E-Invoice Limit & Applicability (2026)

The e-invoice limit in one line

If your aggregate turnover exceeded ₹5 crore in any financial year from 2017-18 onwards, e-invoicing is mandatory for your B2B invoices, exports, and supplies to government — and stays mandatory even if a later year's turnover falls back below ₹5 crore. The threshold has been ₹5 crore since 1 August 2023.

E-invoice turnover threshold — phase-in history

E-invoicing was rolled out in slabs, lowering the turnover bar each time. The date next to your slab is when e-invoicing first became mandatory for businesses at that turnover.

Turnover is tested across any financial year since 2017-18 — if you ever crossed a slab, you were liable from that slab's date and remain liable now.

What "aggregate turnover" means

Applicability is tested on PAN-level aggregate turnover, not a single GSTIN. Aggregate turnover is the total of all supplies under one PAN across all states:

• Taxable supplies + exempt supplies + exports + inter-state supplies
• Computed on an all-India PAN basis (sum of every GSTIN under that PAN)
• Excludes the GST itself (CGST/SGST/IGST/cess) and the value of inward supplies taxed under reverse charge

So a business split across multiple state registrations is judged on the combined figure, not each branch alone.

What e-invoicing applies to (and what it doesn't)

When you're above the limit, e-invoicing (getting an IRN + QR code from the IRP) applies to:

• B2B tax invoices — supplies to other GST-registered businesses
• Exports (with or without payment of tax)
• Supplies to SEZ, deemed exports, and to government
• Credit notes and debit notes tied to the above

It does not apply to B2C invoices, delivery challans, bills of supply (composition / exempt), job-work challans, or import bills of entry.

The 30-day reporting limit (AATO ≥ ₹10 crore)

From 1 April 2025, any business with an annual aggregate turnover of ₹10 crore or more must report each document to the Invoice Registration Portal within 30 days of the invoice date. After 30 days the IRP rejects it — you cannot obtain an IRN late — so the invoice becomes non-compliant. Smaller businesses (₹5–10 crore) don't have this 30-day window yet, but it's expected to widen, so report promptly regardless.

Who is exempt (regardless of turnover)

These notified categories are outside e-invoicing even if they cross ₹5 crore:

• Special Economic Zone (SEZ) units (note: SEZ developers are not exempt)
• Banks, NBFCs, and insurance companies
• Goods Transport Agencies (GTA) transporting goods by road
• Passenger transport service suppliers
• Suppliers of admission to cinematograph films in multiplex screens
• Government departments and local authorities

What happens if you don't comply

Without a valid IRN, the document is not a legal tax invoice. The penalty is ₹10,000 per invoice for not generating an e-invoice, and ₹25,000 per invoice for an incorrect one. Worse, your B2B customer can lose the input tax credit on a non-e-invoiced supply, so non-compliance damages customer relationships too.

Related Tools

• GST Invoice Generator — build a compliant invoice with HSN, GST split, and QR-ready layout
• GSTIN Details & Lookup — verify a customer's GSTIN before raising a B2B invoice
• GST Return Due Dates — GSTR-1, GSTR-3B, QRMP and annual deadlines
• GST Invoice Reader — pull invoice fields into Excel automatically