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Gst invoice series where serial number is re-set every month, is this valid?

narendra (Accountant) (281 Points)

23 August 2018

Dear Experts,

I have seen some suppliers using invoice numbering system where the serial number is re-set every month (see below example).

As you can see in below example, the invoice serial number 273 comes twice, but the month (as per invoice no. format) is different.

Is this ok (allowed) as per GST Rules ??

Example of Invoices issued by same supplier :

Invoice Number

AT/001/18-19/Apr

AT/365/18-19/Apr

AT/273/18-19/May

AT/148/18-19/Aug

AT/273/18-19/Aug

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3 Replies

Pankaj Rawat (GST Practitioner) (55052 Points)
Replied 23 August 2018

Yes as per Rule 46 CGST , multiple series can be used

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narendra (Accountant) (281 Points)
Replied 27 August 2018

Originally posted by : Pankaj Rawat
	Yes as per Rule 46 CGST , multiple series can be used

Thanks for the response Mr. Pankaj. I will appreaciate if you or some other expert can clear my doubt in this regard.

Agreed that "multiple series" within the same GSTIN is allowed under rule 46 of CGST. But since "series" is not clearly defined under GST act/rules, what I understand from it is that, the rule simply accomodates a business to maintain separate bill numbering series under different units / divisions / billing types, etc. under one GSTIN, and in such cases the main serial numbers are alloted sequentially, independent of other bill numbering series, therefore same serial-number (see below in red) can be found in separate series. To quote a few examples:-

a) separate series for billing from Mumbai office and from Pune Office. An example of invoice nos. under separate series is bill numbers "052/MUMBAI" and "052/PUNE".

b) separate series for back-office (lets say for wholesale trading) and for retail counter (e.g. "OFC/005" and "BANDRA/005/SHOP" )

c) separate series for Credit billing and cash memo (e.g. "1418" and "1418CM")

However, under one series (lets say for credit billing from a given selling point -like a retail shop), the series should contain a "consecutive" serial number (alphanumeric with symbols included), unique for that financial year (Rule 46(b) of CGST).

What I am NOT clear about is that, within the same financial year, resetting the main sequential number to 1 for each new month / quarter / etc. -within a series, is allowed or not.

Or if I put it another way, is adding a month or quarter or something else (in words or numbers) to a series, considered as part of the "sequential" serial?

Thanks,

Narendra