4 Important Rules To Make A GST Invoice

When Goods and Services Tax, or GST, was first introduced, every businessman was in the chaos of the expected changes that were bound to occur. After that, when the chaos calmed down, everyone started adapting to this new technique. However, even after years of implementation, GST sounds like an enigma to some. Where the word taxes already frets many people out, now with the changed rules with GST, the fear isn’t reduced. Keeping this thought, you must know and figure out the basics of this including how to create a GST invoice and raise a GST invoice. Once you get to know it, you’ll find out that it wasn’t as difficult as you considered it to be. 

What is a GST Invoice?

Whenever a sale or purchase is made, the seller will provide you with a receipt that includes the cost of the product, the date and time of the purchase, and the name of the seller and buyer. This receipt is called a GST invoice. All the services are noted down in the GST invoice besides all the details of the purchase. So, through this, the customer can see the bifurcation of product prices before CGST and SGST.  

When to Raise a GST Invoice?

As per the general approach, an invoice might be raised right after the product is sold or bought. However, this process can become quite a handful to take care of and can cause issues due to being tedious in the long run. Therefore, the government is easy on businesses and provides them with a certain time frame in which these invoices can be filed or created. There are various events when you might need to raise a GST invoice.

On Goods

When some goods are purchased, the seller has to file an invoice with the name of the recipient as soon as the product is shipped for delivery. Or it can be done during that time when the product is received by the consumer himself. There might be some customers that frequent your business. So for them as well you have to create a GST invoice as soon as the payment is received or the account statement is generated for the same.

On Services

For providing services, firms and businesses can file GST invoices about 30 days after the service is provided. This time limit must be obeyed as it is laid down by the government.

On Banking Services

Banks and such financial institutions also offer many services to businesses and GST invoices need to be raised for such services as well. However, the time frame for invoicing these services is increased from the usual 30 days to 45 days.

4 Rules to Create a GST Invoice

Many rules need to be kept in mind to create a GST invoice. This ensures that the invoice is valid and complete with all the information that it should essentially hold.

GST Invoice for Exports

To invoice exports, you need to ensure that you add a declaration along with the invoice. The declaration should contain details that specify that the invoice for the particular expert will be raised and the GST is paid for. In addition to this, the GST invoice should contain essentials like the destination country, the application number, date of export, name and address of the buyer, address of delivery of export, including other information. However, in cases where the recipient is unregistered or has clearly stated that an invoice is not required from your end, you can omit to raise a GST invoice for the same.

Raising a Revised GST Invoice

There might be certain cases where you’ll require to alter the GST invoice which has already been raised. But is it possible? Yes, the government has made provisions for these cases as well. You can change the invoice amount to a relatively higher or lower amount to revise the GST invoice. You can also alter any changes in the SGST, CGST, and any such values. However, it must be noted that these changes need to be done within 1 month from the previous filing. The altered invoice would need details like a mark of ‘revised invoice’, the issue date and nature of the document, the serial number and date of the invoice, the details of the shipping address, the unique serial number, the signature of an authorized identity, GSTIN and such details of the recipient, GSTIN and such details of the seller.

Copies of Invoices for the Supply of Goods

In the case of goods, often a transporter is required to transfer the goods from one place to the other. Therefore, while filing a GST invoice for the supply of goods, you need three copies of the GST invoice. The first and the original copy is for use for the recipient. The second or the duplicate copy would be handed to the transporter or the person responsible for delivering the goods from the seller to the buyer. The third copy is kept with the supplier himself.

Copies of Invoices for the Supply of Services

In the case of services, the role of the transporter is largely eliminated. Therefore, in this case, only two GST invoices need to be raised. The original copy of the first copy is for the recipient to keep. And the second copy of the duplicate copy is stored by the supplier. 

Conclusion

Even though filing GST seems quite complex, to begin with, once you understand it properly, you will realize that raising a GST invoice is pretty simple and more efficient than other taxing systems. There are some cases in which filing a GST invoice might not be required at all. This is for those cases when the services and products are exempted from GST as such.

But in this case, the recipient would himself have to file an invoice and use it for personal use when required. With a few rules and guidelines in mind, you will be able to create a GST invoice at ease. You just need to keep some prerequisites in mind or seek professional assistance if you run into some problems.