GST Invoice Serial Number Rules

GST Invoice Serial Number Rules

GST Invoice Serial Number Rules

Following are the mandates that issuers need to follow as per Rule 46 (b).
  • The invoice numbers must be sequential or consecutive.
  • They must be unique for a financial year, containing an alphanumeric combination.
  • A serial number must not exceed 16 characters.
  • GST should be split into CGST, SGST, and IGST. It must not be charged as a whole.
  • In the case of any transactions made outside the issuer’s state, a separate tax called IGST has to be charged. On the other hand, SGST and CGST should be charged against sales within the same state.

GST invoice signature rules

The CGST rules make the issuer's signature one of the mandatory fields in a GST invoice. Specifications of a valid signature are as follows.
  • The bill can be signed by hand or digitally, provided it is affixed as per the mandates of the Information Technology Act, 2000. 
  • The GST invoice bill must be signed by the supplier or his/her authorized representative.
As per section 116 (2), his/her ‘authorized representative’ can be a company secretary, a practising advocate, a chartered accountant, a retired officer of the Commercial Tax Department, or a regular employee appearing on the supplier’s behalf.

GST invoice payment rules

Another mandate under the CGST Act concerns a scenario where a GST-registered individual makes purchases from a seller who is not registered. There can be 2 cases here.
  • If the registered individual buys from an unregistered entity, the former has to issue a tax invoice.
  • If the registered individual receives supplies exempted from GST, he/she needs to issue a bill of supply instead of an invoice bill.
Now, you might be wondering that it might get difficult to always issue an invoice following such extensive guidelines right upon purchase every time. 
To ease this process, the Indian government has also provided outlines regarding the time of issue of invoice under GST.


Created & Posted By Aashima
Accounts Executive at TAXAJ

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