Introduction: As per notification 88/2020 -Central Tax dated 10th November 2020, All Registered persons (GST taxpayers) having an aggregate turnover above Rs. 100 crore in a financial year and Supplying goods and services to another registered person (also known as B2B supplies) is required to mandatorily issue an electronic invoice (commonly known as e-invoice) with effect from 1st January 2021 (https://einvoice1.gst.gov.in/Notifications/notfctn-88-central-taxenglish-2020.pdf). E-Invoice will be a paradigm shift in the way the industry carries out invoicing and related activities. It will be a big leap forward in the digitization of the indirect tax structure, post introduction of GST almost three years back. What is e-invoicing? In ‘e-invoicing’, the invoice will be prepared after obtaining an Invoice Reference Number (IRN) by uploading specified particulars (in FORM GST INV-01) in the notified Invoice Registration Portals (IRP). E-invoicing does not mean the generation of invoices by a Government portal. E-invoicing facilitates invoice document exchange (structured invoice data) between a supplier and a buyer in an integrated electronic format. Process of e-invoicing: Registered persons will continue to create their GST invoices in their own Accounting/Billing/ERP Systems. These invoices are then reported in ‘Invoice Registration Portal (IRP)’. On reporting, IRP returns the e-invoice with a singular ‘Invoice Reference Number (IRN)’ after digitally signing the e-invoice and adding a QR Code. Then, the invoice is often issued to the receiver (along with QR Code). What is a digitally signed invoice? Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) is a means of electronically signing documents to verify the authenticity of the person signing the document. A Digital signature can be a substitute for a physical handwritten signature. Advantages of Digitally Signed invoice: • Business partners can submit a soft copy of e-invoice (having digitally signed) to customers for faster processing and payment release. • No need to deliver a hard copy of the invoice to the customers. • Cost savings in terms of courier and postal charges Disadvantages of not having digitally signed invoice: • One must submit and deliver a hard copy of the invoice to customers. • Delay in payment release till the time original invoices are received by the customers. • Extra cost burden related to printing, courier, and snail-mail delays and costs.