Under the GST regime, a protocol is set for all the businesses. One such protocol is the GST Invoice. GST invoice is a bill containing the particulars of the transaction between the seller and buyer. GST Supply is crucial to confirm the supply of Goods and Services, to tally the details regarding the supply and also to reveal the time of supply.

A GST invoice is a prerequisite in claiming ITC. It is mandatory for the seller to issue correct GST billing on the supply to escape future inconveniences. Also, the buyer suffers (if he is a taxpayer) as without the GST invoice he will not be able to claim ITC. The seller not issuing a GST invoice will eventually lose his customer.

A narrative on GST Invoice

GST Invoice - Time and Kind Matters

Time - It is on the basis of the nature of the Supply (whether it is a supply of Goods or Services) that the time of issuing a GST invoice is determined.

While supplying goods - the GST invoice can only be issued by the taxpayer at the time of delivering goods to the buyer, distribution of Goods, before or after the eviction of goods from the outlet.
While supplying services - One must avail for the GST invoices either before providing the services (advance) or 30 Days from providing the services

Kind - The kind of GST invoice again depends on the nature of the supply delivered ( goods or services).

While delivering Goods - Supply should be marked with a triplicate of the GST invoice. Out of those three copies the original will be handed over to the customer while the duplicate will be handed over to the transporter and the triplicate will remain with the supplier.
While delivering Services - A duplicate of GST Invoice has to be issued while dealing in services. The original belongs to the recipient of the services and the duplicate is for the supplier.

GST Invoice - Contents a supplier must have in his invoice

The supplier has the freedom to generate a GST invoice as per his convenience but certain constituents are pre-decided by the Government which a supplier has to include in his GST Invoice.

Name, Address of the shop and GSTIN No. of the supplier.
Date and Time of issuing the invoice
A unique serial number which has numerals, alphabets or composition of special characters like “-” of “/”. The serial number is assigned for that financial year.
Name, Address GSTIN or UIN number of the Recipient (if available).
Name and address of the recipient, state name and code, this is valid in case if the recipient is unregistered under GST and the value of the invoice goes beyond Rs. 50,000.
Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN) code of Goods or Accounting Code of services. The HSN or AC codes are decided by the government and are mentioned to classify the commodity.
A description of the purchased Commodities or Utilities.
Quantity (number or volume) must be mentioned of the Goods.
The total monetary value of the supply of Goods or Services or both.
The taxable amount of the supply of Goods or Services or Both. Any discount or abatement given to the customer must be included in the bill.
Tax Rate (SGST,CGST, IGST,UTGST)
In case of supply outside the state premises, the name of the State along with the name of the place and the Pincode must be mentioned in the invoice.
Delivery address (if it is not the same as the place of supply).
Tax liability on Reverse Charge Basis must be mentioned.
Signature (manual or digital) of the supplier or other authorization.

Introduction to the Bill of Supply

Bill of Supply is the transaction invoice issued instead of a tax invoice or GST invoice. The bill does not contain any taxable amount and therefore, they are tax exempt. The is issued by the supplier in case if he is dealing only in tax immune supplies or is registered as the taxpayer under composition scheme.

Highlighted below are the contents a ‘Bill of Supply’ must have:

Name, Address of the shop and GSTIN No. of the supplier.
A unique serial number which has numerals, alphabets or composition of special characters like “-” of “/”. The serial number is assigned for that financial year.
Date and Time of issuing the invoice
Name, Address GSTIN or UIN number of the Recipient (if available).
HSN code or SAC Code of the Goods or Services Respectively.
A description of the purchased Commodities or Utilities.
The total monetary value of the Goods and Services or both. One must also mention the discount or abatement (if any).
Signature (manual or digital) of the supplier or other authorization.

The concept of HSN and SAC Codes in Invoices

The codes are decided by the government and are used to identify the commodities. Every commodity or utility has a separate code. HSN code is for the Goods and SAC code is for the services. Grounds of HSN and SAC Codes:

HSN or SAC has to be on the invoice if the supplier’s annual turnover was more than 1.5 Crores in the previous year.
2 Digit HSN Code is for the invoices of the businesses with an annual turnover of more than 1.5 Crore and less than 5 Crores in the previous year.
4 Digit HSN code is for the invoices of the businesses with an annual turnover of more than 5 Crores in the previous year.

Receipt of the Advance Payment

A formal document/invoice which is issued by the seller in regards to any supply of goods or services and is the evidence of the advance paid by the customer. Contents mandatory for the ‘Receipt of Advance Payment’

Name, Address of the shop and GSTIN No. of the supplier.
A unique serial number which has numerals, alphabets or composition of special characters like “-” of “/”. The serial number is assigned for that financial year.
Date and Time of issuing the invoice.
Name, Address GSTIN or UIN number of the Recipient.
A description of the purchased Commodities or Utilities.
The total sum of the advance taken by the supplier.
Tax Rate (SGST, CGST, IGST, UTGST)
Amount of Tax charged on the taxable;e goods and services (CGST, SGST, IGST, UTGST).
In case of supply outside the state premises, the name of the State along with the name of the place and the Pincode must be mentioned in the invoice.
Tax liability on Reverse Charge Basis must be mentioned.
Signature (manual or digital) of the supplier or other authorization.

As per the rules, if the relevant tax rate is not determined at the time of issuing the receipt of the advance payment, then the levied tax rate will be 18% and if the nature of the supply is not determined then it will come under the ‘Inter-State Supply’ division.
GST Invoice issued under Special Scenarios

Reverse Charge Basis - It is the reciprocal of the normal tax invoice generated by the supplier. This is a formal invoice generated by the receiver who himself is liable to pay the tax. The invoice has to be generated based on the payments made by the recipient during the day coarse and on which GST is imposed. Again the person registered under GST only can generate invoices related to Reverse Charge Basis. It is mandatory for the recipient to issue a payment voucher related to all the supplies at the time of making payments to the supplier.

Consecutive Supply of Goods - If the supply is done on a regular basis and there are successive statements of accounts or payment involved, the GST invoice shall be issued at the time of each payment or beforehand by the supplier. GST invoice is issued under Continuous Supply of Services when:

The due date of payment is mentioned in the contract beforehand also stating the date of the issue and payment.
The due date of payment is not mentioned in the contract, but the GST invoice shall be issued by the supplier at the time of payment.
On the basis of the mutual understanding of the supplier and the recipient, the payment is supposed to be done on the completion of the event, the GST invoice has to be issued stating the date of the completion of the event.

Export of Goods and Services - If the supplier is exporting the goods or services the GST invoices issued by him must have one of the following approvals:

Payment of Integrated GST
Bond or Letter of Undertaking without the payment of Integrated GST.

Apart from that, the name of the recipient, proper address of delivery and the name of the country where the goods are exported must be mentioned in the invoice.

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Usage of ‘Delivery Challan’
In below-mentioned occurrences, it is admissible for the merchant to issue ‘delivery challan’ instead of the invoice:

While supplying Liquid Gas where the quantity is unknown at the time of departure from the place of business.
Goods shipment for Job Work
Goods shipment for reasons other than supply.

To be noted: The delivery challan shall also be issued in triplicate, original for the receiver, one copy for transporter and one for the merchant.

Goods under semi-knocked down or completely-knocked down conditions

Goods transported from the site of business in semi knocked-down or completely knocked-down conditions:

The supplier has to furnish a complete bill before the removal of the 1st consignment from the site of supply.
For remaining consignments, the supplier shall furnish a delivery challan instead of the invoice as the invoice is already issued in the first supply.
Each consignment must have a copy of the delivery challan along with a copy of the issued invoice.
The final consignment will be accompanied by the original copy of challan.

Credit Note
A credit note is issued under circumstances where

It is spotted that the value of goods or the tax charged in the GST invoice by the supplier is more than the actual due amount.
In case the customer has returned the goods due to some reason.

The GST registered supplier who issues a credit note to the customer must enlist the details of such credit notes while filing GST return for the month in which it has been issued. Credit note details are required in the GST filing to count the GST accountability of the registered taxpayer.

Debit Note
Just the reverse of the credit note is the debit note. A debit note is issued by the supplier when he spots that the value of goods or the tax charged is less than the actual payable amount. The registered taxpayer must furnish in the GST return the details of all the debit notes he has issued to the customer. The details of the debit note must be enlisted for the month during which it was issued by the supplier.

More to know about GST invoice
Details related to GST invoices other than once mentioned above:

Either digital or manual both the invoices are accepted in the market.
The supply is terminated before the completion due to some reasons, the invoice shall be issued mentioning the extent of the supply made before termination.
The goods departed for sale or accepted as a return are removed before the supply takes place, the GST invoice shall be issued before the supply, at the time of the supply or 6 months from the date of departure of Goods, whatever suits the condition.
If the GST invoices are not issued in accordance with the above-mentioned regulations or are not mentioned in the GST return then the penalty of Rs. 25,000 shall be imposed on the supplier.