12 guides

Invoice format guides

There are seven documents an Indian business routinely calls an invoice, and only one of them is a tax invoice. These pages explain what each is for, what it must contain, and when to issue which.

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Overview

Invoice format in India

Tax invoice, bill of supply, proforma, quotation, receipt, credit note and delivery challan — what each one is for, what it must contain, and when to issue which.

Guide

What to put on an invoice

The fields every invoice needs, the four omissions that hold payment up, and how to word payment terms so an invoice does not sit in an inbox for a month.

Reference

Invoice number format

What GST requires of an invoice number, a series format that sorts correctly and never collides, and how to handle gaps, restarts and multiple series.

GST and compliance

Format

GST invoice format

The fields a GST tax invoice must carry under Rule 46, when to split the rate into CGST and SGST instead of IGST, and how long you have to issue one.

Reference

Tax invoice vs bill of supply

When GST requires a bill of supply instead of a tax invoice, what each document must contain, and why issuing the wrong one costs your customer their credit.

Compliance

E-invoicing in India

Who has to generate an IRN, what the Invoice Registration Portal actually does, the 30-day reporting window, and where a PDF generator fits alongside it.

Other documents

Format

Proforma invoice format

What a proforma invoice is, how it differs from a tax invoice and a quotation, what it must say, and why it never supports input tax credit.

Format

Quotation format

What a business quotation should contain, how it differs from an estimate and a proforma, and the terms that stop a quote being negotiated after acceptance.

Format

Payment receipt format

What a payment or money receipt should contain, how it differs from an invoice, and how to handle advances, part payments and balances due.

Format

Credit note and debit note format

When to issue a credit note versus a debit note, what each must reference, and the deadline after which a credit note can no longer reduce your tax.

Specific situations

Guide

Freelance invoice format

How a freelancer or consultant in India should invoice: GST or no GST, TDS on your fee, invoicing overseas clients, and getting paid on time.

Format

Export invoice format

What an export invoice must carry, the endorsement that depends on whether you export under LUT or with tax paid, and how to handle foreign currency.