Cash Memo Format in Excel for Indian Shops & Counters

There is no such thing as a cash memo under GST. The Act and the Rules never use the phrase. The slip you hand across the counter is one of four different legal documents, and which one depends on questions nobody has asked you. Updated September 2026.

Answer four questions and the file names the document you actually owe
Works the GST out of your counter price, because that price already contains it
Includes the day-end invoice the ₹200 rule quietly requires

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Petpooja presents

Cash Memo Format

For Indian Shops & Retail Counters

Documents · one decision

Rules 46, 46A, 49

What's Inside

Eight sheets, and the first one makes the decision

Which Document Do You Owe

Four questions: how you are registered, whether the buyer is, what is in the sale, and what it is worth. The sheet names the document, the rule it comes from, and what else it sets off.

Cash Memo (Tax Invoice)

The printable document with every Rule 46 particular. Enter the price the customer pays and it works the GST out of it, rather than adding tax on top of a figure you have already quoted.

Bill of Supply

The Rule 49 document, for exempt goods and for composition dealers. No tax columns, because no tax is charged, plus the wording a composition dealer must carry.

Invoice-cum-Bill of Supply

Rule 46A, the one almost nobody knows. Put the rate against each taxable line, leave it blank on the exempt ones, and a single document covers the whole mixed basket at whatever different rates it holds.

Day-End Consolidated Invoice

The document the ₹200 relief depends on. Group the day's small sales by rate, enter what you took, and it works out the tax you owe on all of them at once.

Worked Example & Rule Reference

A filled kirana basket with taxable and exempt lines side by side, and every provision this file acts on quoted in full so you can check it against the source.

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Why This Matters

The document with no name in the law

Search the CGST Act for "cash memo" and you will not find it. Search the Rules and it is not there either. It is a shop word, inherited from the sales tax era, for the slip that goes across the counter with the goods.

That does not make it wrong to say. It makes it worth knowing what you are actually issuing, because the law recognises four documents here and picking the wrong one is not a style choice.

If the supply is taxable and you are a regular registered dealer, it is a tax invoice under Rule 46, and it has to carry every particular that rule lists. A slip with a shop name and a total is not one.

If the goods are exempt, or you pay under the composition scheme, it is a bill of supply instead. Section 31(3)(c) is explicit: you issue one instead of a tax invoice, and Rule 49 sets out what it carries. A composition dealer who hands over something headed "tax invoice" is claiming to have collected tax they are not allowed to collect.

If the basket holds both, and the buyer is unregistered, there is a single document for it. Rule 46A allows an "invoice-cum-bill of supply" covering taxable and exempt lines together. That is not an edge case. It is the ordinary grocery sale: soap and a packaged snack alongside loose staples, to an unregistered walk-in customer. Most shopkeepers have never heard the phrase.

And the line between the two halves of that basket is finer than it looks. For staples it is not the goods that decide it but the packaging: sold loose they carry no tax, and the same goods pre-packaged and labelled are taxed. That is one shelf decision away from changing what your bill has to show, which is why the template asks for a rate per line rather than one rate for the sale. If you are unsure where your own stock sits, the GST rate finder is the quickest check.

And below ₹200 you may issue nothing at all, on one condition that almost everyone drops. Section 31(3)(b) lets a registered person skip the tax invoice where the value is under two hundred rupees. The final proviso to Rule 46 attaches three conditions: the buyer is unregistered, the buyer has not asked for an invoice, and you issue one consolidated tax invoice at the close of each day covering all such supplies. Skip the third and you have not used a relief. You have simply not issued an invoice.

There is one more thing worth fixing while you are here. The price on your shelf is what the customer pays, so the GST is already inside it. Rule 35 says to work the tax out of that figure, not add it on top. Our reverse GST calculator does the same sum for a single amount; this template does it line by line across a whole bill. If you also need the full set of formats, the GST invoice template pack covers export, credit and debit notes too, and manual billing versus POS software is worth reading if you are still writing these by hand.

Sample Preview

What the template shows for an ordinary grocery basket

Here's a preview of what you'll get inside:

The sale: detergent at one rate and a packaged snack at another, alongside loose rice and loose milk carrying no rate at all, to a walk-in customer with no GSTIN

The decision sheet says: "INVOICE-CUM-BILL OF SUPPLY. Rule 46A lets you cover the whole basket with ONE document, because the buyer is unregistered."

Taxable lines: ₹240 collected across two different rates, of which ₹215.98 is value and ₹24.02 is GST already inside the price

Untaxed lines: ₹372 passes straight through, because those staples are loose. The same goods pre-packaged and labelled would be taxed

Basket total: ₹612, on one document rather than two

... plus the day-end consolidated invoice for your sub-₹200 counter sales, and every provision quoted in full, across 8 sheets. The documents assume a counter sale, which is intra-State, so tax splits into CGST and SGST. If you are choosing a till to do this automatically, our guide to POS software for grocery stores compares what is available.

Key Numbers

Three provisions that decide what you hand over

₹200

The value below which a registered person may not issue a tax invoice. The relief is real, but it is conditional, and the condition is a consolidated tax invoice at the close of each day.

Source: Section 31(3)(b), CGST Act, with the final proviso to Rule 46

46A

The rule that lets one document cover a basket holding both taxable and exempt goods, where the buyer is unregistered. An ordinary grocery sale, and a rule hardly anyone can name.

Source: Rule 46A, CGST Rules 2017

Zero

Mentions of a cash memo anywhere in the CGST Act or the CGST Rules. The phrase has no legal meaning at all, which is why it is worth knowing which document you are really issuing.

Source: CGST Act 2017 and CGST Rules 2017

Common Mistakes

7 counter-billing mistakes that cost money

Using the ₹200 relief without the day-end invoice

The relief has three conditions and the third is the one that gets dropped: one consolidated tax invoice at the close of each day. Without it you have not skipped a bill lawfully, you have just not issued one.

Adding GST on top of a shelf price

The shelf price is what the customer pays, so the tax is already inside it. Rule 35 works it out of the figure. Adding it on top overstates both the sale and the tax you then owe.

Issuing two documents for one grocery basket

Where a basket holds taxable and exempt goods and the buyer is unregistered, Rule 46A allows one invoice-cum-bill of supply. Splitting it is extra work nobody asked for.

A composition dealer issuing a "tax invoice"

A composition taxable person cannot collect tax, so a tax invoice is not available to them. It is a bill of supply, and Rule 5(1)(f) puts the words "composition taxable person, not eligible to collect tax on supplies" at the top of it, not merely somewhere on the page. Our composition scheme calculator covers the rest of that regime.

Treating exempt goods as zero-rated on the bill

They are not the same thing, and on an exempt line there is no tax to show at all. If you are unsure which of your goods are exempt after the rate changes, our GST rate finder and the guide to what moved to nil, 5% and 40% are the quickest checks.

No serial number, or one that restarts randomly

Rule 46(b) asks for a consecutive serial number, unique for the financial year, up to sixteen characters. A bill book that starts at 1 again every month is a gap you will be asked to explain.

Leaving the HSN off a counter bill

Both Rule 46 and Rule 49 list it. If you are not sure of the code for something you sell, our HSN code finder will give it to you in a few seconds.

Comparison

A blank cash memo pad vs this template

Aspect	A printed cash memo pad	With this template
Which document it is	Unstated, and usually the wrong one	Decided from four questions, with the rule named
GST on the counter price	Added on top, or left off	Worked out of the price under Rule 35
Mixed taxable and exempt basket	Two documents, or one wrong one	A single Rule 46A invoice-cum-bill of supply
Exempt goods	Taxed by accident	Marked E, passed through untaxed
Sales under ₹200	Skipped, and forgotten	Skipped lawfully, with the day-end invoice included
Composition dealers	Same pad as everyone else	Bill of supply, with the required wording
Where the rules come from	Nowhere	Sections 31(3)(b) and (c), Rules 35, 46, 46A and 49, quoted

Swipe the table sideways to see the full comparison.

Know what you are handing across the counter

Download the free template and let it decide which of the four documents you owe.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is a cash memo valid under GST?

"Cash memo" is not a term the CGST Act or the CGST Rules use anywhere, so nothing is valid or invalid by that name. What matters is whether the slip you hand over carries the particulars of the document the law does recognise: a tax invoice under Rule 46, a bill of supply under Rule 49, or an invoice-cum-bill of supply under Rule 46A. Call it a cash memo if your customers do, but make sure it is one of those underneath.

Do I have to give a bill for every small sale?

Not necessarily. Section 31(3)(b) says a registered person may not issue a tax invoice where the value of the supply is less than two hundred rupees. But the final proviso to Rule 46 makes that conditional on three things together: the recipient is not registered, the recipient does not require the invoice, and you issue a consolidated tax invoice for all such supplies at the close of each day. The third condition is the one that gets forgotten, and without it the relief does not apply. This template is general guidance on the GST documentation rules and not tax advice, so confirm your own position with your tax adviser before relying on it.

What do I issue when one bill has both taxable and exempt goods?

Where you are supplying taxable as well as exempted goods or services to an unregistered person, Rule 46A allows a single invoice-cum-bill of supply for all of it. That covers the ordinary grocery basket, where packaged and branded goods sit next to loose staples. If the buyer is registered, the single combined document is not offered: issue a tax invoice for the taxable lines and a bill of supply for the exempt ones.

Should GST be added to my shelf price or taken out of it?

Taken out of it. A retail shelf price is what the customer actually pays, so the tax is already inside the figure. Rule 35 gives the sum: tax equals the tax-inclusive value multiplied by the rate, divided by one hundred plus the rate. Our reverse GST calculator does that sum for a single amount if you just want to check one price. Adding tax on top of a price you have already displayed overstates the sale and overstates the tax you then have to pay on it.

I am registered under composition. What do I give my customers?

A bill of supply, never a tax invoice. Section 31(3)(c) says a registered person paying tax under section 10 shall issue a bill of supply instead of a tax invoice, and the document must carry the statement that you are a composition taxable person not eligible to collect tax on supplies. Handing a customer something headed "tax invoice" suggests you collected tax you are not permitted to collect. Our composition scheme calculator covers the turnover and rate side of that regime. This template is general guidance on the GST documentation rules and not tax advice, so confirm your own position with your tax adviser before relying on it.

About Petpooja

Petpooja is India's leading SME business software suite, trusted by 1,50,000+ businesses across restaurants, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and more. From billing and payroll to task management and procurement, Petpooja helps Indian businesses run better, every day.

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