GST Invoice

GST invoice is the ‘invoice’ or the ‘tax invoice’ that is issued by the seller or supplier of the goods or services to the purchaser or recipient of such goods and services. It is defined as per section 31 of the CGST Act 2017. Invoice can be a tax invoice or a bill of supply depending on the type of dealer or manufacturer registered under the Act.

A bill of supply can also be issued by a supplier or dealer of exempted goods. GST invoice also has to be mandatorily issued by the registered or unregistered dealer or supplier of the goods and services as part of the compliance procedures under the GST. An invoice provides the details of the goods or services sold or supplied as well as the details of the buyer or recipient and seller or supplier of such goods and services. Along with these details, the invoice also has the details of the terms and conditions of the transaction, rate of the goods or services provided under the invoice and the discounts offered, if any.

Contents of GST Invoice

GST Act has not laid down any specific format for the invoices issued under the Act. However, the rules of Invoice as per other prevalent Acts and practices determine or provide inputs or information regarding the usual format or contents that can be found in any taxable invoice or a bill of supply.

Following are the contents that are usually found in any invoice. 

• Date and Invoice number
• Name of Customer
• Billing Address and Shipping Address of the customer
• GSTIN of Taxpayer and Customer (if registered)
• Quantity of the goods supplied under the invoice with the unit or unique quantity code
• Total value of the goods or services as per the invoice
• Place of supply (including name of State in case of interstate of supply of goods)
• HSN Code (Harmonized System of Nomenclature Code)/ Accounting Code of Services
• Taxable value/applicable discount
• GST rates and total GST charged including details of applicable CGST/SGST/IGST for the item
• Signature or digital Signature of the supplier / authorized representative

Contents of Bill of Supply

Bill of supply is deemed to be an invoice under the GST Act in case of unregistered dealers or suppliers or incase of suppliers of goods and services being registered under the composition scheme or the dealing in exempted goods. The contents of the bill of supply are similar to the contents of any tax invoice. Following are the contents usually found in any bill of supply.

• Date of issue of bill of supply
• Name, address, GSTIN of the supplier
• Name, address, GSTIN or UIN of the recipient (if registered)
• Serial number of the bill of supply
• HSN Code (Harmonized System of Nomenclature Code)/ Accounting Code of Services
• Details of the goods or services supplied under the bill of supply
• Value of the goods or services supplied
• Discount applicable (if any)
• Signature or digital Signature of the supplier / authorized representative

Period of issue of the GST Invoice

GST invoice is a mandatory part of any transaction under the ambit of GST as per the rules and regulations of the GST Act. Such invoice is issued for the supply of goods as well as services. The time period of issuing the GST invoice in each case is defined differently under the Act. Given below is the general idea of the time of issue of GST invoice in case of supply of goods or supply of services by the seller or supplier registered or unregistered under the GST Act.

Supply of Goods

GST invoice is issued in case of supply of goods before or at the point of 

• Removal of goods from the place of storage where such supply involves movement of goods
• Delivery of goods to the recipient of goods from the place of storage (in case the supply of goods does not involve movement of goods)
• In case of continuous supply of goods, invoice has to be issued at the time of or before the receipt of each payment or account statement as per the agreement between the involved parties/ before the due date of the payment
• If the payment of goods supplied is linked to the completion of an event, invoice has to be issued before the date of completion of such event.

Supply of Services

The Act provides for the following rules to be complied in case of issue of GST invoice for the supply of services. The time limit for issue of GST invoice is

• Within 30 days from the date of supply of services
• Within 45 days from the date of supply of services where the supplier is an insurer or banker (banking institution) or a financial entity

Manner of issue of GST Invoice

GST invoice has to be issued in triplicate or duplicate depending on the type of transaction or the supply of goods or services as the case may be. Following are the details of the same.

Supply of Goods

• Original Invoice to be issued to the buyer or the recipient of the goods and to be marked as ‘Original for Recipient’
• Duplicate Copy to be issued to the transporter and to be marked ‘Duplicate for Transporter’
• Triplicate Copy to be retained by supplier and to be marked ‘Triplicate for Supplier’

Supply of Services

• Original Invoice to be issued to the recipient of the services and to be marked as ‘Original for Recipient’
• Duplicate Invoice to be retained by supplier and to be marked ‘Duplicate for Supplier’

Minimum value of GST invoice to be issued

The buyer or supplier of the goods and services has to issue a tax invoice for every transaction providing all the relevant details of such transaction. The Act, however, exempts the issue of a tax invoice in case of transactions lower than Rs. 200 in value if such recipient is unregistered. Another relevant case in this regard is when the recipient does not require or demand the tax invoice. However, if the recipient demands the tax invoice then the same has to be provided by the supplier or the seller of the goods.

When the tax invoice is not issued in any of the above cases, the supplier or seller of the goods has to prepare a consolidated tax invoice for all such transactions at the end of each day.

Permissible Transactions without the Issue of GST Invoice

GST Act provides for certain cases or situations wherein the supplier or consigner of the goods can transport such goods without the issue of tax invoice. Mentioned below are such relevant cases.

• Supply or transport of liquid gas where the quantity of such liquid gas at the time of removal from the place of business of the supplier is not known or determined
• Transportation of goods for job work
• Transportation of goods for reasons other than by way of supply
• Such other supplies as may be notified by the Board

The supplier or the consigner can issue a delivery challan in any of the above permissible cases instead of the tax invoice as required under the Act.

The delivery challan in such cases also has to be issued in triplicate similar to the supply of goods mentioned above. The three delivery challans to be issued are,

• Original Copy to be marked as ‘Original for Consignee’
• Duplicate Copy to marked ‘Duplicate for Transporter’
• Triplicate Copy to be marked ‘Triplicate for Consigner’

Whenever a delivery challan is issued instead of the tax invoice, the same has to be declared in the FORM (WAYBILL).

FAQs – GST Invoice