Invoicing- Aster Billing

Invoicing

To create all types of sales or purchase invoices, view all created invoices and bulk import the invoices refer the guides mentioned below:

1. All Invoice Settings

 – Adding Company Logo

 – Adding Invoice Prefix and Adding Invoice Start Series

 – Add Terms and Conditions

 – Add Custom Fields

 – Add Bank Details

2. All Contact Settings

 – Create Contacts

 – Create Contact Master

 – View All Contacts

 – How to Bulk Import Contacts

 – Collect GSTIN Information

 – Adding New Contacts

3. Item Master

 – Create Items

 – Create Item Master

 – View All Items

 – How to Bulk Import Items

4. Sales Invoice Generation

 – Normal Invoice

 – Export Invoices

 – Invoices for Reverse Charge

 – Invoices for TCS

 – Invoices for Freight/Transportation Companies

 – Invoices for Customers with Different Billing and Shipping Address (Place of Supply)

 – Creating Bill of Supply

 – Creating Advance Receipts

 – Creating Credit/Debit Notes

 – Create Delivery Challans

a) Job Work Challan

b) Challan for Supply on Approval

c) Other Cases

5. Purchase Invoice Generation

 – Record Purchase Invoices

6. View Invoices

 – View All Invoices

 – View All Bills of Supply

 – View All Credit/Debit Notes

 – View All Advance Payments

 – View All Challans

7. Bulk Import Invoices

 – Bulk Import All Invoices

 – Bulk Import Credit and Debit Notes

8. Printing Invoices

What is a Revised Invoice under GST?

What is a Revised Invoice under GST?

Under GST, all the taxable dealers will have to apply for provisional registration and carry out all the formalities post which they will get the permanent registration certificate.

For all the invoices issued between the period –

1. Date of implementation of GST
2. Date of issue of Registration certificate

the dealers will have to issue a revised invoice against the invoice already issued between the said period. The revised invoice will have to be issued within one month from the date of issue of the registration certificate.

What are supplementary invoices and their uses?

Supplementary tax invoice is a type of invoice that is issued by a taxable person in case where any deficiency is found in a tax invoice already issued by a taxable person. It can be in form of a debit note or a credit note.

Income Tax in India - Aster Billing

Taxes in India can be categorized as direct and indirect taxes. Direct tax is a tax you pay on your income directly to the government. Indirect tax is a tax that somebody else collects on your behalf and pays to the government eg restaurants, theatres and e-commerce websites recover taxes from you on goods you purchase or a service you avail. This tax is, in turn, passed down to the government. Direct Taxes are broadly classified as :

1. Income Tax – This is taxes an individual or a Hindu Undivided Family or any taxpayer other than companies, pay on the income received. The law prescribes the rate at which such income should be taxed
2. Corporate Tax – This is the tax that companies pay on the profits they make from their businesses. Here again, a specific rate of tax for corporates has been prescribed by the income tax laws of India.

Indirect taxes take many forms: service tax on restaurant bills and movie tickets, value-added tax or VAT on goods such as clothes and electronics. Goods and services tax, which has recently been introduced is a unified tax that has replaced all the indirect taxes that business owners have to deal with.

Everyone who earns or gets an income in India is subject to income tax. (Yes, be it a resident or a non-resident of India ). Also read our article on Income Tax for NRIs. Your income could be salary, pension or could be from a savings account that’s quietly accumulating a 4% interest. Even, winners of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ have to pay tax on their prize money. For simpler classification, the Income Tax Department breaks down income into five heads

Taxpayers and Income Tax Slabs

Taxpayers in India, for the purpose of income tax includes:

• Individuals, Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), Association of Persons(AOP) and Body of Individuals (BOI)
• Firms
• Companies

Each of these taxpayers is taxed differently under the Indian income tax laws. While firms and Indian companies have a fixed rate of tax of 30% of profits, the individual,HUF, AOP and BOI taxpayers are taxed based on the income slab they fall under. People’s incomes are grouped into blocks called tax brackets or tax slabs. And each tax slab has a different tax rate. In India, we have four tax brackets each with an increasing tax rate.

• Income earners of up to 2.5 lakhs
• Income earners of between 2.5 lakhs and 5 lakhs
• Income earners of between 5 lakhs and 10 lakhs
• Those earning more than Rs 10 lakhs

'Tax Year' Aster Billing

WHAT IS A 'Tax Year'

A tax year refers to the 12-month period covered by a particular tax return. The Internal Revenue Service allows some flexibility in determining the start and end dates of a tax year, and it is not necessarily the same period as a fiscal year.BREAKING DOWN 'Tax Year'A tax year is an annual accounting period used by a taxpaying individual or firm for tax purposes. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allows most businesses to use either a calendar year or the firm’s fiscal year as its tax year. Exceptions to this are firms that are required to use the calendar year ending December 31 as their tax year. These include sole proprietorships and single-member LLCs. These firms are required to end their tax year on December 31 because they generally pay taxes as an extension of their single owner.

Whatever method is used to define a tax year, the IRS requires that all firms end their tax year on a quarterly basis, so all tax years should end on March 31, June 30, September 30 or December 31. The IRS identifies firms with non-calendar year tax years by their selected tax year end date. The IRS discourages businesses from changing their treatment of the tax year except in the first or last year of a business. Written IRS approval is required to do so.

Individual Taxpayers’ Federal Tax Year

Individuals generally use a December 31 tax year, with an annual return due on April 15 of the following year. When the 16th Amendment was passed in 1913, granting taxation authority to the federal government, Congress designated February 1 as tax filing day. This date was moved progressively backward to where it is today, on April 15. Some commentators have suspected that this has allowed the government to hold onto taxpayers’ money longer. Whatever the case, the movement from February to March to April has coincided with an increase in the pool of eligible taxpayers. When the 16th Amendment was passed, a small number of very wealthy individuals was expected to pay federal tax. The pool of taxpayers has grown significantly since then

.State Tax Years

Every state handles taxation independent of the federal system, but most that do impose income taxes use April 15 as their required filing date. Virginia is one exception, with a filing deadline of May 1. Several states that do not charge income taxes impose taxes on other revenue, such as stock dividends. New Hampshire, which has no income or sales tax, compensates by charging a relatively high property tax. New Hampshire property tax rates are set annually in November, and the property tax year runs from March 21 to April 1 for all property owners

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Aster billing

GST-Concept and Status-Aster Billing

The uniform system of taxation, which, with a few exceptions of no great consequence, takes place in all the different parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, leaves the interior commerce of the country, the inland and coasting trade, almost entirely free. The inland trade is almost perfectly free, and the greater part of goods may be carried from one end of the kingdom to the other, without requiring any permit or let-pass, without being subject to question, visit, or examination from the revenue officers. ……This freedom of interior commerce, the effect of uniformity of the system of taxation, is perhaps one of the principal causes of the prosperity of Great Britain; every great country being necessarily the best and most extensive market for the greater part of the productions of its own industry. If the same freedom, in consequence of the same uniformity, could be extended to Ireland and the plantations, both the grandeur of the state and the prosperity of every part of the empire, would probably be still greater than at present”
 Adam Smith in ‘Wealth of Nations’
Whether it was uniformity of taxation and consequent free interior trade orpossession of ‘the jewel in the crown’ at the root of prosperity of Britain isdebatable, nonetheless the words of father of modern economics on the benefitsof uniformity of system of taxation cannot be taken too lightly. Beforeimplementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST), Indian taxation system was afarrago of central, state and local area levies. By subsuming more than a score oftaxes under GST, road to a harmonized system of indirect tax has been pavedmaking India an economic union.

Filing GST Returns for Your Business- ASTER BILLING

As GST will roll out on July 1, 2017, every business will have to file monthly GST returns as part of its GST compliance. Even if there is no activity carried out in business, the business has to still file the returns. Let us check out the various returns to be filed by businesses and their respective due dates. The return has to be e-filed and no paper returns will be acceptable in the GST regime. The table below explains various returns and their due dates which must be filed by businesses under the GST regime.

Return	For	To be filed by
GSTR 1	Outward supplies made by taxpayer (Sales)	10th of the next month
GSTR 2	Inward supplies received by a taxpayer (Purchases)	15th of the next month
GSTR 3	Monthly return	20th of the next month
GSTR 4	Quarterly return for Composite Taxpayer	18th of the month next to quarter
GSTR 5	Return for Non-Resident Foreign Taxpayer	Last day of registration
GSTR 6	Return for Input Service Distributor (ISD)	15th of the next month
GSTR 7	Return for Tax Deducted at Source	10th of the next month
GSTR 8	Return for e-commerce operator	10th of the next month
GSTR 9	Annual Return	By 31st December of next financial year

Monthly GST Returns Filing

Regular taxpayers would have to file GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 (monthly returns). Taxpayers with multiple registrations within a state would have to file GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 for each of the GST registrations obtained separately. All the monthly returns have to be filed online through a common portal managed by the Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN).

Annual GST Return Filing

Each business will have to file an annual return, known as GSTR 9. This will be on top of the monthly returns and is to be filed by 31st December of the next financial year.

Composite Taxpayer and GST Filing

Composite taxpayers will have to file GSTR 4, which will be filed quarterly. The composite tax will be a flat rate of tax, which a business pays based on their turnover in a specific period. They will not be able to take input credits for their purchases. Taxpayers eligible for the composite scheme can opt against the composite scheme and file monthly returns and thereby claim input tax credits on their purchases/supplies as well. Annual return (GSTR-8) will be filed by all normal / regular taxpayers. It will be based on financial records. A compounding taxpayer will also need to file a simple annual return. With GST, though the taxes are getting simplified which is a good for all businesses, there may be an increased burden of compliances on businesses as they have to file a total of 37 returns in year (3 x monthly returns for 12 months; and one return annually) Related Articles: GST Compliance Rating and Why It is Important for You, Composition of Tax Levy Scheme for Small Business in GST, GST Impact on IT and Consultancy Services

Finance Ministry Aster Billing

The Finance Ministry refuted concerns among businesses about reconciliation of returns and said the deadline to avail input tax credit (ITC) for last financial year will remain October 20.
Businesses had expressed concern about the October 20 deadline for availing ITC for July 2017-March 2018 period saying that their returns cannot be reconciled with the returns filed by vendors.
Such a concern arose after the last date for filing final sales return GSTR-1 has been set as October 31.
The ministry said since the ITC is being availed on the basis of summary sales return or GSTR-3B filed, hence the deadline has been kept at October 20. The GSTR-3B of a particular month has to be filed by the 20th day of the subsequent month.
"With taxpayers self-assessing & availing ITC through return in Form GSTR-3B, the last date for availing ITC in relation to said invoices issued by corresponding supplier(s) from July, 2017 to March, 2018 is the last date for filing of such return for September, 2018 i.e. October 20, 2018," it said in a statement.
The ministry clarified that furnishing of sales details in GSTR-1 by the corresponding suppliers and the facility to view the same in GSTR-2A by the recipient is in nature of taxpayer facilitation and does not impact the ability of taxpayer to avail ITC on self-assessment basis.
GSTR-2A is a system generated purchase return.
"The apprehension that ITC can be availed only on the basis of reconciliation between GSTR-2A and GSTR-3B conducted before the due date for filing of return in GSTR-3B for the month of September, 2018 is unfounded as the same exercise can be done thereafter also," it said.
The ministry further said that for those taxpayers who have been recently migrated from erstwhile tax regime to GST regime, the last date for availing ITC for the period July,2017 to March, 2018, is December 31, 2018 or the date of filing of annual return whichever is earlier.
"All the taxpayers are encouraged to take note of the legal requirements and be compliance savvy," the ministry added.
AMRG & Associates Partner Rajat Mohan said multiple clarifications on the admissibility and correction in September month GST returns in respect of transactions for the financial year 2017-2018 would be welcomed by industry.
Abhishek Jain, Tax Partner, EY said: "The clarification on 20 October being the last date for claiming credit in relation to invoices issued between July 2017 and March 2018, may open a Pandora's Box for various industry players; specifically those who were either expecting an extension in the deadline or had evaluated a technical position of the deadline to be 31 December 2018”."Businesses who have already filed tax returns with contrary tax positions would have to pay a heavy price for timeliness," Mohan added.

Partnership Aster Billing

Partnership

A Partnership Firm is a popular form of business constitution for businesses that are owned, managed and controlled by an Association of People for profit. Partnership firms are relatively easy to start are is prevalent amongst small and medium sized businesses in the unorganized sectors. With the introduction of Limited Liability Partnerships in India, Partnership Firms are fast losing their prevalence due to the added advantages offered by a Limited Liability Partnership.

There are two types of Partnership firms, registered and un-registered Partnership firm. It is not compulsory to register a Partnership firm; however, it is advisable to register a Partnership firm due to the added advantages. Partnership firms are created by drafting a Partnership deed amongst the Partners and IndiaFilings can help start a registered or un-registered Partnership firm in India.

GST Registration - Eligibility, Process and Expert Help Aster Billing

GST is the biggest tax reform in India, tremendously improving ease of doing business and increasing the taxpayer base in India by bringing in millions of small businesses in India. By abolishing and subsuming multiple taxes into a single system, tax complexities would be reduced while tax base is increased substantially. Under the new GST regime, all entities involved in buying or selling goods or providing services or both are required to register for GST. Entities without GST registration would not be allowed to collect GST from a customer or claim input tax credit of GST paid or could be penalised. Further, registration under GST is mandatory once an entity crosses the minimum threshold turnover of starts a new business that is expected to cross the prescribed turnover.As per the GST Council, entities in special category states with an annual turnover of Rs.10 lakhs and above would be required to register under GST. All other entities in rest of India would be required to register for GST if annual turnover exceeds Rs.20 lakhs. There are also various other criteria's, that could make an entity liable for obtaining GST registration - irrespective of annual sales turnover. Entities required to register for GST as per regulations must file for GST application within 30 days from the date on which the entity became liable for registration under GST.IndiaFilings is the leading business services platform in India, offering a variety of services like income tax filing, GST return filing, private limited company registration, trademark filing and more. IndiaFilings can help you obtain GST registration in India and maintain GST compliance through a proprietary GST accounting software. The average time taken to obtain GST Certificate is about 5 - 10 working days, subject to government processing time and client document submission. Get a free consultation on GST and GST return filing by scheduling an appointment with an IndiaFilings Advisor.

How can I track return status that I have submitted after logging to the GST Portal? Aster Billing

On submission of the return, you will be given an Application Reference Number (ARN). You can track status of your application by tracking this ARN. To track return status, perform the following steps:

1. Access the https://www.gst.gov.in/ URL. The GST Home page is displayed.

2. Login to the GST Portal with valid credentials.

3. Click the Services > Returns> Track Return Status command.

In Case of ARN:

a) In the ARN field, enter the ARN received on your e-mail address when you submitted the return.

b) Click the SEARCH button.

The Application status is displayed.

  

In Case of Return Filing Period:

a) Select the Submission Period of the return using the calendar.

b) Click the SEARCH button.

The Application status is displayed.

In Case of Status:

a) Select the Status of the return from the drop-down list.

b) Click the SEARCH button.

The Application status is displayed.

7 Techniques for Creating Recurring Billing for Any Product or Service -Aster Billing

7 Techniques for Creating Recurring Billing for Any Product or Service 

Aster Billing

The Economist with this bit of news: "80% of companies are seeing a change in how their customers want to access and pay for good and services and 50% of these same companies are changing their pricing models as a result." The old model of shipping units and increasing sales is giving way to the new model of gaining subscribers and fighting churn.

Recurring billing is a business technique whereby you charge your customers on a "periodic basis for an ongoing product or service." For a long time, recurring billing was the purview of cell phone providers, cable companies, or SaaS businesses. Now, recurring billing is a technique that has gone mainstream. Whether you're buying underwear, coffee, music, or makeup, you can do so on a recurring payment basis.

The question is--can you create recurring billing for your product or service?

I'm here to tell you it's most likely possible. Here's why.

1. Most people need more than one of something on more than one occasion.

Let me unpack this one for you.

How many times in the next year will you purchase snacks? copy paper? deodorant? lip balm? batteries?

Many of the things that we buy, we do so on a repeated basis. Purchasing these items takes time, effort, remembering, fuel, and general inconvenience.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could automate the process? Losing nothing more than a few dollars on your credit card bill, you could have your snacks at your doorstep, your copy paper on order, your deodorant replenishment on its way, that lip balm in your mailbox, and the batteries in the mail.

That's the simple logic behind recurring billing. If you sell something that an individual will purchase more than once in year's time, you're ready for recurring billing.

2. Upgrade your variety if you can't necessarily improve the quantity.

Some goods are not depletable. Snacks get consumed. Copy paper, used. Deodorant, low. Lip balm, gone.

But how do you "use up" a book? Or a music album? Or a shirt?

That's where the power of variety comes into play. If people aren't using up your product, maybe they're getting tired of it.

Cliche though it may be, "Variety's the very spice of life // That gives it all its flavor," as William Cowper wrote.

People like variety. People pay for variety. If you can't send someone the same object over and over again, perhaps you can send them a variety of similar objects. A fiction lover wants to read more than one New York Times bestseller. A music head will gladly purchase another hip hop album.

3. Make recurring billing standard.

The strategic recurring billing merchants know what they're doing. Instead of providing an option for recurring billing, they are making it standard.

Customers don't do well with choices. Whether through confusion, paralysis, or understandable laziness, choosing between two good things is a hard thing.

That's why you have to help your customer make the choice. And the best choice for both of you is recurring billing.

Today, if you want to buy razors from the Dollar Shave Club, you can't make a one-off purchase. No. Instead, you become a member. But what about if you "don't shave so often?" as the purchase page itself suggests. They have an option, but it's still recurring: "That's cool. You can get blades delivered every other month." Recurring is the only way.

Other businesses, eager as ever about recurring billing, have implemented similar strategies. No testing. Only joining.

4. If your product doesn't recur, then sell service.

What about products that don't recur? If variety, explained above, doesn't work, then what about service?

Take a move from the SaaS playbook. You see, SaaS is both software and service. You can't separate the two. If you sell a product, is there someway that you can add service, and thereby improve the likelihood of recurring billing?

Try it. You sold an HVAC system. Now, sell a protection plan, maintenance plan, warranty plan, or cleaning plan. You sold a roof. Sell a gutter cleaning plan. You sold a set of knives. Sell a sharpening plan. You sold clothing? Sell a dry-clean and replacement plan.

Just because the good is durable doesn't mean you can't have a recurring plan. If you can't sell more stuff, then sell more service.

5. Provide recurring billing for products of the customer's choice.

This option is brilliant because it blends aspects of human psychology with good business sense. Here's the plan in three bullet points:

• The customer signs up for your product.
• You send them stuff.
• The next month, you send them a box of more stuff. They can keep what they want, and send the rest back.

They pay a continuation fee regardless of what they choose (even if they choose nothing), and they pay additional fees for the items they choose to keep.

Does this model really work? Absolutely. Businesses like the Trunk Club are already racking it up with hand-selected styles that help guys look good. Other business are doing a similar brisk business with parallel approaches. It works for household goods, children's toys, toiletries, and clothes.

6. Create a subscription service for a lot of different items.

People like surprises. They like gifts. They like to get stuff--different types of stuff.

So let's deliver some stuff to them, shall we? It's not too late to get in on the subscription box game. Companies like Birchbox put together a box of stuff and send it off every month.

It's the equivalent of strolling through the mall and buying a few odds and ends, except you don't stroll, and you don't actually shop. You just get it in the mail.

What goes in the box each month? It's anyone's guess. In this way, such companies are selling the element of surprise and delight. And it's recurring.

7. Create recurring billing by providing gradual upgrades.

Instead of just giving your customers the same thing over and over again, you can improve the level of quality. Earlier in this article, I mentioned variety, but that's only the start. Can you also improve the quality?

This technique is marvelous for, say, SaaS where you can improve the size, speed, storage, or features of a particular software. But it also works for other goods. How about furniture? In two years, can you replace a faux leather sofa with a leather sofa, based on a certain level of recurring billing? The idea may be far-fetched, but it's not out of reach.

Conclusion

Admittedly, not every business will be able to implement recurring billing. I'm pretty sure, however, that a lot of businesses can. I challenge you to find a way.

FORM GSTR-1 and FORM GSTR-3B Aster Billing

Extension of Due Dates for filing of FORM GSTR-1 and FORM GSTR-3B in certain

It has been observed that the number of taxpayers who have filed FORM GSTR-3B is substantially higher than the number of taxpayers who have furnished FORM GSTR-1. Non-furnishing of FORM GSTR-1 is liable to late fee and penalty as per the provisions of the GST law. In order to encourage taxpayers to furnish FORM GSTR-1, a one-time scheme to waive off late fee payable for delayed furnishing of FORM GSTR-1 for the period from July, 2017 to September, 2018 till 31.10.2018 has been launched.

In this regard, the due date for furnishing FORM GSTR-1 for the period from July, 2017 to September, 2018 has been extended till 31st October, 2018 for all registered persons having aggregate turnover above Rs 1.5 crores including the registered persons in Kerala, or whose principal place of business is in Kodagu (Karnataka) and Mahe (Puducherry). For taxpayers having aggregate turnover up to Rs 1.5 crores, the due date for furnishing FORM GSTR-1 for the quarters from July, 2017 to September, 2018 has been extended till 31st October, 2018. Notification Nos. 43 and 44/2018 – Central Tax dated 10th September, 2018 have been issued in this regard. For registered persons having aggregate turnover up to Rs 1.5 crores in Kerala, or whose principal place of business is in Kodagu (Karnataka) and Mahe (Puducherry), the due date for furnishing FORM GSTR-1 for the quarter July, 2018 to September, 2018 would continue to remain as 15th November, 2018 as notified vide notification No. 38/2018-Central Tax dated 24th August, 2018.

Further, for those taxpayers who will now be migrating to GST as per the procedure specified in notification No. 31/2018-Central Tax, dated 06.08.2018, the last date for furnishing the details of outward supplies of goods or services or both in FORM GSTR-1 and for filing the return in FORM GSTR-3B for the months of July, 2017 to November, 2018 has been extended till 31.12.2018. Notification Nos. 45, 46 and 47/2018 – Central Tax dated 10th September, 2018 have thus been issued for extension of dates for filing FORM GSTR-3B.

It is hereby clarified that as per the provisions of section 16 (4) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, the registered person shall not be entitled to take input tax credit in respect of any invoice after the due date of furnishing of the return for the month of September following the end of financial year to which such invoice pertains; or furnishing of the relevant annual return, whichever is earlier. The taxpayers are thus, advised to furnish their returns on time to ensure that input tax credit does not become time barred.