What Every GST Invoice Must Include: A Compliance Checklist

Before a GST invoice goes out, it's worth running it against a short checklist — because most rejected invoices fail on the same handful of fields, over and over.

The checklist

• Supplier's legal name, address, and 15-digit GSTIN
• Buyer's name, address, and GSTIN (if registered)
• Unique, sequential invoice number for the financial year
• Invoice date
• HSN code (goods) or SAC code (services) on every line item
• Quantity and unit for each item
• Taxable value per item, before tax
• Correct tax split — CGST + SGST for intra-state, IGST for inter-state
• Applicable GST rate per item (items can legitimately have different rates)
• Place of supply, especially for inter-state transactions
• Total invoice value in figures — and ideally in words for high-value invoices
• Signature of an authorised signatory

The three mistakes that show up most often

1. Wrong tax split. Charging CGST + SGST on an inter-state sale (or IGST on an intra-state one) is one of the most common — and most flagged — GST invoice errors.

2. Missing or wrong HSN/SAC code. This isn't optional past a certain turnover threshold, and an incorrect code can misstate the tax rate applied.

3. Non-sequential invoice numbers. Gaps or repeats in your invoice numbering raise questions during any GST audit.

Let the generator handle the split

Rather than checking each of these manually, our GST Invoice Generator calculates CGST/SGST vs IGST automatically from the buyer's state, requires an HSN/SAC code per line, and keeps your invoice numbering sequential for you.