GST Receipt Voucher

All suppliers of goods or services create GST invoices on a daily basis, but hopefully hey also get paid by their clients. This means that when you receive a payment for one of your invoices, you should issue a receipt voucher.

What is a payment voucher?

A receipt, also known as payment voucher, is a document which attests that a payment has been made to confirm a supply of goods / services. In the case of goods, a receipt serves the purpose of proof of ownership. A receipt is a legally binding commercial document that is used to prove that goods or services of a certain value have been received and paid for.

Invoice VS Receipt (payment voucher)

During a sale, a supplier and a buyer enter into a business arrangement that usually attracts a form of written agreement with the terms of the transaction. These agreements are usually invoices and receipts. An invoice, also called a bill, is used in accounting to record a sale transaction, while a receipt is used to account for payments. To put it easily, most times, an invoice is issued before a payment and the receipt is issued after a payment.

GST advance payment receipt

When a customer sends you an advance payment, tax liability will become due before issuing an invoice and actually supplying goods or services. This payment has to be recorded in accounting as the bank has already registered the date of the payment.
In case the tax is not paid by the customer separately at the time of payment, then it is presumed that the advance payment is inclusive of such tax.
According to the GST rules, the supplier needs to issue an advance receipt voucher to their customer on the date the payment has been received. This advance receipt voucher has to be numbered with its own series for the financial year in course.

Receipt Voucher Format

As we already established, when an advance payment is received, a receipt voucher should e issued. As per clause (d) in subsection (3) or section 31 of the GST act, a receipt voucher should contain:

• Name, address and GSTIN of the supplier
• A serial number unique for the respective financial year
• Date of issue
• Name, address and GSTIN (or UIN if unregistered) of the buyer
• Description of goods or services
• Amount of the advance
• Tax rate (with its breakdown - CGST, SGST/IGST/UTGST or any cess)
• Place of supply with state name and code
• Reverse charges if it is the case
• Signature of the supplier or authorized representative

Payment Report - Statement of accounts

A statement of accounts is a detailed report on the transaction made for an account (a client of yours). Such a statement will show billings to and payments from the client during a specific period of time, concluding with the ending balance. The purpose of this is to show the customer of sales made that they have yet to pay.

A statement of accounts usualy includes information such as:

• The total of unpaid invoices
• Invoices number, date and total amount of each invoice that has been issued to the client
• Credit number, date and amount issued to the client during a specific period
• Payment dates and total amounts for each payment received by the supplier
• Net remaining balance of all transactions in the statement.

How to generate a Receipt Voucher or get a Statement of Accounts?

A receipt voucher can be generated from Sleek Bill billing software. Sleek Bill makes sure that the Receipt Voucher is generated in accordance to the GST rules and allows you to spread a payment across multiple invoices, store any remaining credit or get reports such as a statement of accounts*(coming soon).
If you wish to read more about recording payments for invoices and issuing receipts in Sleek Bill, read more here.