A Tax invoice is required to be issued by a person registered under the GST regime and who supplies taxable goods or services. A registered person supplying exempted goods or services or paying tax under the composition scheme shall issue, instead of a tax invoice, a bill of supply.

A registered person may not issue a tax invoice or a bill of supply if the value of goods or services or both supplied is less than 200 rupees, subject to conditions as may be prescribed.

According to the CGST Rules, tax invoices issued by a registered person should have;-

1. A consecutive serial number [consisting of alphabets or Numbers or dash(-) or slash(/)]

For example: 001/18-19 or 001/FY18-19

And

2. All such invoice numbers shall be unique for a financial year

For example: if invoice range in FY 17-18 was ‘001 to 100’, then the invoice range in FY 18-19 shall either be ‘101 to 200’ or ‘001/18-19 to 100/18-19’. Therefore, it is clear that the invoice range for any two years cannot be similar.

It has also been clarified by the GST Council and NACIN that the rule clearly implies that the registered person shall issue a new invoice series which is unique for the financial year. Also, it has been clarified that if this rule is not complied with, apart from levy of penalty, taxpayers may face problems while: “generating E – way Bill” or Furnishing from GSTR – 1” or “applying for refund on GST portal”. Thus, it is mandatory for all the registered persons issuing tax invoices to adhere to these guidelines.