E-Invoicing Threshold in India for 2026: Who Must Comply

As of publication, the e-invoicing threshold in India is aggregate annual turnover (AATO) above ₹5 crore in any financial year since 2017-18 — any registered business crossing that figure must generate e-invoices for its B2B supplies. A separate, tighter rule layered on top of this in 2025 also puts a hard 30-day reporting deadline on larger taxpayers, and missing it is not a late fee — it is a permanently unavailable invoice.

The current e-invoicing threshold

E-invoicing applicability is based on aggregate annual turnover (AATO) in any financial year since 2017-18 — once a business has ever crossed the threshold in any of those years, it stays covered going forward, even if turnover later dips. The threshold has been lowered in stages since e-invoicing was introduced, and it has sat at above ₹5 crore since 1 August 2023, with no change to that headline figure through mid-2026.

Any business above that line must generate an e-invoice — meaning the invoice is reported to a government Invoice Registration Portal and gets an IRN before it counts as a valid tax invoice — for its B2B supplies (and certain other specified transaction types).

Who is exempt

A handful of categories sit outside e-invoicing regardless of turnover, because their supplies are either already tracked another way or structurally don't fit the e-invoice model. The commonly cited exemptions include SEZ units (not SEZ developers), banks, financial institutions and NBFCs, goods transport agencies moving goods by road, passenger transport service providers, cinema exhibitors, insurers, and government departments or local authorities.

This exemption list is amended from time to time, so treat it as a starting point for due diligence, not a final answer — confirm current status against the latest notification before deciding a specific counterparty is exempt.

The 30-day IRP reporting limit

Layered on top of the basic ₹5 crore threshold is a separate, stricter timing rule. Effective 1 April 2025, taxpayers with AATO of ₹10 crore or more must report each invoice, credit note, and debit note to the IRP within 30 days of its date.

Businesses between ₹5 crore and ₹10 crore must still e-invoice every eligible transaction — they are just not currently bound by the specific 30-day hard stop. If your turnover is trending upward, it's worth tracking whether you are approaching the ₹10 crore band well before you cross it.

What an IRN and the QR code actually are

An IRN (Invoice Reference Number) is a unique, hash-generated identifier that the IRP assigns to an invoice once it has been successfully reported and validated. Alongside it, the IRP returns a QR code that embeds the IRN and core invoice details, which is meant to be printed on the invoice itself. Anyone can scan that code to confirm the invoice was actually registered with the government system, rather than fabricated after the fact.

An invoice without an IRN — whether because it was never reported or because reporting was refused — is not a valid e-invoice, and for a taxpayer covered by the mandate, that generally means it is not a valid tax invoice at all.

The consequence of missing the 30-day window

Why e-invoicing status is a pre-transaction signal

Because e-invoicing enablement is tied to a business's turnover slab, it is a genuinely useful signal about a counterparty before you ever exchange an invoice with them. A GSTIN verification lookup returns whether e-invoicing is enabled for a given GSTIN and its turnover slab — for example, whether a business sits above ₹500 crore or in a lower band — alongside its registration status and jurisdiction.

For an accounts payable or vendor onboarding workflow, that tells you in advance whether to expect an IRN and QR code on incoming invoices, and gives you a rough read on counterparty scale. It pairs well with checking GSTR-2B and IMS status for the same vendor, since both signals feed into the same underlying question: is this supplier's paperwork going to hold up when you claim credit on it?

GET https://gstinapi.com/api/get-taxpayer-info/27AAACR5055K1Z7
X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY

// response includes:
// "eInvoicing": { "enabled": true, "turnoverSlab": "Above 500cr" }

Frequently asked questions