GST Invoice Format 2026: Free Excel, Word, PDF & ERPNext Templates (All Mandatory Fields)

The most common invoice defect we see in ERPNext audits is not wrong tax — it is a missing Rule 46 field nobody knew was mandatory. I am Manoj, ERPNext and Frappe implementation lead at MithTech in Bengaluru. The templates below are the layout we deploy for clients, minus the branding.

Where do you get the templates?

Three files, every Rule 46 field placed, no email wall. The Excel version computes taxable value, CGST/SGST/IGST splits and the grand total for you.

Every mandatory field, itemised

The GST invoice format is not a design question — it is a checklist in Rule 46 of the CGST Rules. The table is the whole rule in one scan:

Pick your invoice type below and the checker collapses that table to exactly what your document needs:

What are the serial number? rules?

Rule 46(b) is the clause businesses break most often without noticing. The serial number must be consecutive, unique for the financial year, 16 characters or fewer, and contain only letters, numerals, and the characters "-" and "/". Count yours: INV/2026-27/KA/00001 is 20 characters — non-compliant on length alone, before anyone checks uniqueness. The fix costs nothing at FY start: a compact series like SINV-2627-00001 (15 chars) covers ten thousand invoices with room to spare. The fresh-series-per-FY requirement, and how ERPNext's counter actually resets, are covered in our April 2026 GST changes post. The short version: Frappe keys the counter on the series prefix, so a new FY prefix restarts numbering automatically.

How is HSN digits done by turnover?

The HSN column is mandatory everywhere; how many digits depends on your aggregate annual turnover under Notification 78/2020 – Central Tax:

In ERPNext the HSN travels with the item, not the invoice. india_compliance adds gst_hsn_code to Item and fetches it onto every invoice line (custom_fields.py:686, fetched from item_code.gst_hsn_code). Fix the master once and every future document inherits it. An item master with blank or 2-digit HSNs is the single most common reason GSTR-1 HSN summaries fail validation.

Exports, SEZ, reverse charge and bills of supply

Four variants change the format, and the checker above handles each. The details worth stating in prose:

• Exports and SEZ supplies carry an endorsement in fixed wording. With IGST: "SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT ON PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX". Under LUT: "…UNDER BOND OR LETTER OF UNDERTAKING WITHOUT PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX". The LUT itself renews every April — that trap is in the FY cutover post.
• Reverse charge invoices must say so on their face (Rule 46(p)). In ERPNext this is the is_reverse_charge flag, and the print format below prints the statement from it.
• Bills of supply replace tax invoices for exempt supplies and composition dealers. Same skeleton, no tax columns. Composition dealers add "composition taxable person, not eligible to collect tax on supplies".
• e-Invoices additionally carry the IRN and the IRP's signed QR. Whether that applies to you is a turnover question — the ₹5 crore rule and its exemptions have their own post.

The ERPNext print format

If you run ERPNext, the Excel and Word files above are the wrong tool — the invoice should render from live data. Two honest facts first. The india_compliance app already ships stock formats — GST Tax Invoice, e-Invoice, GST POS Invoice (india_compliance/gst_india/print_format/, checked at v16.6.0) — and they are Rule 46-complete. Use them if you want zero maintenance. The custom format below exists for the other case: you want your branding, your layout, and control over what prints — without losing a single mandatory field.

{#- GST Tax Invoice - custom Print Format for Sales Invoice.
    Needs the india_compliance app (company_gstin, billing_address_gstin,
    place_of_supply, taxable_value, gst_hsn_code, irn fields).
    Create: Print Format > New > Custom Format = ON > paste into HTML. -#}

<div style="font-size:12px">
  <div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between">
    <div>
      <h2 style="margin:0">{{ doc.company }}</h2>
      <div>{{ doc.company_address_display or "" }}</div>
      <b>GSTIN:</b> {{ doc.company_gstin or "" }}
    </div>
    <div style="text-align:right">
      <h3 style="margin:0">TAX INVOICE</h3>
      <div>(Original for Recipient)</div>
    </div>
  </div>

  <table class="table table-bordered" style="margin-top:8px">
    <tr>
      <td><b>Invoice No.</b> {{ doc.name }}</td>
      <td><b>Date</b> {{ doc.get_formatted("posting_date") }}</td>
      <td><b>Place of Supply</b> {{ doc.place_of_supply or "" }}</td>
      <td><b>Reverse Charge</b> {{ "Yes" if doc.is_reverse_charge else "No" }}</td>
    </tr>
    {%- if doc.irn %}
    <tr><td colspan="4"><b>IRN:</b> {{ doc.irn }}</td></tr>
    {%- endif %}
  </table>

  <table class="table table-bordered">
    <tr><th style="width:50%">BILL TO</th><th>SHIP TO</th></tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <b>{{ doc.customer_name }}</b><br>
        {{ doc.address_display or "" }}
        <b>GSTIN:</b> {{ doc.billing_address_gstin or "Unregistered" }}
      </td>
      <td>{{ doc.shipping_address or doc.address_display or "" }}</td>
    </tr>
  </table>

  <table class="table table-bordered">
    <tr>
      <th>#</th><th>Item</th><th>HSN/SAC</th><th>Qty</th><th>UOM</th>
      <th class="text-right">Rate</th><th class="text-right">Taxable Value</th>
    </tr>
    {%- for item in doc.items %}
    <tr>
      <td>{{ loop.index }}</td>
      <td>{{ item.item_name }}</td>
      <td>{{ item.gst_hsn_code or "" }}</td>
      <td>{{ item.qty }}</td>
      <td>{{ item.uom }}</td>
      <td class="text-right">{{ item.get_formatted("rate") }}</td>
      <td class="text-right">{{ item.get_formatted("taxable_value") }}</td>
    </tr>
    {%- endfor %}
  </table>

  <table class="table table-bordered">
    {%- for row in doc.taxes %}
    <tr>
      <td>{{ row.description }}</td>
      <td class="text-right" style="width:20%">{{ row.get_formatted("tax_amount") }}</td>
    </tr>
    {%- endfor %}
    {%- if doc.rounding_adjustment %}
    <tr><td>Round off</td>
        <td class="text-right">{{ doc.get_formatted("rounding_adjustment") }}</td></tr>
    {%- endif %}
    <tr>
      <td><b>GRAND TOTAL</b></td>
      <td class="text-right"><b>{{ doc.get_formatted("rounded_total") or doc.get_formatted("grand_total") }}</b></td>
    </tr>
    <tr><td colspan="2"><b>In words:</b> {{ doc.in_words }}</td></tr>
  </table>

  {%- if doc.gst_category in ("Overseas", "SEZ") %}
  <p><b>
    {%- if doc.is_export_with_gst -%}
      SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT / SEZ ON PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX
    {%- else -%}
      SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT / SEZ UNDER BOND OR LETTER OF UNDERTAKING
      WITHOUT PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX
    {%- endif -%}
  </b></p>
  {%- endif %}

  <div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;margin-top:16px">
    <div style="max-width:60%">
      <i>Declaration: We declare that this invoice shows the actual price of
      the goods/services described and that all particulars are true and
      correct.</i>
    </div>
    <div style="text-align:center">
      <b>For {{ doc.company }}</b>
      <div style="height:56px"></div>
      Authorised Signatory
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Every field it reads is real and verified. company_gstin, billing_address_gstin, place_of_supply and is_reverse_charge come from india_compliance's custom fields. Per-item taxable_value (custom_fields.py:710) and gst_hsn_code (:686) carry the line-level compliance data, and irn (:1433) feeds the e-invoice row. The QR block uses the exact idiom of the stock e-Invoice format (e_invoice.html, lines 7–93). It fetches the signed payload from the e-Invoice Log and renders it through get_qr_code(), which india_compliance whitelists for print Jinja.

Design once, lock it

Invoice formats drift. Someone adds a marketing tagline. Someone else deletes the "reverse charge" line because it "never applies to us". Eight months later an auditor finds a quarter of non-compliant prints. The governance that prevents it:

• Accounts owns the format, not sales and not the designer. Layout requests route through whoever answers to the auditor.
• The format lives in git. Print Formats are database records — export them as fixtures from a small custom app (bench export-fixtures). Changes become commits with authors and dates instead of anonymous edits.
• One format per document variant, not one per person's taste. Tax invoice, bill of supply, export invoice — three formats, three names, defaults set per use, no "final-v2-new".

What should your format policy cover?

Invoice Format Policy (draft — for CA / auditor review): The company maintains exactly three sales print formats — Tax Invoice, Bill of Supply, Export Invoice — owned by the finance controller. Format changes are made only via fixture-tracked commits, reviewed by accounts before deployment. Serial series are ≤15 characters, FY-prefixed, and created each 31 March per the FY-cutover runbook. Item masters are audited quarterly for HSN digit-length against current AATO; address masters are audited for GSTINs on every new B2B customer. Any invoice printed on a non-standard format is treated as a compliance incident, not a formatting preference. Ratify with your CA — businesses issuing self-billed or ISD documents need two more formats and matching rules.

Should you fix the format now, or at the next audit?

FAQ: what do people ask most?

Does ERPNext come with a GST invoice format built in?. Yes — the india_compliance app ships stock GST Tax Invoice, e-Invoice and GST POS Invoice print formats, and they cover Rule 46. The custom format in this post is for businesses that want their own branding and layout control while keeping every mandatory field.

Which ERPNext version does this post apply to?. Field names and the QR mechanism are verified against ERPNext v16.28.0 with india_compliance v16.6.0. The same fields exist in v15. Rule 46 itself is software-independent — the checklist applies to whatever you print from.

What related issues might you hit?

• GST changes from 1 April 2026 — the fresh-series requirement, LUT renewal and the rest of the FY cutover this format plugs into.
• The e-invoice limit and who's exempt — whether the IRN + QR row applies to you at all.
• The e-invoice IRP round-trip in ERPNext — how the signed QR this format prints actually gets generated.

What is the bottom line?

A compliant GST invoice format is a solved problem — Rule 46 is a fixed checklist, and every field on it is in the templates and print format above. What keeps it solved is ownership: one format, one owner, version-controlled, with masters audited so the fields never print blank. Download the file that fits, or let your ERPNext instance render it from live data — either way, stop designing invoices and start printing compliant ones.