Find
Rule 46(b) needs the invoice number to be unique for a financial year. You may restart the series each year or continue it. Most businesses add the year to the series, such as INV/26-27/0001, so numbers do not repeat.
GST
Restarting invoice numbers in a new financial year
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Provisions
Rule 46(b), CGST Rules 2017; Sec 31, CGST Act 2017
Analysis
If you restart at 1 without a year marker, the number INV-0001 exists in two years, which is allowed but confuses books and e-invoicing. Adding a year prefix keeps numbers unique across years too. Remember the 16-character limit when building the prefix: INV/26-27/00001 is 15 characters.
Close
- Decide the format, for example INV/26-27/00001.
- Count characters to stay within 16.
- Set it in your billing software from 1 April.
- Report the series in GSTR-1 Table 13.
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