The ground rules
Nine rules to run your books on
Link a current account in the trade name
The account must belong to the business, not to a partner or proprietor personally. A savings account in an individual name is the commonest reason a fresh registration gets suspended.
- Send us a cancelled cheque or the first page of the passbook.
- The bank record should read exactly as your registered trade name.
- It becomes your refund account too — so keep it live.
One unbroken invoice series per financial year
Sales bills run in serial order — 101, 102, 103 — restarting only on 1 April. Maximum 16 characters; letters, numbers, slash or dash only; no number repeats within the year.
- A number spoiled or skipped must be formally cancelled and kept on file.
- Never leave a gap unexplained — it invites the assumption of unrecorded sales.
- Keep separate series for tax invoices, credit notes, debit notes and challans.
Every invoice carries an HSN code
Four digits on B2B invoices where annual turnover is up to ₹5 crore, six digits above that. Services carry the SAC in the same manner.
- Table 12 of GSTR-1 now works off a fixed dropdown — a free-typed code is rejected.
- Set the code once against each item in your software; don't let staff type it per bill.
- The code decides your rate. A wrong HSN means a wrong rate, and that means a notice.
Two slabs now — 5% and 18%
The 56th GST Council removed the 12% and 28% slabs. Most essentials sit at nil or 5%, standard goods and services at 18%, with a 40% slab for luxury and sin goods.
Which rate applies is decided by the time of supply under Section 14, not by the date you happen to raise the bill. Please confirm your rate masters have been updated in Tally or your billing software.
12% and 28% withdrawnYou now approve every purchase invoice
Credit no longer flows in automatically. Each supplier document waits on your IMS dashboard to be accepted, rejected or kept pending.
- Accept — the invoice enters GSTR-2B and the credit is yours.
- Reject — it stays out, and the supplier's liability goes back up.
- Pending — held for a later month, within the credit time limit.
- Take no action and it is deemed accepted when GSTR-2B generates. Silence is a decision.
GSTR-3B can no longer be edited
The outward tax in GSTR-3B is now filled straight from your GSTR-1 and frozen. The old habit of quietly correcting a figure at the payment stage is gone.
- A mistake in sales is corrected only through GSTR-1A, filed before GSTR-3B.
- That window closes for good the moment GSTR-3B is submitted.
- So the sales register you send us has to be complete the first time.
Some tax you pay on your vendor's behalf
On reverse charge supplies the liability sits with you, the recipient. It must be paid in cash — never adjusted against credit — and only then claimed back.
- Goods transport agency freight
- Renting of commercial property from an unregistered landlord
- Security and manpower supply from an unregistered agency
- Advocate and legal fees; director's remuneration in a company
- Any service imported from outside India
No goods move above ₹50,000 without an e-way bill
Part B, carrying the vehicle number, must be filled before the goods leave your premises. Validity is one day for every 200 km. Two recent changes matter:
- In bill-to / ship-to consignments the Ship-To GSTIN is compulsory — enter URP where the consignee is unregistered. Leave it blank and the portal will not issue the bill.
- A closure facility now lets you mark a delivery as completed instead of leaving the bill open until it expires.
Your vendor's discipline is your money
If a purchase does not appear in your GSTR-2B there is no credit, and the tax comes out of your own funds. Choose compliant suppliers and the problem never arises.
- Check the GSTIN status on the portal before the first order, and again if a vendor turns quiet.
- Hold the last part of a payment until the invoice shows up in GSTR-2B.
- Credit for a year must be claimed by 30 November following that year, after which it lapses.
- Returns older than three years can no longer be filed at all. Nothing is rescued after that.
The monthly clock
Dates that do not move
Where a due date falls on a holiday the portal does not extend it on its own. Please plan for the working day before.
Plain arithmetic
What a slip actually costs
Late fee on a delayed return — ₹20 a day even for a nil return, subject to the prescribed cap.
On tax paid late — and 24% where credit has been wrongly availed and utilised.
Goods moving without a valid e-way bill can be detained, with penalty up to twice the tax.
Continuous non-filing leads to cancellation of registration — and a blocked e-way bill facility long before that.
By the 5th, every month
What we will need from you
Your monthly records checklist
Tick each item once it's gathered for the month — your progress is saved on this device.
Scanned copies are perfectly fine. One folder per month, named for that month, saves everyone a round of questions.
Asked often
Questions new registrants ask us
My supplier has not filed his return. Can I still take the credit?
No. Credit is available only on what reaches your GSTR-2B. Until he files, the tax is yours to bear. Ask him for the acknowledgement and hold the balance payment until the invoice appears.
My turnover is small. Must I charge GST on every bill?
Once registered, yes — from the very first invoice, whatever the turnover. The threshold decides whether you must register; it does not exempt a registered person from charging tax.
There were no sales at all last month. Is a return still due?
Yes. A nil return is still a return, and a late fee runs on it. Please confirm the nil position to us by the 5th so it is filed in time.
Can I claim GST on a car, or on food for the office?
Generally no. Section 17(5) blocks credit on motor vehicles seating up to thirteen, on food and beverages, on staff welfare and on construction of immovable property — even when the invoice carries your GSTIN.
Do I have to issue e-invoices?
Only once annual turnover crosses ₹5 crore. From that point every B2B invoice needs an IRN, and it must be reported within thirty days of the invoice date.
A hand-written bill book — is that acceptable?
It is, provided every particular required by Rule 46 appears on the bill and the numbers belong to one series. That said, simple billing software pays for itself the first time rates change.
We are glad to serve you, on one condition
That the data reaches us in time. Send it by the 5th, tell us early when something unusual happens, and the Ledger Logic team will help you sail through the compliance.
Talk to Ledger LogicThis note is a plain-language summary of the position as on July 2026 and is meant as general guidance for a newly registered business. It is not a legal opinion. Where a transaction is unusual or large, please write to us before you bill it.