What Is a Recurring Invoice?
Some customers get billed the same amount, on the same day, month after month.
A recurring invoice is a single invoice set up once and then raised again on a fixed schedule, carrying the same customer, the same items and usually the same amount each time. For an Indian business it is still a tax invoice on every cycle, which means each one needs its own number, its own date and the correct GST split.
Where a contract runs beyond three months with periodic payments, Section 31(5) of the CGST Act also fixes when each invoice is due.
What You Set Once, and What Changes Each Time
Half the value is in the fields you fix at the start. The other half is knowing which must not be.
| Field | Set once or every time |
|---|---|
| Customer | Once, with GSTIN and place of supply |
| Items | Once, with rate and HSN or SAC code |
| Cycle | Once: weekly, monthly or quarterly |
| Number | Every time, from a running series |
| Date | Every time, matching the cycle date |
The number and date are the two people get wrong. Reuse an invoice number across cycles and your books will not reconcile with the portal.
A few things worth deciding before the first cycle runs:
- The start date, and whether there is an end date or it runs until cancelled
- Who the invoice goes to when the billing contact changes
- What happens in a month the service pauses
- Whether the rate is locked or follows a price list that can move
Recurring Invoice vs Auto-Debit
This is the confusion that costs people money. Billing and collecting are two separate things.
| Aspect | Recurring Invoice | Auto-Debit |
|---|---|---|
| Does | Raises the bill on schedule | Pulls the money on schedule |
| Needs | Your billing setup | A mandate the customer approves |
| Governed | GST invoicing law | RBI e-mandate rules and the bank |
| Fails | Customer is billed but has not paid | Bank declines and you chase it |
| Alone | Yes, and often does | No, a bill still sits behind it |
An invoice going out does not mean cash arrived. That is why the invoice due date still matters on every cycle, and why a monthly billing cycle needs someone watching what actually got settled.
Recurring Invoice Example
Take a housekeeping services firm in Karur, Tamil Nadu, on a year-long contract with a factory client. Same scope, same rate, billed on the 1st.
| Line | Amount (Rs.) |
|---|---|
| Contract | 68,500 |
| CGST 9% | 6,165 |
| SGST 9% | 6,165 |
| Total | 80,830 |
Note: this is an invented example for illustration only. The firm, the client and every figure are made up, and they are here to show what repeats each cycle and what does not.
Both parties sit in Tamil Nadu, so each cycle carries CGST and SGST rather than IGST. Check the split on any contract value with a GST calculator before the first cycle runs. The figures repeat every month. The invoice number and date do not, and neither does the one-time payment treatment you would give a single job.
When the GST Clock Starts on a Recurring Invoice
That rule exists because such a contract counts as a continuous supply of services.
Section 31(5) of the CGST Act, published by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, sets three cases. Where the contract fixes a due date for payment, the invoice has to be issued on or before that date. Where it does not, the invoice goes out by the time you receive payment. And where payment is tied to an event being completed, the invoice is due on or before that completion.
There is a fourth rule people miss. If the contract stops partway, the invoice is raised at the point the supply ceases, for whatever was supplied up to then. Across the counters Petpooja works with, the cycle that causes trouble is the one nobody switched off after a client left.
Run the Best Retail Billing Software
Whatever schedules the cycle, each invoice it produces still has to stand up as a tax invoice.
For retail businesses, Petpooja Invoice calculates GST on every invoice as it is raised, keeps them in line with current GST law, generates e-invoices where they apply, and holds rates in pricelist management so the same contract bills at the same figure each cycle. That is the best retail billing software doing the unglamorous half of the job.
For restaurants running monthly corporate accounts, Petpooja POSS punches and records every bill through the month, so the charges sit in one place when the invoice goes out. Worth seeing how Petpooja Invoice works before your next cycle.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. It raises the bill on schedule and nothing more. Taking the money needs a separate arrangement, usually an auto-debit mandate the customer has approved with their bank.
Never. Each cycle produces a distinct tax invoice, so it needs its own number from a running series and its own date, or your returns will not reconcile.
On or before the due date of payment, where the contract fixes one. That is Section 31(5), which applies once the contract runs beyond three months with periodic payments and so counts as a continuous supply.
Raise the invoice at the point the supply stops, covering only what you actually supplied. Leaving the cycle running afterwards creates invoices for services nobody received.
They overlap but are not identical. A subscription is the commercial arrangement; the recurring invoice is the document that bills it, and you can run one without the other.
