Amazon Vendor Central Invoice Compliance Requirements in India (2026)

Quick Answer: Vendor Central invoices in India must comply with GST invoice rules under the CGST Act: they need your GSTIN, Amazon's GSTIN, a unique sequential invoice number, the supply date, HSN codes for all line items, itemised CGST/SGST/IGST breakdowns, and your digital or physical signature. Non-compliant invoices can be rejected by Amazon and may cause issues in your GSTR-1 reconciliation.

India's GST framework, now in its eighth year of operation, has matured significantly. The compliance bar for B2B invoices — which is exactly what Vendor Central invoices are — has risen. E-invoicing mandates, stricter HSN code requirements, and tighter GSTR-2B reconciliation processes mean that invoice errors that were tolerated in 2019 now trigger automated flags.

Here is what your Vendor Central invoices must contain in 2026 to be fully compliant.

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Mandatory Fields Under GST Law

Under Rule 46 of the CGST Rules, every tax invoice for a B2B supply must include:

1. Supplier Details

• Legal name exactly as registered on GSTN (not your trade name)
• GSTIN — 15-character GST Identification Number
• Address of the place of supply (your registered business address)

2. Recipient Details (Amazon's Details)

• Amazon Seller Services Private Limited (the legal entity for most Indian vendors)
• Amazon's GSTIN for the relevant state (Amazon has multiple GSTINs across states — use the one matching your supply state)
• Amazon's registered address for the relevant fulfilment centre or business location

Getting Amazon's GSTIN wrong is one of the most common compliance errors. Verify it in your Vendor Agreement or by checking the Vendor Central Tax Information section.

3. Invoice Identification

• Invoice number: Unique, sequential, no more than 16 characters. Must restart at the beginning of each financial year (April 1). Example: INV/2026-27/00001
• Invoice date: Date of issue, which should be on or before the date of supply

4. HSN Codes

As of 2026, the mandatory HSN code digit requirements are:

• Annual turnover up to ₹5 crore: 4-digit HSN codes
• Annual turnover ₹5 crore to ₹50 crore: 6-digit HSN codes
• Annual turnover above ₹50 crore: 8-digit HSN codes

Using fewer digits than required is a compliance error. Most vendors supplying to Vendor Central are above the ₹5 crore threshold and should use at least 6-digit codes.

5. Tax Details

For each line item and in the invoice summary:

• Taxable value (value before GST)
• Rate of tax (CGST + SGST for intra-state, IGST for inter-state)
• Amount of tax (separately for CGST, SGST, IGST)
• Total invoice value (taxable value + total tax)

IGST applies when your supply state differs from Amazon's recipient state. CGST + SGST applies for intra-state supplies.

6. Place of Supply

The place of supply determines whether IGST or CGST/SGST applies. For goods, the place of supply is generally the location where goods are delivered. For Vendor Central, this is typically the Amazon fulfilment centre receiving the goods.

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E-Invoicing Requirements in 2026

India's e-invoicing mandate (under the IRP — Invoice Registration Portal) now applies to businesses with annual aggregate turnover above ₹5 crore. If your turnover exceeds this threshold, you must:

1. Generate invoices through the IRP (or a GST Suvidha Provider integrated with IRP)
2. Obtain an IRN (Invoice Reference Number) for each B2B invoice
3. Embed the QR code generated by IRP on the printed/PDF invoice
4. Include the IRN on the Vendor Central invoice submission

Amazon's Vendor Central system accepts invoices with IRN details. If you are above the ₹5 crore threshold and submitting invoices without an IRN, you are non-compliant even if Amazon's portal accepts the submission.

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Invoice Serial Number Best Practices

Your invoice serial number must be:

• Unique within a financial year — no two invoices can share the same number
• Sequential — gaps are permissible but ideally minimised
• No more than 16 characters — including letters, numbers, slashes, and hyphens
• Reset annually — a new series starting April 1 each year (e.g., INV/2026-27/00001)

Common formats used by Indian vendors:

• INV/2026-27/00001
• AMZVC-2627-001
• VC-ENT-A-260401-001

Avoid formats that reveal your total invoice count (a competitive sensitivity issue) or that look similar across different vendor entities (confusion risk).

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Reconciliation with GSTR-2B

Amazon files its GSTR-1, which reflects the invoices it received from you. Your own GSTR-1 must report the same invoices — mismatches cause Amazon's GSTR-2B to diverge from your records, triggering finance queries or deductions. InvoiceOps maintains a local invoice register you can export to your CA for reconciliation.

Record-Keeping Requirements

Under the CGST Act, retain invoice records for 72 months (6 years) from the end of the financial year, or until any assessment is completed. Keep original PDFs, IRN records, submission confirmations from Vendor Central, and any credit notes issued. InvoiceOps archives these locally with timestamps — export annually for off-machine backup.

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Stay compliant and reduce rejection rates. InvoiceOps validates every Vendor Central invoice against GST compliance rules before submission, flagging missing HSN codes, GSTIN mismatches, and format errors before they become problems.