GST bill format for shops in India: B2B vs B2C, and place of supply explained

Not tax advice. GST rules change and depend on your business. This is a general guide as of October 2026. Confirm how it applies to you with your CA or tax practitioner.

The short answer

A registered shop gives a tax invoice for taxable sales. A B2C bill goes to a customer without a GSTIN. A B2B tax invoice goes to a registered business and must also carry the buyer's GSTIN, so they can claim input tax credit. Whether the bill shows CGST + SGST or IGST depends on the place of supply, not on where the buyer is registered.

What every GST bill from your shop should show

• Your shop's name, address and GSTIN.
• A unique invoice number in one series per financial year, and the date.
• For each item: description, HSN code, quantity, taxable value, GST rate and tax amount.
• The tax split: CGST and SGST, or IGST.
• The total, and any round-off as its own line.
• Place of supply (state), especially when it is a different state from yours.
• A signature, or a digital signature, of you or your authorised signatory.

What changes on a B2B tax invoice

For a registered buyer, add their GSTIN, legal name and address. The GSTIN is 15 characters: two digits for the state (27 is Maharashtra, 24 is Gujarat), the 10-character PAN, an entity number, the letter Z and a check character. A published sample looks like 27AAPFU0939F1ZV.

A wrong GSTIN means the buyer can't claim the credit, so check it before you print. B2B invoices are also reported invoice by invoice in your GSTR-1, while most B2C sales are reported as totals.

For larger bills to unregistered customers, the rules also ask for the buyer's name and address. Ask your CA for the current limit.

CGST + SGST or IGST? Place of supply at the counter

For goods, the place of supply is generally where the movement of the goods ends. At a shop counter, the buyer takes the goods from your shop, so the movement ends in your state. That makes it an intra-state sale: CGST + SGST.

This holds even when a business buyer's GSTIN is from another state. A Gujarat-registered trader who collects goods at your Mumbai shop gets a bill with Maharashtra as the place of supply and CGST + SGST.

When you deliver the goods to another state, the movement ends there. The place of supply is the destination state, and the bill carries IGST.

Worked example: ₹1,000 taxable value at 18%, shop in Maharashtra

Walk-in customer at the counter

CGST 9% = ₹90 + SGST 9% = ₹90

Place of supply: Maharashtra

Gujarat-registered buyer collects at the counter

CGST ₹90 + SGST ₹90

Place of supply: Maharashtra

Goods delivered to the buyer in Gujarat

IGST 18% = ₹180

Place of supply: Gujarat

The total tax is the same; what changes is which government receives it. Bill-to and ship-to different parties, or goods sent through a transporter, have their own rules — check those with your CA.

Bill of supply, estimates and credit notes

• A composition dealer, or a shop selling only exempt goods, issues a bill of supply instead of a tax invoice, with no GST charged.
• An estimate or quotation is not a tax invoice. Give it its own number series and make the tax invoice when you actually bill.
• When a customer returns goods, a credit note reduces the tax you report. It should refer to the original invoice.

How Slaby handles this

Slaby's counter billing works out GST from the HSN code and rate you set on each item. Add the buyer's GSTIN on a bill and Slaby checks the format and check character, prints both GSTINs and the place of supply, and keeps your state as the place of supply unless you mark the bill as delivered to another state. Estimates have their own EST- series, and counter returns issue a credit note.

Your CA can then download GSTR-1 (Excel and JSON) and a GSTR-3B summary made from the same bills. Slaby does not generate IRN e-invoices or e-way bills and does not file returns.

Counter billing comes with every paid plan, from Lite at ₹299 a month, after a 14-day free trial.

Common questions

Do I need the customer's GSTIN on every bill?

No. Only a registered business buyer who wants to claim input tax credit needs their GSTIN on the bill. A walk-in customer's bill doesn't need one.

A buyer from another state is at my counter. Do I charge IGST?

Generally no. If they take the goods from your shop, the place of supply is your state and you charge CGST + SGST. IGST applies when you deliver to their state.

Can one bill have items at different GST rates?

Yes. Each line carries its own HSN code and rate, and the bill totals the tax by type.

Is an estimate the same as a proforma invoice?

Both are for the buyer's reference before the sale and are not tax invoices. Neither is reported as a sale in your GST return.

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