Bill of supply vs tax invoice: which one should you issue?

• Tax invoice: for taxable supplies. Shows the tax rate and the CGST, SGST/UTGST or IGST charged, and lets a registered buyer claim input tax credit.
• Bill of supply: for exempt supplies, and for every supply by a composition taxpayer. Shows no tax, and the buyer can't claim input tax credit on it.

The rule comes from section 31(3)(c) of the CGST Act; the contents of each document are set by Rules 46 (tax invoice) and 49 (bill of supply) of the CGST Rules.

• Supplier's name, address and GSTIN.
• A serial number unique for the financial year, and the date.
• Buyer's name, address and GSTIN if registered.
• HSN code of goods or SAC of services, and a description.
• Value of the supply after any discount.
• Signature or digital signature of the supplier or an authorised person (not needed on an electronic bill).

Composition taxpayers must also print “composition taxable person, not eligible to collect tax on supplies” at the top of each bill of supply.

If you make both taxable and exempt supplies to an unregistered buyer, Rule 46A lets you issue a single invoice-cum-bill of supply covering both, which must contain the details required by both rules.

1. 1For taxable supplies, use GST invoice: it works out CGST/SGST or IGST, totals and the amount in words, and downloads a PDF.
2. 2For a bill of supply, open the Excel editor, start from the Invoice template, remove the tax columns and add the details above.
3. 3Save it as PDF with Excel to PDF or from the editor's download menu.

For the fields of a tax invoice, see GST invoice format.