The government has issued Circular No 156/12/2021-GST dated 21st June 2021 to clarify questions in respect of applicability of Dynamic Quick Response (QR) Code on B2C invoices.
It is to be noted that vide Notification No. 14/2020 – Central Tax, dated 21st March 2020, w.e.f. 01st December 2020, Dynamic QR Code on B2C invoice is required to be mentioned by taxpayers having aggregate turnover more than 500 crore rupees,
Further, vide Notification No. 28/2021 – Central Tax, dated 30th June 2021, penalty under Section 125 has been waived for non-compliance of provisions of Notification No. 14/2020 – Central Tax for the period 01st December 2020 to 30th September 2021.
The Government has already clarified some of the issues regarding QR code vide Circular No. 146/2/2021 dated 23rd February 2021.
Vide the present circular, the government is further clarifying various aspects pertaining to the applicability of the QR code in respect of B2C supplies. The question/ issues and the clarification provided by the said circular is summarized in the table below:
| S.no | Questions | Clarification | ALA Comments |
| 1. | Whether Dynamic QR Code is to be provided on an invoice, issued to a person, who has obtained a Unique Identity Number (UIN) as per the provisions of Section 25(9) of CGST Act 2017? | Yes, as persons having UIN are considered unregistered persons under the CGST Act. | Since, the supply is considered as B2C supply, the same would not be a B2B supply and does not require IRN. |
| 2. | UPI ID is linked to the bank account of the payee/ person collecting money. Whether bank account and IFSC details also need to be provided separately in the Dynamic QR Code along with UPI ID? | Separate bank credentials may not be provided upon linking of UPI ID. | |
| 3. | In cases where the payment is collected by person other than the supplier (ECO or any other person authorized), whether in such cases, the UPI ID of such person collecting the payment may be provided instead of supplier? | Yes, the UPI ID may be provided for the person collecting the payment instead of UPI ID of the supplier. | |
| 4. | In cases, where receiver of services is located outside India, and payment is received in foreign exchange, through RBI approved modes, the place of supply of such services is in India, then supply of services is not considered as export of services. Whether in such cases, the Dynamic QR Code is required on the invoice issued, for supply of services, to recipient located outside India? | No, wherever an invoice is issued to a recipient located outside India, for supply of services, for which the place of supply is in India, such invoice may be issued without dynamic QR code, because the QR code cannot be used by the recipient located outside India for making payment to the supplier.
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| 5. | In retail sale/ over the counter (OTC) sale, the payment is received on the payment counter by displaying Dynamic QR Code digitally and invoice is generated after receipt of such payment. Whether in such cases, the order ID/ reference number of such transaction can be provided in the dynamic QR code displayed digitally, instead of invoice number? | In cases, where the invoice number is not available at the time of display of dynamic QR Code (OTC Sales), unique order ID/ unique sales reference number, uniquely linked to the invoice may be provided in the Dynamic QR Code if the same are available on the processing system of the supplier/ merchant. | Unique reference number/ order ID shall be incorporated in the system if there are OTC sales as the same would help in QR code compliance and internal reconciliation. |
| 6. | What Invoice value shall be provided in the dynamic QR Code in case of part payment/ advance/ discount coupon before generation of invoice? | The dynamic QR code may provide only the remaining amount payable by the customer/ recipient against “invoice value”. The details of total invoice value, along with details/ cross reference of the part-payment/ advance/ adjustment done, and the remaining amount to be paid, should be provided on the invoice.
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All the details of part payment/advance payment are now to be incorporated on the invoice. |
Here it is important to note that Circular no 146/2/2021 – GST dated 23 February 2021 stands modified to the extent of the present circular. However, it has been observed that there are many questions which are still open for discussion and need urgent intervention from the government. One such question is whether in case of B2C supplies of exempt goods Dynamic QR code is required to be affixed? Keeping in mind these ambiguities in Dynamic QR code process, government has provided relief to taxpayers by issuing Notification No. 28/2021 – Central Tax, dated 30th June 2021, wherein relief has been provided by form of waiving of penalty only under Section 125 of the CGST Act for the period 01st December 2020 to 30th September 2021. It is important to note that Section 125 is a residual penal provision under which the penalty has been waived by the Government, but there are specific provisions under Section 122(1)(i)/122(3)(e) which deals with penalty for incorrect invoices and invoices not issued in accordance with the provisions of the GST law respectively, which may be invoked by the authorities in future.
GST Law India is a blog on GST and allied commercial laws managed by members of the law firm ALA Legal.