A business registered under GST issues a tax invoice to the buyer. Such an invoice mentions the GST rate charged on the goods and services sold. However, some businesses registered under GST cannot charge any tax on the invoice issued by them. Such dealers have to issue a Bill of Supply. A Bill of Supply is issued when GST is not applicable on a transaction or when GST is not to be recovered from the customers.
Who should issue Bill of Supply?
The following registrants should issue Bill of Supply:
Composition Dealer
A taxpayer whose turnover is less than Rs 1.5 crores* (Rs. 75 lakhs for north-east states and Uttarakhand) can opt for composition scheme. A dealer opting for composition scheme has to deposit tax on their receipts themselves, they are not allowed to collect any tax from their buyers. The GST has to be paid out of pocket by the composition dealer. They cannot charge GST in the invoice. Thus a composition dealer has to raise a Bill of Supply instead of a Tax Invoice. The composition dealer has to mention the words ‘composition taxable person not eligible to collect taxes on supplies’ on the Bill of Supply.
*CBIC has notified the increase to the threshold limit to Rs. 1.5 crores. The notification comes into effect from 1st April 2019.
Exporters
An exporter is also not required to charge GST on their invoice. This is because exports supplies are zero-rated. Hence a taxpayer exporting goods can issue a Bill of Supply in place of a tax invoice. The dealer has to mention the following in their Bill of Supply- “Supply Meant For Export On Payment Of IGST” “Supply Meant For Export Under Bond Or Letter Of Undertaking Without Payment Of IGST”
Exempted Goods Supplier
When a registered dealer supplies exempt goods or services they are required to issue a Bill of Supply. For example, when a registered taxpayer provides unprocessed agricultural products they have to issue a Bill of Supply instead of a tax invoice.
Contents of Bill of Supply
The GST law has specified certain particulars that should be present in a Bill of Supply. These are the details a Bill of Supply should have:
- Name, address, and GSTIN of the supplier
- Bill of Supply number (it must not exceed 16 characters, be generated consecutively and each Bill of Supply will have a unique number for that financial year)
- Date of issue
- If the recipient is registered then the name, address, and GSTIN of the recipient
- HSN Code of goods or Accounting Code for services. The number of digits that are required to be mentioned based on turnover in the preceeding financial year, is as follows:
| Turnover | No. of HSN digits |
| Turnover less than 1.5 crores | HSN code is not required |
| Turnover between 1.5 -5 crores | 2-digit HSN code |
| Turnover above 5 crores | must use 4-digit HSN code |
6. Description of goods/services
7. Value of the goods/services after adjusting any discount or abatement
8. Signature or Digital Signature of the supplier You can easily create and print GST compliant Bill of Supply using ClearTax GST Software in less than a minute.
Above is a sample of Bill of Supply generated using Easytax GST Software.