Documentation: Tax Invoice; Bill of Supply; Receipt Voucher; Payment Voucher; Refund Voucher

Tax Invoice

Section 31 of the CGST Act has made it mandatory for every registered supplier to issue a tax invoice for every supply of goods or services. If the supplier is unregistered, the buyer needs to issue a payment voucher and a tax invoice.

A tax invoice should ideally contain the below details:

Supplier name and contact
Customer name and contact
Tax invoice number
PAN and GSTIN of the supplier and customer
Date of issue of invoice
Place of supply of goods
Tax rate, HSN code and tax amount
Description of goods sold
The taxable amount, along with the gross value of goods sold
Discount given
Applicability of RCM
Signature of supplier or his authorised representative

For supply of goods

For the supply of goods from one place to another, a tax invoice shall be issued on or before the time of transfer. If it does not involve a transfer of goods from one place to another, the supplier can issue a tax invoice when the goods are delivered to the recipient.

For supply of services

A tax invoice shall be issued within 30 days from the date of supply. If the supplier is a bank or an insurance company, then the invoice must be issued within 45 days from the date of supply.

Bill of Supply

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.

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:

Receipt Voucher

A receipt voucher is a manually written receipt for services or goods sold. This is typically used in place of a printable receipt. These receipts are typical for taxicabs, construction material, equipment rentals, and labor services. Vouchers are considered an adequate record of expenses for auditing purposes.

Cash receipts typically require a formal receipt voucher as proof of payment. This receipt is necessary because cash is not as auditable as checks or credit card payments. When an individual makes a cash payment to a company, he usually receives a hand-written receipt as proof of payment.

A receipt voucher book is a book of blank voucher forms. They are typically available at office supply stores and include carbon copies as audit logs for the organization. When construction material is delivered to a work site, it normally includes a voucher as proof of payment and delivery of goods. The driver and purchaser of material sign this voucher.

Most accounting software packages include receipt voucher forms. These forms provide a standard voucher for the business to use with manual receipts. The voucher typically includes all the necessary information to make a receipt authentic.

Many concerts and entertainment events accept these vouchers as proof of purchase. These vouchers can be printed on a home computer and used as a receipt for entry into the event. Vouchers have become a standard method of printing receipts that is both convenient and efficient.

Format of Receipt Voucher

The format of Receipt Voucher has been provided by the CGST Rules, 2017:

Name, address, and GSTIN of the supplier
Serial number
Date of its issue
Name, address and GSTIN or Unique Identity Number, if registered, of the recipient
Description of goods or services
Amount of advance taken
Rate of tax (central tax, State tax, integrated tax, Union territory tax or cess)
Amount of tax charged in respect of taxable goods or services (central tax, State tax, integrated tax, Union territory tax or cess)
Place of supply along with the name of State and its code, in case of a supply in the course of inter-State trade or commerce
Whether the tax is payable on reverse charge basis
Signature or digital signature of the supplier or his authorised representative:

Payment Voucher

A payment voucher is a way to record payments made to suppliers and maintain a history of payments that your business has made. Companies use vouchers to gather and file supporting documents that are required to approve and track payments of liabilities. Vouchers are used by accounts payable (short-term bills owed by companies to suppliers), invoicing and payroll.

A payment voucher is a memorandum of a company’s liabilities. It’s an important accounting tool that ensures payments are properly authorised and helps you to determine whether goods and services purchased have been actually received.

Payment voucher can be passed using Single Entry or Double Entry mode by configuring the setting Use Single Entry mode for Pymt/Rcpt/Contra in F12 configuration.

A payment voucher is especially useful in situations where payments are not due immediately. Suppliers often grant companies credit extensions so that payments can be made in the near future, e.g., 30, 60 or 90 days. When the company receives goods from a supplier along with the invoice, instead of releasing funds immediately for payment, they create a voucher to remind them of the payment due or as a statement of payments already made.

The voucher includes all supporting documents to show how much money is owed and the payments due to a supplier or vendor for outstanding payments. Vouchers and other necessary documents are recorded in the voucher register.

Contains:

A voucher contains the backup documents for accounts payable. It’s a supporting document for an invoice and can include:

Supplier invoice
The vendor or supplier’s details, e.g., name, address, email, etc.
Terms of payment, e.g., amount owed, due date, discounts, etc.
Purchase order (PO) with amount owed and due date
Shipping receipt showing goods have been received by the company
General ledger accounts
Signatures from authorised representatives of the company for purchase/payment
Proof of payment and date of payment of invoice

Refund Voucher

There can be circumstances where a supplier receives advance payment in respect of a particular supply to be made in the future. In such situations, the supplier issues a Receipt Voucher for the amount of advance received from the recipient.

However, there can be times when supply of goods or services against which advance is received gets cancelled subsequent to the receipt of advance payment by the supplier. That is to say, the supplier has received the advance payment and issued the Receipt Voucher for which the supply of goods or services gets cancelled.

In such a case, the supplier needs to refund the advance amount received and issue a refund voucher to the recipient.

Refund Receipt: Refund of Advance Payment

In case of a refund of the advance payment and nil supply, the taxpayer can issue a refund voucher. The taxpayer shall create the refund in the following format and must contain the following information mandatorily:

Name, address and GSTIN of the supplier.
A consecutive serial number for refund receipt not exceeding sixteen characters, in one or multiple series, containing alphabets or numerals or special characters-hyphen or dash and slash, unique for a financial year.
Date of its issue of refund receipt.
Name, address and GSTIN of the recipient, if registered under GST. In case the recipient is not registered under GST, then name, address and place of supply.
Number and date of receipt voucher.
Description of goods or services in respect of the refund
The amount of refund made.
Rate of GST tax charged on the transaction like CGST, SGST, IGST and GST Cess.
Amount of GST tax paid by the recipient.
If the reverse charge was applicable.
Signature or digital signature of the supplier or his authorised representative.