o types of invoices are issued:

1. Tax invoice – This is issued to registered dealers, and can be used to claim tax credit. Sample formats of the two main types of tax invoice in the current tax regime, the Rule 11 Excise invoice and tax invoice are shown below.
   
2. Retail or commercial invoice – This is issued to an unregistered dealer or retail customer, and no tax credit can be claimed on this invoice. Sample format of a retail invoice in the current tax regime is shown below.
   

 

Invoicing in the GST regime

In the GST regime, two types of invoices will be issued:

1. Tax invoice
2. Bill of supply

Tax invoice

When a registered taxable person supplies taxable goods or services, a tax invoice is issued. Based on the rules regarding details required in a tax invoice, a sample tax invoice has been shown below.

What is the time limit for issue of tax invoice?

Supply of goods

The tax invoice must be issued before or at the time ofRemoval of goods, where supply involves movement of goods E.g. – When Super Cars Ltd, a car manufacturer, supplies cars to its dealer Ravindra Automobiles, the invoice must be issued at the time of removal of the cars from Super Cars Ltd’s premises. This is because the supply involves movement of the cars to Ravindra Automobiles’ premises. OR Delivery of goods to the recipient, where supply does not require movement of goods E.g. – Super Cars Ltd purchases a generator set, which will be assembled and installed at the factory premises by the supplier. Here, since the supply does not require movement of the generator set, the invoice must be issued at the time when the generator set is made available to Super Cars Ltd.

Supply of services

The tax invoice must be issued within 30 days from the date of supply of the service. Where the supplier is a bank or any financial institution, the invoice must be issued within 45 days of the supply of service.

Note: In case a person paying tax on reverse charge receives goods or services from an unregistered supplier, the receiver must issue an invoice on the date of receipt of goods or services.

How many copies of the tax invoice are required?

For supply of goods, three copies of the invoice are required – Original, Duplicate, and Triplicate.

Original invoice: The original invoice is issued to the receiver, and is marked as ‘Original for recipient’.

Duplicate copy: The duplicate copy is issued to the transporter, and is marked as ‘Duplicate for transporter’. This is not required if the supplier has obtained an invoice reference number.  The Invoice reference number is given to a supplier when he uploads a tax invoice issued by him in the GST portal. It is valid for 30 days from the date of upload of invoice.

Triplicate copy: This copy is retained by the supplier, and is marked as ‘Triplicate for supplier’.

For supply of services, two copies of the invoice are required:

• Original Invoice: The original copy of the invoice is to be given to receiver, and is marked as ‘Original for recipient’.
• Duplicate Copy: The duplicate copy is for the supplier, and is marked as ‘Duplicate for supplier’.

What details must a tax invoice for export contain?

An export invoice must, in addition to the details required in a tax invoice, contain the following details:

Export invoice
Must have the words ‘“Supply meant for export on payment of IGST” or “Supply meant for export under bond without payment of IGST”
Name and address of the recipient
Delivery address
Number and date of ARE-1 (application for removal of goods for export)

Bill of Supply

Bill of Supply is to be issued by a registered supplier in the following cases:

• Supply of exempted goods or services
• Supplier is paying tax under composition scheme

Based on the rules regarding details required in a Bill of supply, a sample Bill of Supply has been shown below.

The bill of supply need not be issued when the value of goods or services supplied is less than Rs 100, unless the receiver insists for the bill. However, a consolidated bill of supply should be prepared at the end of the business day for all such supplies for which the bill of supply is not issued.

How to revise the values of an invoice already issued?

To revise the taxable value or GST charged in an invoice, a debit note or supplementary invoice or credit note must be issued by the supplier.

Debit note/supplementary invoice- These are to be issued by a supplier to record increase in taxable value &/or GST charged in the original invoice.

Credit note- These are to be issued by a supplier to record decrease in taxable value &/or GST charged in the original invoice. Credit note must be issued on or before 30^th September following the end of the financial year in which the supply was made OR the date of filing of the relevant annual return, whichever is earlier.

Let us understand the time limit for issue of credit note with an example.

Example

Super Cars Ltd sells spare parts worth Rs. 6,00,000 to its dealer Ravindra Automobiles on 1^st November ‘17.  On 2^nd November ’17, Ravindra Automobiles returned spare parts worth Rs 1,00,000, being damaged goods. Super Cars Ltd wants to raise a credit note for the goods returned.

Let us ascertain the last date by when Super Cars Ltd must issue the credit note using 2 scenarios-

Scenario 1- They file annual return of the Financial Year 17-18 on 1^st December ‘18

Scenario 2- They file annual return of the Financial Year 17-18 on 31^st May ‘18.

Scenario	Date of original supply	Annual return filing date	Condition for determining last date to issue credit note	Last date for issuing credit note
Scenario 1	1st November 2017	1st December ‘18	30th September following the end of the financial year in which the supply was made or the date of filing annual return, whichever is earlier	30th September ‘18
Scenario 2		31st May ‘18		31st May ‘18

 

What details should debit notes, supplementary invoices and credit notes include?

Debit notes, supplementary invoices and credit notes must include the following details:

Debit note/Supplementary Invoice/Credit Note
Nature of the document must be indicated prominently, such as ‘revised invoice’ or ‘supplementary invoice’
Name, address, and GSTIN of the supplier
A consecutive serial number containing only alphabets and/or numerals, unique for a financial year
Date of issue of the document
If recipient is registered- Name, address and GSTIN/Unique ID number of the recipient
If recipient is unregistered- Name, address of recipient and address of delivery, with state name and code
Serial number and date of the original tax invoice or bill of supply
Taxable value of the goods or services, rate of tax and the amount of tax credited or debited to the recipient
Signature or digital signature of the supplier or his authorized representative

Every registered taxable person has to furnish outward supply details in Form GSTR-1 by the 10^th of the subsequent month. On the 11^th, the visibility of inward supplies is made available to the recipient in the auto-populated GSTR-2A. The period from 11^thto 15^th will allow for any corrections (additions, modifications and deletion) in Form GSTR-2A and submission in Form GSTR-2 by 15^th of the subsequent month.The corrections (addition, modification and deletion) by the recipient in Form GSTR-2 will be made available to supplier in Form GSTR-1A. The supplier has to accept or reject the adjustments made by the recipient. The Form GSTR-1 will be amended according to the extent of correction accepted by supplier.

On 20^th, the auto-populated return GSTR-3 will be available for submission along with the payment. After the due date of filing the monthly return Form GSTR-3, the inward supplies will be matched with the outward supplies furnished by supplier, and then the final acceptance of input tax credit will be communicated in Form GST ITC-1.

Also, the mismatch input tax credit on account of excess claims or duplication claims will be communicated in Form GST ITC-1.Discrepancies not ratified will be added as output tax liability along with interest. However, within the prescribed time, if it is ratified, the recipient will be eligible to reduce this output tax liability.

Let us understand this with an example.

Let us now understand how to:

• Amend your registration details
• Apply for cancellation of registration
• Revoke your registration if it is cancelled

Amending Your Registration Details

• Any change in details furnished at the time of registration must be submitted within 15 days from the date of such changes in Form GST REG-11.
• Specific changes in Form GST REG-11 relating to the name of the business, partner details, managing committee, and so on, require approval from an officer. After verification, an approval order by the officer is sent in Form GST REG-12 to amend the details.
• Changes in business details that result in change of PAN number of the registered tax payer, require a fresh registration in Form GST REG-01.

Applying for Cancellation of Registration

• A registered taxable person seeking cancellation of registration, should submit Form GST REG-14 along with details of closing stock and other relevant documents.
• Within 7 days, a notice in Form GST REG-15 is issued to the taxable person to show cause with reason for such cancellation.
• After verification and approval by an officer, cancellation order in  Form GST REG-16 is issued within 30 days from the date of receipt of Form GST REG-15 or date of show cause.

A taxable person who has voluntarily registered is allowed to apply for cancellation only after completion of 1 year of registration. An officer determines the effective date of cancellation after directing the taxable person to clear any tax arrears and penalty, if any.

Revoking a Cancelled Registration

• In case the registration is cancelled by an officer, a taxable person can apply for revocation by submitting Form GST REG-17 within 30 days from date of cancellation order.
• If the officer requires additional details or clarification, Form GST REG-3 is issued within 3 working days.
• The taxable person then needs to respond by providing requisite details in Form GST REG-4 (within 7 working days).
• If the officer is satisfied, the cancellation is revoked by issuing an order in Form GST REG-18 within 30 days from date of such application.
• If the officer is not satisfied, the revocation application is rejected in Form GST REG-5. Prior to this rejection, the taxable person will be issued a show cause notice in Form GST REG-19 and hearing.

With each passing day, we are moving one step closer to the GST regime. The GST Bill has been  approved by President and the GST Council is in the process for forming the rules. As business begin their preparation towards the new taxation system, obtaining GST registration is the first step.

Liability for Registration in GST

Region	Aggregate Turnover
	Liability to Register	Liability for Payment of Tax
North East India	Rs 9 Lakhs	Rs 10 Lakhs
Rest of India	Rs 19 Lakhs	Rs 20 Lakhs

This ensures that on the day a dealer crosses Rs 20 Lakhs turnover, he is already registered, need to start charging GST, and is eligible to claim input tax credit. All existing dealers registered with any of the current laws (VAT/Excise/Service Tax) will also need to register under GST by default.

Important Note: The turnover considered here is the aggregate pan-India turnover (including value of non-taxable, exempt and export supplies) of a business entity, and not state-wise.

Example

Let us take an example to illustrate the liability of business to register under GST.

Super Cars Ltd. is a car manufacturing unit in Karnataka. They own ‘Super Cars Service Ltd’, a service unit located in Karnataka and Delhi. Additional details are furnished in the table below:

Business Unit	Location	PAN Number	Turnover (Rs)
Super Cars Ltd.	Karnataka	AEHCS3476M	125 Lakhs
Super Cars Service Ltd.	Karnataka	AEHCS3476M	20 Lakhs
Super Cars Service Ltd.	Delhi	AEHCS3476M	10 Lakhs

As per the example,

• All 3 units are registered under the same PAN AEHCS3476M
• To arrive at the aggregate turnover, the turnover of all the 3 units (Super Cars Ltd. and Super Cars Service Ltd. located in Karnataka and Delhi) will be considered.
• Therefore, the aggregate turnover will be Rs 155 Lakhs (Super Cars Ltd. Rs 125 Lakhs + Super Cars Service Ltd. of Karnataka Rs 20 Lakhs + Super Cars Services Ltd. of Delhi Rs 10 Lakhs) and are required to register under GST.

For Whom is Registration Mandatory?

The following categories of suppliers need to mandatorily register irrespective of turnover:

• Taxable person carrying on interstate supply
• Casual and non-resident taxable persons
• Businesses liable to pay tax under reverse charge
• Agents supplying on behalf of taxable person
• Input service distributor
• Sellers on e-commerce platforms
• Aggregator supplying services under his brand name
• Persons responsible to deduct TDS

Registration Forms for Dealers Registered under Existing Central and State Tax

• All dealers registered with central or state tax authorities will be auto-migrated and allotted with a provisional certificate of registration in Form GST REG-21.
• Within 6 months, dealers are required to submit Form GST REG-20 in the GST Portal along with information and documents as prescribed.
• If the information provided is complete and satisfactory, final registration certificate will be issued in Form GST REG-06.
• If the details submitted are not satisfactory, a show cause notice will be issued in Form GST REG-23, and there will be a hearing before cancelling the provisional registration. If the show cause hearing is not successful, or if the details are not provided within the stipulated period, the provisional registration allotted in Form GST REG-21 will be cancelled by issuing an order in Form GST REG-22.

During transition, if a taxable person is not required to register under GST, but was previously registered (Central and State law), he has an option to cancel the provisional registration issued by submitting the Form GST REG-24.