Invoice Furnishing Facility

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 Invoice Furnishing Facility

 

IFF facility is a good move to help both small taxpayers and buyers ( who opted for QRMP scheme)from small taxpayers as it would help in faster ITC claims to buyers. This facility will allow monthly ITC claims to registered buyers whose suppliers have opted under QRMP scheme.

Let us understand what is IFF first.

Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF) is an optional facility provided to quarterly taxpayers who are in QRMP scheme, To file their details of outward supplies in first two months of the quarter (M1 and M2), to pass on the credit to their recipients. IFF helps in uploading B2B Invoices as well as Debit/ Credit note of registered persons To be very specific, B2C supply details cannot be feeded.

Invoices reported in the Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF), for the first and second months of a quarter, are not required to be entered again while preparing the Form GSTR-1 for the said quarter.

There are certain pre-requisites for filing IFF. They  are:

  1. The taxpayer must be a registered taxpayer who has opted for quarterlyfiling in the QRMP.
  2. The taxpayer must have opted out of composition scheme.
  3. The taxpayer must have filed their latest applicable monthly/ quarterly return before opting in for QRMP Scheme on the Portal.
  4. The taxpayer must have a valid User ID and password.
  5. The taxpayer must have opted to file both Form GSTR-1 and Form GSTR-3B, on quarterly frequency.

For M1 and M2 (first two months of the quarter), IFF is to be filed by 13th of succeeding month. The facility to Save/Submit details in IFF remains open till 13th of the succeeding month and such details can be filed even after 13th. The remaining outward supplies which remain to be filed can be reported in next month’s IFF or in the quarterly Form GSTR-1, as applicable. Submitted IFF can be filed even after the due date. Further, you can reset the details filled and saved before the end date by clicking the RESET button on GSTR-1/ IFF page.

. If IFF is in Submitted status, then filing of IFF is mandatory. In case, submitted IFF is not filed then taxpayer cannot file their Form GSTR-1 for the quarter.It may be noted that if IFF is not Submitted/Filed till the Due Date, the same will expire after the Due Date of IFF and the quarterly taxpayers, who are in QRMP scheme, cannot pass on credit to their recipients for that month. Kind attention to be given to the fact that submitted IFF is good as filed IFF, i.e. no changes can be made to it after once submitted for the month,. Any amendments can be made in the subsequent month only.

There is no question of late fee, as IFF is an optional facilty, and not compulsory. Also, there is no option to file after due date

All invoices saved/submitted/filed in IFF will flow to Form GSTR-2A of your recipient and upon filing will reflect in Form GSTR-2B of your recipient.Post IFF due date, you will be able to only view or download the IFF form and not Save or Submit the form. can not move IFF data across quarters. You can move data only within a quarter.

Now comes a major question, Why should you opt for it??

  • Any late upload of B2B invoices, beyond 13th of next month (cut-off date for a month) will never attract late fee unlike GSTR-1. However, the registered buyers may at the most lose the input tax credit for that month as it gets deferred to the next month
  • IFF is optional and flexible. If it was chosen in the first month of a specific quarter, there is no rule that it must be chosen for the second month of the same quarter
  • Buyers of goods from small taxpayers can claim ITC every month.
  • The B2B sales details uploaded on IFF will get reflected or auto-populated into the relevant quarterly GSTR-1, thereby removing the need to re-enter the details.
  • It pushes for a monthly reconciliation of data and that will ultimately make quarterly return filing easier.
  • Small taxpayers can improve their business by providing faster ITC claims.
  • Suppose the QRMP taxpayer has only submitted the B2B data on IFF by 13th of next month but forgotten to finish filing IFF for the month by 13th. He will still be allowed to file IFF after 13th, provided the data is already submitted on or before 13th of the next month.
  • Eases the compliance burden by reducing the volume of invoices to be uploaded at the end of the quarter.

Keeping everything in mind, IFF facility can be opted if you want to enhance business practices by providing timely ITC claims. Though it increases the compliance cost for small taxpayers, the benifits outweigh the cost involved.

For any further queries, please feel free to communicate the author via thetaxtalknew@gmail.com.

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