Stationery bill format when half the basket is tax-free
Notebooks and pencils at nil, geometry boxes at 5%, pens and files at 18% — a school-season bill that has to get all three right.
Look up stationery HSN codes freeStationery became one of the trickiest baskets in Indian retail from 22 September 2025, when a large part of it moved to nil. Exercise books, notebooks, graph books, pencils, crayons, pastels, erasers, sharpeners, printed maps, atlases and globes now carry no GST at all. Geometry and colour boxes sit at 5%. Pens, files, folders and most office supplies remain at 18%.
That means a single school-season bill can carry exempt, 5% and 18% lines together, and the format has to separate them clearly enough that a parent buying a list of twenty items can follow it. This page covers the rate handling, the mixed-document question, and the school and office supply side of the trade.
What this format must carry
Every field below, with whether it is mandatory and what it is for.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shop name, address, GSTIN | Header block. School supply orders often need it for the institution's own records. | |
| Bill number and date | Consecutive series, unique for the financial year, with a separate series per counter during school season. | |
| Customer or institution details | For school and office supply, the institution name and GSTIN where registered — they will want the credit. | |
| Item name with HSN | HSN per item. Within one bill you may span paper products, plastics, writing instruments and drawing instruments. | |
| Quantity and unit | Piece, dozen, packet, ream or set. Reams and dozens are where quantity errors usually creep in. | |
| Rate and amount | Per unit selling rate. Bulk school lists are often priced at a set discount, which must be recorded on the bill. | |
| Exempt items subtotal | Notebooks, pencils, erasers and similar nil-rated items grouped with no tax against them. | |
| Rate-wise GST summary | Separate blocks for 5% and 18% lines with CGST and SGST split, alongside the exempt subtotal. | |
| Discount on the invoice | School-list and bulk discounts recorded on the bill itself, since only on-invoice discounts reduce taxable value. | |
| Total with round-off | Rounded grand total with the difference shown separately. |
Guidance only. GST rules and rates change by notification — confirm the requirements for your business on the CBIC portal or with your CA.
Three rates in one basket
The nil-rated group is broad: exercise books and notebooks, graph and lab notebooks, pencils, crayons and pastels, erasers, sharpeners, printed maps, atlases and globes. Mathematical, geometry and colour boxes moved to 5%. Pens of all kinds, highlighters, files, folders, tape, printer paper and most office supplies stay at 18%.
Because exempt and taxable goods appear together, the right document for an unregistered customer is an invoice-cum-bill of supply — taxable lines with their tax, exempt lines listed separately with none. Keep the HSN and rate on the item master so a notebook is never accidentally billed at 18% in the middle of the rush.
School season and institutional supply
School lists are bulk sales with thin margins and heavy volume, and they are usually billed against a printed list rather than item by item at the counter. Build the list as a saved set so it prices consistently across the season, and record any list discount on the invoice itself.
Supplying schools, colleges and offices means the buyer is often registered and wants input tax credit, so their GSTIN and correct HSN codes matter. If you are unsure which code applies to a particular item, RetailDek's free HSN code finder will look it up by product name.
Printing, photocopy and other service lines
Many stationery shops also run photocopy, printing, lamination and binding. Those are services with SAC codes rather than goods with HSN codes, and they belong on separate lines with their own tax treatment even when they appear on the same bill as goods.
Keep the two sides distinguishable in your reporting too. Service work behaves differently from stock sales — it consumes toner and paper you have already bought — and a bill that mixes them into one figure hides which part of the shop is actually earning.
Skip the template — generate it
Filling a blank Excel sheet every time is where numbering gaps and missing fields creep in. Our free tool builds this document with the fields already in the right places, and you can download it as a PDF — no sign-up, nothing leaves your browser.
Look up stationery HSN codes freeStationery Shop Bill Format — FAQs
Since 22 September 2025, exercise books and notebooks, graph books, pencils, crayons and pastels, erasers, sharpeners, printed maps, atlases and globes attract nil GST. Geometry and colour boxes are at 5%, while pens and most office supplies remain at 18%.
Make it the output, not the chore
Save your items and parties once, and every document comes out numbered, GST-correct and ready to print — with the stock and reports updating behind it.
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