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Govt Launches Invoice Incentive Scheme
The government of India, in association with the state governments, has launched the ‘invoice incentive scheme’ named ‘Mera Bill Mera Adhikar’ scheme[1] to encourage consumers to insist on invoices for their purchases. The scheme has been introduced as a pilot project for a year for all Business to Consumer (B2C) invoices issued by GST-registered suppliers in some of the states of India such as Haryana, Assam, Gujarat and the union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu as well as Puducherry on a trial basis, to inculcate in consumer the drive to avail post customer support, product replacement or refund with additional tax compliance at retail stage. As an incentive, the government is offering the consumers a chance to win Rs. 1 crore, Rs. 10 lakh, and Rs. 10,000 respectively.
GSTN, in collaboration with its partner, M/s e-connect Solutions Pvt. Ltd., is in the process of developing a technology platform. This platform aims to enable citizens to register themselves and submit invoices through a user-friendly mobile application and web portal. The advanced technology behind this mobile application and portal will have the capability to automatically extract essential information from printed invoices, such as GSTIN, invoice number, payment amount, and tax amount.[2]
This scheme is designed to achieve several goals, including promoting and rewarding compliant behaviour among consumers, incentivizing tax-compliant businesses, stimulating consumer spending, and combating tax evasion.[3]
[1] Launch of Invoice Incentive Scheme “Mera Bill Mera Adhikar” from 1st September 2023, Press Information Bureau Delhi, available at: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1951804, last accessed- September 4, 2023
[2] Invo-Incentivisation, GSTN, available at: https://www.gstn.org.in/invoice-incentivisation, last accessed – September 4, 2023
[3] Supra Note 2
