E-invoicing is coming for reverse charge self-invoices

Many firms already raise e-invoices for their sales without thinking about it. But there is one kind of invoice that has stayed outside e-invoicing so far: the self-invoice you make when you pay GST under reverse charge. On 16 October 2026 GSTN issued an advisory that starts bringing these into e-invoicing too.

What changed

Under reverse charge, the buyer pays the GST instead of the seller. In some of these cases the buyer has to raise the invoice on itself, called a self-invoice. The advisory adds two new supply types on the e-invoice system for these:

• RCMDOM: self-invoices for specified domestic supplies you receive from unregistered persons.
• RCMIMP: self-invoices for services you import from suppliers outside India. For example, an overseas consultant or a foreign software subscription billed to your firm.

Once this goes live, such a self-invoice will get an IRN, the invoice reference number, just like a normal e-invoice.

From when, and who it affects

• Right now it is only in the sandbox, the test system, on all six invoice registration portals (IRPs). You cannot use it for real filing yet.
• GSTN says the live date and the start of reporting will be announced later. Do not assume any date until that comes.
• As per reports of the advisory, it is meant for registered firms with aggregate annual turnover of ₹5 crore and above, subject to government notifications still to come.
• A technical release note from NIC and a webinar for taxpayers are also promised.

So nothing changes in your filing today. What changes is the time your software vendor has to get ready.

What to do this week

• Ask your accountant one question: do we raise self-invoices under reverse charge today, and roughly how many a month? You may find you do, through foreign subscriptions or local purchases from unregistered sellers.
• Ask your billing or ERP vendor whether they are testing RCMDOM and RCMIMP in the sandbox now. Ask for a date, not a promise.
• Clean up your supplier list. Mark which suppliers are unregistered and which are outside India. The new invoices need this to be right.
• Name one person to watch the e-invoice portal for the release note and the live date.

If self-invoices today are made by hand in a spreadsheet, that is the part most likely to break. A manual step that was fine for a few invoices a month will not fit an e-invoice flow with a fixed format and checks.

How we can help

Kanakku reads your bank and card statements line by line, so payments to overseas vendors and unregistered sellers show up clearly instead of hiding in a lump. GST and PAN details are checked as you type, so your supplier records stay clean. When the live date is out, we can help connect your books to the e-invoice system. If you want to know how many reverse charge entries you really have, do talk to us.