Information Required in a GST Invoice

The tax invoice issued must clearly mention information under the following 16 headings:

1. Name, address and GSTIN of the supplier
2. Tax invoice number (it must be generated consecutively and each tax invoice will have a unique number for that financial year)
3. Date of issue
4. If the buyer (recipient) is registered then the name, address and GSTIN of the recipient
5. If the recipient is not registered AND the value is more than Rs. 50,000 then the invoice should carry:
    i. name and address of the recipient,
   ii. address of delivery,
   iii. state name and state code
6. HSN code of goods or accounting code of services**
7. Description of the goods/services
8. Quantity of goods (number) and unit (metre, kg etc.)
9. Total value of supply of goods/services
10. Taxable value of supply after adjusting any discount
11. Applicable rate of GST
(Rates of CGST, SGST, IGST, UTGST and cess clearly mentioned)
12. Amount of tax
(With breakup of amounts of CGST, SGST, IGST, UTGST and cess)
13. Place of supply and name of destination state for inter-state sales
14. Delivery address if it is different from the place of supply
15. Whether GST is payable on reverse charge basis
16. Signature of the supplier

** HSN Code:

• Turnover less than 1.5 crores- HSN code is not required to be mentioned
• Turnover between 1.5 -5 crores can use 2-digit HSN code
• Turnover above 5 crores must use 4-digit HSN code  

A typical tax invoice with all the 16 mandatory fields under GST will look like this:

** GST Council may notify about:

• the number of digits of HSN code for goods or the accounting code for services and the various classes of registered persons should be mentioned
• the class of registered persons who will not be required to mention the codes

Tax Invoices Format for Exports

In cases of exports, the invoice must also contain a declaration citing that GST has been paid on such exports. The text to be used in such cases is below:

• “Supply Meant For Export On Payment Of IGST”

– if IGST has been paid on the exports

• “Supply Meant For Export Under Bond Or Letter Of Undertaking Without Payment Of IGST”

– if IGST has not been paid

In export invoices, the following details related to the buyer are mandatory:

i. Name and address of the buyer
ii. Delivery address
iii. Destination country
iv. Number and date of application for removal of goods for export

Reasons for Not Issuing a Tax Invoice

A registered person may not issue a tax invoice when:

1. the recipient is not a registered person AND
2. the recipient does not require such invoice

The registered person shall issue a consolidated tax invoice for such supplies at the end of each day in respect of all such supplies.

In all other cases, the registered person MUST issue a tax invoice. Failure to do so is an offence under GST Act and will attract penalty.

Raising Copies of Invoice

The GST Law requires businesses to keep copies of all of their invoices. The details of this are furnished below.

Invoices for Supply of Goods

The invoice must be prepared in triplicate. They will be clearly marked as:

1. Original Copy for the use of the recipient
2. Duplicate Copy for the use the transporter
3. Triplicate Copy for the use of the supplier

Invoices for Supply of Services

The invoice must be prepared in duplicate and clearly marked as:

1. Original Copy for the use of the recipient
2. Duplicate Copy for the use the supplier

Form GSTR-1 will contain the serial number of invoices issued during the tax period along with other details of purchases.

Registered persons selling exempted goods/services or paying GST under composition scheme will need to issue a separate bill of supply. We have a separate article dealing with this subject. 

Here is a video on generating invoices using ClearTax GST Software:

Have questions about GST invoicing? Register with us at Clear Tax and browse through various articles on GST invoices.