GST-ready invoices for small shops

What a tax invoice must contain (rule 46)

Rule 46 of the CGST Rules, 2017 lists the particulars a registered person's tax invoice must carry. Read the rule itself on the CBIC page linked below; in plain words, the list covers who is supplying, who is buying, what was supplied, what it is worth and how much tax is charged. The particulars, in the rule's order, are these.

The rule carries provisos as well — on the number of digits of the HSN code a class of businesses must show, on consolidated invoices in certain cases and on exports — and later amendments have added to it. Those details are exactly the kind this guide will not paraphrase from memory: read the current text on the CBIC page.

• The supplier's name, address and GSTIN.
• A consecutive serial number, unique for a financial year, within the character limit and character set the rule sets out (see the numbering section below).
• The date of issue.
• The recipient's name, address and GSTIN or Unique Identity Number, if the recipient is registered.
• For an unregistered recipient, where the value of the taxable supply is fifty thousand rupees or more: the recipient's name and address, the delivery address, and the name of the State and its code.
• The HSN code for the goods or services.
• A description of the goods or services.
• For goods, the quantity and its unit or Unique Quantity Code.
• The total value of the supply.
• The taxable value of the supply, after any discount or abatement.
• The rate of tax — central tax, State tax, integrated tax, Union territory tax or cess.
• The amount of tax charged on the taxable goods or services.
• The place of supply with the name of the State, for an inter-State supply.
• The delivery address, where it differs from the place of supply.
• Whether tax is payable on reverse charge basis.
• The signature or digital signature of the supplier or an authorised representative.

Sources: CBIC: GST Rules (CGST Rules, 2017)

Numbering that never breaks (rules 46 and 48)

Rule 46 asks for a consecutive serial number, not exceeding sixteen characters, in one or multiple series, containing alphabets or numerals or the special characters hyphen or dash and slash, and any combination of them, unique for a financial year. That one clause settles most numbering arguments. You may run more than one series — one for the counter and one for deliveries, say — but each series runs in order, each number is unique within the financial year, and nothing else goes into it.

Rule 48 sets how an invoice is prepared: in triplicate for a supply of goods — the original for the recipient, the duplicate for the transporter, the triplicate for the supplier — and in duplicate for a supply of services, the original for the recipient and the duplicate for the supplier. The same rule says the serial numbers of invoices issued during a tax period are furnished electronically through the common portal in FORM GSTR-1, which is why a gap in the series is a question you will be asked.

In practice: let the software hold the series and issue the next number; never type a number by hand; start a new series only at the start of a financial year or for a genuinely separate stream of supplies; and if an invoice is wrong, cancel it in the record rather than reusing its number.

• One or more series, each consecutive, each unique for the financial year.
• At most sixteen characters: letters, numbers, hyphen and slash only.
• Goods in triplicate, services in duplicate, each copy marked for whom it is.
• Serial numbers reported through the portal in GSTR-1 — keep the series gap-free.

Sources: CBIC: GST Rules (CGST Rules, 2017)

When the invoice is issued (section 31 and rule 47)

The CGST Act, 2017 sets when an invoice is issued: section 31 ties a goods invoice to the removal or delivery of the goods and a services invoice to the supply of the service, within a period set by the rules. Rule 47 supplies that period for services: the invoice is issued within thirty days from the date of the supply of the service, with a longer period the rule names for insurers, banking companies and financial institutions. Read both on the CBIC pages linked below; the Acts page carries the Act and the Rules page carries the rules.

For a shop the practical reading is simple: the invoice goes with the goods. Issue it at the counter when the customer pays or takes delivery, and issue a service invoice once the service is done rather than at the month-end.

Sources: CBIC: GST Acts (CGST Act, 2017) · CBIC: GST Rules (CGST Rules, 2017)

Bill of supply and the small-shop cases (rules 46A and 49)

Not every sale takes a tax invoice. Rule 49 provides a bill of supply for a registered person supplying exempted goods or services, or paying tax under the composition scheme, with its own list of particulars — the supplier's details, a serial number, the date, the recipient's details if registered, the HSN code, the description, the value after any discount, and the signature — and no tax amount. Rule 46A allows a single invoice-cum-bill of supply where a registered person supplies both taxable and exempted goods or services to an unregistered person.

A shop on the composition scheme therefore issues bills of supply, not tax invoices, and the Act says a composition taxpayer shall not collect any tax from the recipient on its supplies. A regular shop that sells some exempt items alongside taxable ones can use the combined document for walk-in customers. Which case you fall in is a question for your accountant; the documents are described on the CBIC rules page and the composition scheme in section 10 of the Act.

Sources: CBIC: GST Rules (CGST Rules, 2017) · CBIC: GST Acts (CGST Act, 2017)

Payment links on the invoice

Nothing in the rules speaks to how the customer pays; that is yours to design, and the design that works for a small shop is a payment link on the invoice. The customer scans or taps, pays by UPI or whatever their banking app offers, and the payment lands against that invoice number without anyone matching a screenshot to a sale. The invoice stays the document; the link is simply the fastest way to settle it.

Three habits keep the link honest. Put the invoice number in the link's description, so the payment can only be matched to one invoice. Record cash and cheque payments against the invoice the same day, with a receipt, so the ledger shows one truth. And when a customer pays part of an invoice, show the balance on the next reminder rather than the original total.

Records: what to keep, and for how long

Section 35 of the CGST Act requires a registered person to keep and maintain, at the principal place of business, a true and correct account of the matters the section lists — production or manufacture of goods, inward and outward supplies, stock, input tax credit availed, output tax payable and paid, and other particulars the rules prescribe. Rule 56 fills that in and names the documents to keep with those accounts: invoices, bills of supply, delivery challans, credit notes, debit notes, receipt vouchers, payment vouchers and refund vouchers among them.

Section 36 of the Act sets how long the accounts and records are retained — a period counted from the due date of furnishing the annual return for the year the records relate to, and longer while an appeal, revision or other proceeding on those records is open. The exact period is stated in the section; read it on the CBIC Acts page rather than relying on a figure repeated from memory, because it is the figure an officer will hold you to.

For a shop the rule of thumb that follows is: every invoice, every cancelled invoice, every bill of supply and every receipt, numbered, dated and findable — in software that keeps them in order, with a copy you control.

Sources: CBIC: GST Acts (CGST Act, 2017) · CBIC: GST Rules (CGST Rules, 2017)

A simple invoicing routine for a shop

Most of the rules above are satisfied by a routine rather than by effort. Set it once, and the invoice that comes out of the counter is right every time.

• Keep your own details — name, address, GSTIN — on the invoice template once; never retype them.
• Keep a catalogue of what you sell with the HSN code, description, unit and tax rate on each item, so each invoice line is picked, not typed.
• Let the software issue the next serial number; never type one.
• Ask registered customers for their GSTIN at the first sale and keep it on their record.
• Issue the invoice when the goods go, and the service invoice when the service is done.
• Put a payment link on every invoice; record cash and cheque the same day with a receipt.
• Cancel a wrong invoice in the record; do not reuse its number.
• Keep every document findable for as long as the Act requires; check the period with your accountant.

How Selfeey does it

Every Selfeey plan issues invoices with a payment link on each one, from your own catalogue — what you sell, with prices, descriptions and the tax rate on each item — so a line is picked rather than typed, and the serial number comes from the software. Quotations and invoices read from the same catalogue, and the Customer 360 timeline keeps every quotation, invoice, payment and message for a customer on one page.

Cash, cheque and bank payments are recorded against the invoice with a receipt. On Business Suite and PRO Ultimate, the payments screen adds reconciliation, automated reminders and ageing, so an unpaid invoice is chased on a schedule rather than when someone remembers. On PRO Ultimate, AI employees prepare the reminders and the approvals queue holds each one until you approve it.

Selfeey is customised to your shop's workflow at no extra cost, and the help centre and the support team are there for the set-up. The rules are yours to meet; the routine is what the software makes easy.

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