“invoice” or “tax invoice” means the tax invoice referred to in section 31;
On a plain reading of the law, it appears that the terms “invoice” and “tax invoice” have been used inter-changeably to refer to that document that is prescribed by law, as a document that shall be issued by the registered person on making taxable supplies. The tax invoice should contain all the prescribed details such as the description of the goods, quantity, value and tax charged on the supply. The possibility of denial of credit due to prescribed details not being available even if not important is real unless law provided for condonation which was there in earlier laws.
In respect of goods: A tax invoice can be issued at or before the time of removal of the goods for making the supply, where the supply involves movement of the goods (either by the supplier or by the recipient, or any other person).
o However, where the supply to the recipient does not involve movement of the goods, the tax invoice would be due at the time of delivery or making the goods available to the recipient. It is not necessary that every supply requires movement of goods on the basis that all goods are movable in nature.
o The time of removal would matter only in cases where the removal of goods and the movement of goods is by virtue of the supply.
o Consider the case of sale on approval basis. Goods would be removed at a certain time, and may be delivered to the location of the recipient. However, it is not known at the time of removal, whether the transaction results in a supply.
Therefore, the time of confirmation by the recipient that he wishes to retain the goods would be the due date for issuing the tax invoice.
o The Government is also empowered to notify certain categories of supplies in respect of which it can prescribe a separate time limit for issuance of tax invoice.
In respect of services: A tax invoice for supplying services should be issued within 30 days from the date of supply of the taxable service.
o However, the Government is empowered to notify certain categories of services wherein any other document relatable to the supply would be treated as the tax invoice, or for which no tax invoice is required to be issued at all.
The provisions of Section 31 of the CGST Act also provide for invoices or other documents such as bill of supply, payment voucher, receipt voucher, etc. in for specific situations.