India GST E-Invoice

Overview

India’s GST system requires strict validation of customer details, company branch details, tax information, and GSTIN format before an invoice can be submitted to the e-invoice portal.

Fr8Labs automates these validations to help you generate compliant invoices easily.

This guide explains:

  • How to set up GST information

  • How the system selects the correct Company Branch GSTIN

  • What validations occur before submission

  • How to submit, track, and cancel e-invoices

  • What happens in special cases (non-India customers)

1. GST Configuration (One-Time Setup)

Before creating invoices, ensure the following are configured:

GST Settings

  • GST types and mappings (e.g., Code 19, 20) must match the latest government data.

  • Branch GSTINs must be correctly entered for each company location (e.g., Chennai, Mumbai).

API Settings

  • For testing, the e-invoice API will run in Sandbox Mode.

    → No charges will be incurred during testing.

2. Partner (Customer) Requirements

When creating or editing a Partner in India:

Mandatory Fields:

  • Address

  • State (must match the GSTIN prefix)

  • GSTIN (validated against the state)

  • City

Examples:

  • If State = Karnataka, GSTIN must start with 29

  • If GSTIN prefix does not match the selected State → invoice cannot be submitted

  • City and Postal Code must be valid for that state

Fr8Labs automatically sends these values to the GST compliance API for validation.

3. Company Branch Selection

Fr8Labs automatically chooses the correct branch according to the Cost Center:

If the Cost Center is:

  • Mumbai → System uses the Mumbai company GSTIN (e.g., 27xxxxxxxxxx)

  • Chennai → System uses the Chennai branch GSTIN (e.g., 33xxxxxxxxxx)

This is automatically applied during invoice creation.

4. Creating the Invoice

Once all Partner and Company details are valid:

The system will:

  • Auto-fill customer GSTIN and address

  • Auto-apply the correct company branch address

  • Validate tax type (GST or non-GST)

Before submitting, ensure:

  • Customer GSTIN is correct

  • State and GSTIN prefix match

  • Address and postal code are complete

If anything is missing, the system will show exactly what needs to be fixed.

5. Submitting the E-Invoice

How to submit:

  1. Create and save the Sales Invoice

  2. Click Post

  3. If all validations pass → Invoice is automatically submitted to India’s e-invoice system

Currently, E-Invoice can only be submitted from the Accounting Module. An enhancement is currently in the development pipeline to add a new button on the Invoice page in FMS for Post + Post to e-Invoice or just Post Invoice to Accounting Module only (the same treatment is applied to MyInvois for Malaysia).

After submission:

You will see:

  • Acknowledgement Number (ACK No.)

  • Submission Status

If something is missing:

The system will show errors such as:

  • Missing GSTIN

  • GSTIN/state mismatch

  • Invalid postal code

  • Missing company branch GSTIN

6. Cancellation

If needed, you can cancel an invoice:

  • Select Cancel

  • Choose a reason (e.g., Incorrect Data, Duplicate Entry)

  • The cancellation request is automatically sent to the e-invoice API

Status updates are shown on the invoice page.

7. When E-Invoice Is NOT Required

Non-India Customers

If the customer does not have a GSTIN (e.g., Indonesia partner):

  • They cannot use GST tax types

  • Tax must be set to Non-GST (0%)

  • E-invoice submission will be blocked

  • Invoice can only be created as a normal invoice (non-e-invoice)

8. Where to View Submission Status

  • Submission and cancellation status appears directly on the invoice page

  • Indian GST portal access is restricted to Indian users, so Fr8Labs replicates the key status indicators inside the system

  • Engineers are exploring alternate verification channels for cross-checking