Salon GST invoice format: what every bill must show

A salon GST invoice must show your name, address and GSTIN; a consecutive invoice number of up to 16 characters, unique for the financial year; the date; the client’s details (name and address are compulsory from ₹50,000); the SAC or HSN code; a description; the taxable value after discount; the CGST and SGST rates and amounts; whether reverse charge applies; and a signature, unless the bill is electronic. The list comes from Rule 46 of the CGST Rules. Refunds and corrections go on a numbered credit note, and for any financial year those stop on 30 November after it ends.

The salon GST invoice format: a Rule 46 checklist

A sample bill, line by line

Here is how those parts look on a short thermal receipt. Everything on it is sample data.

• Top: salon name, address, GSTIN and the words “Tax invoice”.
• Number and date: DS/26-27/00042 is 14 characters: a short prefix, the financial year and a running number.
• Lines: each service with its price.
• Taxable value, CGST, SGST: the tax split in half, shown in rupees.
• Round off and total: the bill is rounded to the rupee on a separate line.
• Foot: the SAC and a line saying the bill is computer-generated.

Invoice numbers: short, in order, never reused

The number is where most home-made formats go wrong. Rule 46 says it must be consecutive, at most 16 characters, and unique for the financial year (April to March). A good pattern is PREFIX/YY-YY/NNNNN, with a prefix of 2 to 4 letters, so DS/26-27/00042. Long branch names in the prefix push you over 16 characters.

• Start again each April, or keep counting. Either works, as long as no number repeats within a year.
• Never delete a bill. A mistake is cancelled with a reason and stays in the series. Your CA reports how many numbers were used and how many were cancelled.
• Separate series are allowed for credit notes, fee invoices or branches, each with its own prefix.

The law also lets you skip a bill for an unregistered client who doesn’t want one and issue one consolidated invoice at the end of the day. For a salon a bill each time is simpler and better: the client gets a record, and your staff’s sales are tied to real bills.

The ₹50,000 rule for bridal and big bills

When an unregistered client’s bill has a taxable value of ₹50,000 or more, the invoice must carry their name and address, the delivery address and the state with its code. For a salon that is mostly bridal packages, big group bookings and large prepaid packages. Take the address before you charge, not after. Below ₹50,000 you only add these details if the client asks.

Business clients sometimes ask for their GSTIN on a beauty bill. The law blocks input tax credit on beauty treatment for most businesses, so it rarely helps them. Frizzi doesn’t put a client’s GSTIN on bills.

Tax invoice or bill of supply?

• Registered salon, normal scheme: a tax invoice with GST on every taxable line. Salon services aren’t exempt, so this is the usual case.
• Registered salon on the composition scheme: a bill of supply (Rule 49). It carries no GST because you can’t collect tax from clients under composition.
• Salon that isn’t registered: no GSTIN and no tax on the bill. Strictly, Rule 49 is written for registered sellers of exempt goods or on composition. For an unregistered salon, a plain numbered bill is fine; ask your CA if the heading matters.

Credit notes for refunds and late cancellations

When you refund a client or cancel a bill from an earlier month, you don’t change the old invoice. You issue a credit note (section 34, Rule 53). It needs:

• your name, address and GSTIN, and the words “Credit note”
• its own consecutive number of up to 16 characters, unique for the year
• its date
• the client’s name and address (and state, for an unregistered client)
• the number and date of the original invoice
• the taxable value, the rate and the tax being credited
• a signature, or the electronic equivalent

A bill cancelled in the same month is simply marked cancelled. From an earlier month, it gets a credit note, which lowers the GST in the month the note is issued.

How Frizzi’s bills follow the format

Frizzi numbers bills per company and financial year (DS/26-27/00001). The prefix is 2–4 characters, so a number never passes 16, and numbers never repeat or skip. Each bill shows your legal name, address and GSTIN, “Reverse charge: No”, the client, lines with price, discount and GST rate, the taxable value, a GST summary by SAC or HSN and rate, the round-off, how it was paid and a computer-generated line. From ₹50,000 with GST, the till won’t charge without the client’s name and address; that is a little stricter than the law.

Bills are never deleted. A cancelled bill from an earlier month gets a numbered credit note (DS/CN26-27/0001), refunds make one too, and after 30 November Frizzi gives a refund receipt instead. Without a GSTIN, the bill prints as a bill of supply with no tax. Read more on billing and GST and the till, and see what to check in a salon POS.

Questions