What happens to emissions recorded from an e-invoice that was later cancelled?
Take them out. A cancelled e-invoice means the sale did not happen on that document, so its quantity is not your activity. If the supplier issued a replacement invoice, count only the replacement. Keep the cancelled file on record, marked as cancelled, so the trail shows why the figure changed.
Cancellation and credit notes are different
- Cancellation: the supplier can cancel an IRN on the Invoice Registration Portal only within a short window after generating it. The whole invoice falls away. Check the current window in the e-invoice FAQs on the GST e-invoice portal.
- Once that window closes the IRN stays live. Corrections then go through a credit note against the original invoice, which may reduce quantity, value or both.
- A credit note for returned goods reduces your activity; one for a price discount does not.
How to correct your carbon record
- Find every line calculated from the cancelled invoice.
- Reverse those lines in the same period as the original, since the purchase never happened.
- Add the replacement invoice, if any, as a new record with its own number and date.
- Write a short note: cancelled IRN, date of cancellation, replacement invoice number.
- Do not delete the cancelled file. A verifier will want to see that it was removed on purpose.
The double counting trap
A reissued invoice usually carries a new document number and often the same goods. Duplicate checks that compare files will treat it as a different document, because it is one. Match replacements by supplier GSTIN, date, goods and quantity, and confirm with the supplier which invoice number stands.
If the period is already reported
If the cancelled invoice sat in a year you have already published, correct it in the next report and say so. Under the GHG Protocol, an error that changes the base year or a reported total materially is a reason to recalculate; a small one can be fixed going forward with a note.
Worked example: LPG invoice cancelled and reissued
- Cancelled invoice: 20 cylinders x 19 kg = 380 kg LPG; 380 x 2.98 = 1,132.4 kg CO2
- Replacement invoice: 18 cylinders x 19 kg = 342 kg; 342 x 2.98 = 1,019.2 kg CO2
- Correct Scope 1: 1,019.2 kg CO2
- Counting both: 1,132.4 + 1,019.2 = 2,151.6 kg, overstated by 1,132.4 kg
LPG factor is the IPCC 2006 default of 2.98 kg CO2 per kg used by Senseible.
What Senseible does here
Senseible gives each file its own SHA-256 fingerprint, so the cancelled invoice and its replacement stay as two separate records, each with its source document. The fingerprint catches identical files; match a reissued invoice with a new number using the checks above.
Sources: GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, Chapters 5 and 7 (recalculation and inventory quality), ISO 14064-3:2019, Verification and validation of GHG statements (iso.org)
Last reviewed 2026-10-18. GSTN e-invoice pages could not be read on 2026-10-18; the IRN cancellation window is described generally. Check the current limit in the e-invoice FAQs (einvoice1.gst.gov.in).