Tax invoice
Rule 46 of the CGST Rules
Straight from CBIC
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What a tax invoice must contain – supplier’s name, address and GSTIN, a serial number of not more than sixteen characters, date, recipient’s details, HSN code, description, quantity, value, taxable value, rate and amount of each tax, place of supply for inter-State supplies, whether reverse charge applies, and the signature. E-invoicing taxpayers must also print the QR code with the Invoice Reference Number.
What this means in practice
The parts that actually decide cases — the things a practitioner checks first.
HSN reporting: six digits where aggregate turnover exceeded Rs 5 crore in the previous year, four digits below that for B2B supplies. A wrong or missing HSN is a common late-fee and mismatch trigger.
The invoice number must be unique for the financial year and not exceed sixteen characters.
The exact words of the law
5,807 characters, uneditedReproduced from the CBIC text. We explain it above — but you should always be able to read it yourself.
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(a) name, address and Goods and Services Tax Identification Number of the supplier;
(b) a consecutive serial number not exceeding sixteen characters, in one or multiple series, containing alphabets or numerals or special characters- hyphen or dash and slash symbolised as "-” and "/" respectively, and any combination thereof, unique for a financial year;
(c) date of its issue;
(d) name, address and Goods and Services Tax Identification Number or Unique Identity Number, if registered, of the recipient;
(e) name and address of the recipient and the address of delivery, along with the name of the State and its code, if such recipient is un-registered and where the value of the taxable supply is fifty thousand rupees or more;
(f) name and address of the recipient and the address of delivery, along with the name of the State and its code, if such recipient is un-registered and where the value of the taxable supply is less than fifty thousand rupees and the recipient requests that such details be recorded in the tax invoice 8 [ Provided 10 [in cases involving supply of online money gaming or in cases] that where any taxable service is supplied by or through an electronic commerce operator or by a supplier of online information and database access or retrieval services to a recipient who is un-registered, irrespective of the value of such supply, a tax invoice issued by the registered person shall contain the 9 [name of the state of the recipient and the same shall be deemed to be the address on record of the recipient]];
(g) Harmonised System of Nomenclature code for goods or services;
(h) description of goods or services; ( i ) quantity in case of goods and unit or Unique Quantity Code thereof;
(j) total value of supply of goods or services or both;
(k) taxable value of the supply of goods or services or both taking into account discount or abatement, if any;
(l) rate of tax (central tax, State tax, integrated tax, Union territory tax or cess );
(m) amount of tax charged in respect of taxable goods or services (central tax, State tax, integrated tax, Union territory tax or cess );
(n) place of supply along with the name of the State, in the case of a supply in the course of inter-State trade or commerce;
(o) address of delivery where the same is different from the place of supply;
(p) whether the tax is payable on reverse charge basis; and
(q) signature or digital signature of the supplier or his authorised representative; and 1 [
(r) Quick Response code, having embedded Invoice Reference Number (IRN) in it, in case invoice has been issued in the manner prescribed under sub-rule
(4) of rule 48 ]. 2 [
(s) a declaration as below, that invoice is not required to be issued in the manner specified under sub-rule
(4) of rule 48 , in all cases where an invoice is issued, other than in the manner so specified under the said sub-rule
(4) of rule 48 , by the taxpayer having aggregate turnover in any preceding financial year from 2017-18 onwards more than the aggregate turnover as notified under the said sub-rule
(4) of rule 48 – "I/We hereby declare that though our aggregate turnover in any preceding financial year from 2017-18 onwards is more than the aggregate turnover notified under sub-rule
(4) of rule 48 , we are not required to prepare an invoice in terms of the provisions of the said sub-rule."] 3 [ Provided that the Board may, on the recommendations of the Council, by notification, specify- ( i ) the number of digits of Harmonised System of Nomenclature code for goods or services that a class of registered persons shall be required to mention; or (ii) a class of supply of goods or services for which specified number of digits of Harmonised System of Nomenclature code shall be required to be mentioned by all registered taxpayers; and (iii) the class of registered persons that would not be required to mention the Harmonised System of Nomenclature code for goods or services:] 11 [****] 4 [ Provided 12 [ further that in the case of ] the export of goods or services, the invoice shall carry an endorsement "SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT/SUPPLY TO SEZ UNIT OR SEZ DEVELOPER FOR AUTHORISED OPERATIONS ON PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX" or "SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT/SUPPLY TO SEZ UNIT OR SEZ DEVELOPER FOR AUTHORISED OPERATIONS UNDER BOND OR LETTER OF UNDERTAKING WITHOUT PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX", as the case maybe, and shall, in lieu of the details specified in clause (e), contain the following details, namely,- ( i ) name and address of the recipient; (ii) address of delivery; and (iii) name of the country of destination:] Provided also that a registered person 5 [other than the supplier engaged in making supply of services by way of admission to exhibition of cinematograph films in multiplex screens,] may no tissue a tax invoice in accordance with the provisions of clause
(b) of sub-section
(3) of section 31 subject to the following conditions, namely,-
(a) the recipient is not a registered person; and
(b) the recipient does not require such invoice, and shall issue a consolidated tax invoice for such supplies at the close of each day in respect of all such supplies. 6 [ Provided also that the signature or digital signature of the supplier or his authorised representative shall not be required in the case of issuance of an electronic invoice in accordance with the provisions of the Information Technology Act,2000 (21 of 2000):] 7 [ Provided also that the Government may, by notification, on the recommendations of the Council, and subject to such conditions and restrictions as mentioned therein, specify that the tax invoice shall have Quick Response (QR) code.]
What changed, and when
The amendment trail, newest first — because the version that applies to your case depends on the period.
2024-11-01 · Omitted
20/2024-CTdated08
Omitted (w.e.f. 01.11.2024) " Provided further that where an invoice is required to be issued under clause (f) of sub-section (3) of section 31 , a registered person may issue a consolidated invoice at the end of a month for supplies covered under sub-section (4) of section 9 , the aggregate value o
2024-11-01 · Substituted
20/2024-CTdated08
Substituted (w.e.f. 01.11.2024) vide Notification No. 20/2024-CT dated 08.10.2024.
2023-09-29 · Inserted
51/2023-CTdated29
Inserted vide Notification No. 51/2023-CT dated 29.09.2023.
2023-08-04 · Substituted
38/2023-CTdated04
Substituted vide Notification No. 38/2023-CT dated 04.08.2023.
2022-12-26 · Inserted
26/2022-CTdated26
Inserted vide Notification No. 26/2022-CT dated 26.12.2022.
2022-07-05 · Inserted
14/2022-CTdated05
Inserted vide Notification No. 14/2022-CT dated 05.07.2022.
2020-10-15 · Substituted
79/2020-CTdated15
Substituted vide Notification No. 79/2020-CT dated 15.10.2020 for "Provided that the Board may, on the recommendations of the Council, by notification, specify- ( i ) the number of digits of Harmonised System of Nomenclature code for goods or services that a class of registered persons shall be requ
2020-09-30 · Inserted
72/2020-CTdated30
Inserted (w.e.f. 30.09.2020) ) vide Notification No. 72/2020-CT dated 30.09.2020. [Corrected by Corrigendum GSR 611(E), dated 01.10.2020].
2019-07-18 · Inserted
33/2019-CTdated18
Inserted vide Notification No. 33/2019-CT dated 18.07.2019 with effect from 01.09.2019
2019-06-28 · Inserted
31/2019-CTdated
Inserted vide Notification No. 31/2019 – CT dated 28.06.2019 with effect from 01.04.2020 as notified by Notification No. 71/2019 dated 13.12.2019.
2018-12-31 · Inserted
74/2018-CTdated31
Inserted vide Notification No. 74/2018-CT dated 31.12.2018
2017-07-27 · Substituted
17/2017-CTdated27
Substituted vide Notification No. 17/2017-CT dated 27.07.2017. Till then it read as follows – Provided also that in the case of the export of goods or services, the invoice shall carry an endorsement "SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT ON PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX" or "SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT UNDER BOND OR LET
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Text reproduced from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, as available on 2026-09-05. The explanation and practice notes above are GSTZone’s own, written for this hub. If you spot anything out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it — this hub is checked daily against CBIC.
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