Tax invoice format: what makes a bill a tax invoice
Who has to issue one, what it must say, how many copies it needs, and where a tax invoice differs from a bill of supply, a cash memo or a proforma.
Make a tax invoice freeA tax invoice is the document that carries GST from you to your buyer. It is the only paper on which the buyer can claim input tax credit, which is why it is the one document your customers will chase you about. Everything else — proforma, estimate, cash memo, delivery challan — moves goods or information, but not credit.
If you are registered as a regular taxpayer and you make a taxable supply, you issue a tax invoice. This page covers who must issue one, the particulars it must carry, the deadlines, and the specific cases where the rules bend — advances, exports, reverse charge and small counter sales.
What this format must carry
Every field below, with whether it is mandatory and what it is for.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The words "Tax Invoice" | Not strictly prescribed, but label it clearly. A buyer's accounts team should not have to guess whether the paper carries credit. | |
| Serial number and date | Up to 16 characters, consecutive, unique per financial year, with the date of issue alongside. | |
| Supplier legal name, address, GSTIN | Trade name may be printed too, but the registered legal name must appear. | |
| Recipient name, address, GSTIN | Full details for a registered buyer. For an unregistered buyer, name, address and delivery state are needed once the value crosses ₹50,000. | |
| Place of supply and state code | Drives the CGST/SGST versus IGST decision and must match the state code in the buyer's GSTIN for intra-state supplies. | |
| HSN / SAC, description, quantity, unit | One line per item with its own code, so the rate-wise summary can be built from the invoice itself. | |
| Taxable value, rate and tax amount | Taxable value per line, then CGST, SGST, IGST or cess shown as separate columns or a summary block. | |
| Reverse charge and export declarations | Say whether tax is payable on reverse charge. Exports carry a declaration about supply under LUT or with payment of IGST. | |
| IRN and QR code | Mandatory only for businesses covered by e-invoicing — currently aggregate turnover above ₹5 crore. The IRN and signed QR must be printed on the invoice. | |
| Signature or DSC | Manual signature, or a digital signature if the invoice is issued and sent electronically. |
Guidance only. GST rules and rates change by notification — confirm the requirements for your business on the CBIC portal or with your CA.
Tax invoice, bill of supply or cash memo?
A tax invoice is issued by a regular registered taxpayer on a taxable supply, and it shows GST as a separate amount. A bill of supply is issued when there is no tax to show — you are a composition dealer, or the goods are exempt or nil-rated — and it carries no tax column at all.
"Cash memo" is a trade habit rather than a legal category. If you are registered, the slip you hand a walk-in customer is a tax invoice regardless of what it is titled, and it must carry the Rule 46 particulars. A proforma invoice is neither: it is a quotation dressed as an invoice, creates no tax liability, and must never be numbered in your live invoice series.
Deadlines and copies
Goods must be invoiced on or before removal from your premises. Services get 30 days from the date of supply. Banks, insurers and financial institutions get 45 days. Miss these and the invoice is late even if the tax is eventually paid.
Goods invoices go out in triplicate — buyer, transporter, supplier — while service invoices need only a duplicate. Where you receive an advance before supply, a receipt voucher is issued at that point, and the tax invoice follows once the supply actually happens.
Special cases worth knowing
On reverse charge purchases from unregistered suppliers, the registered buyer issues a self-invoice and a payment voucher. Exports use a tax invoice with an endorsement stating whether the supply is under a Letter of Undertaking without payment of IGST, or with payment of IGST. Both are still tax invoices; only the declaration changes.
For counter sales under ₹200 to unregistered buyers who do not ask for a bill, a single consolidated tax invoice at the close of the day is enough. Most shops issue a slip anyway — and if you would rather that slip be a proper compliant invoice from the start, RetailDek's free invoice generator produces one in a couple of minutes.
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.
Make a tax invoice freeTax Invoice Format — FAQs
"Retail invoice" is an older term from the VAT era for a bill given to an end customer who cannot claim credit. Under GST there is no separate retail invoice — a registered seller issues a tax invoice to every buyer, and simply omits the GSTIN when the customer is unregistered.
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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