In force Compliance

GSTN makes Ship-to GSTIN mandatory on the e-invoice API

This page records one dated change. For the rules in India as they stand today, see the India guide →

Jurisdiction
India
Tax
GST
Change type
Compliance
Status
In force
Announced
17 June 2026
Effective
1 August 2026
Authority
GSTN (Goods and Services Tax Network)
Verified
Corroborated against official id · medium confidence
Who this affects

Large Indian taxpayers and their ASP/GSP software vendors, in production from 1 August 2026. Bill-to/Ship-to transactions must carry a Ship-to GSTIN — "URP" where the consignee is unregistered — and a new voluntary e-way-bill closure facility becomes available.

The change

GSTN issued an advisory dated 17 June 2026 introducing changes to the e-Invoice API and the e-Way Bill-by-IRN API: capture of a 'Ship-to GSTIN' field becomes mandatory for Bill-to/Ship-to transactions (using 'URP' where the consignee is unregistered), and a new voluntary e-Way Bill closure facility lets the supplier, recipient or transporter mark a consignment's movement as complete. The changes are released in the sandbox first and apply in the production environment from 1 August 2026.

What changed in detail

GSTN issued an advisory dated 17 June 2026 changing the e-Invoice API and the e-Way Bill-by-IRN API. Capture of a “Ship-to GSTIN” field becomes mandatory for Bill-to/Ship-to transactions (using “URP” where the consignee is unregistered), and a new voluntary e-Way Bill closure facility lets the supplier, recipient or transporter mark a consignment’s movement as complete. The changes are released in the sandbox first and take effect in the production environment from 1 August 2026.

What it means

This is an API-level tightening for large taxpayers and their ASP/GSP software vendors — the Ship-to GSTIN requirement forces cleaner bill-to/ship-to data, while the voluntary closure feature is a convenience that reduces stale, open e-way bills. It follows the earlier (Issue #10) deferral of related e-way-bill functionality to 1 August 2026, so August is now the hard integration date for both.

Proof

Implementation Date The changes shall be implemented in Production with effect from 1st August, 2026.
Advisory on e-Invoice API and e-Way Bill by IRN API changes for mandatory capture of Ship-to GSTIN and Voluntary Closure of e-Way Bill — GSTN (Goods and Services Tax Network) · captured 7 August 2026
Screenshot of GSTN (Goods and Services Tax Network) captured 7 August 2026, showing the quoted passage Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗

Sources

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