etc.

b. GSTIN Validation available – The user gets data the e-Invoice generation done after 50+ essential checkpoints validated by the GSTIN.

c. Data security & authenticity – As the GST or invoice data is fetched from the GST portal & the IRP portal, the taxpayers need not worry about the data authenticity. Also e Invoicing software offered by GSPs provided end-to-end data encryption.

d. Excellent API uptime available – When APIs are purchased from a government authorized & trusted source, good API up-time and API support is provided while accessing these APIs

e. API metering – This feature allows the taxpayers to report & meter the SPI usage in real time for all their GST returns, e-Invoice generation & E-Way Bill generation activities.

Conclusion

In this short article, we have discussed the benefits of using e-Invoicing API and how you can get them from e-Invoicing portal or the Government appointed GST Suvidha Providers (GSPs).

E-Invoicing APIs will help the small businesses who are entering the e-Invoicing umbrella from April 2022, to generate e-Invoices directly from their existing ERP and there will be no extra over-head for these small businesses.

We will keep you posted on all the latest advancements on e-Invoicing under GST.