Delivery Challan Format in Excel for GST-Registered Businesses

Goods do not always move on a tax invoice. This challan carries the nine particulars Rule 55 asks for, works out whether the consignment needs an e-way bill, and keeps a clock on anything sent out for job work. Updated September 2026.

All nine particulars of Rule 55(1), ready to print in the triplicate the rule requires
Automatic e-way bill check, including the inter-State job work case that has no ₹50,000 floor
Job work return clock: one year for inputs, three years for capital goods, and no clock at all on moulds, dies, jigs, fixtures and tools

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Delivery Challan Format

For GST-Registered Indian Businesses

Sheets · Excel template

Rule 55, CGST

What's Inside

Six sheets covering every movement that is not a sale

Printable Delivery Challan

All nine particulars Rule 55(1) requires, laid out to print on one page. Pick the reason for movement from a dropdown and the rule reference fills in beside it.

E-way Bill Decision Box

Sits under the item table as "BEFORE THE VEHICLE LEAVES". Totals the consignment value the way Explanation 2 to Rule 138(1) defines it, then says plainly whether a bill is needed, which limb of the rule triggered it, and what has to travel with the goods.

Job Work Return Tracker

One year for inputs, three years for capital goods, and no clock at all on moulds, dies, jigs, fixtures and tools, which section 143(4) excludes. Enter the despatch date and the sheet works the rest out.

Challan Register

Every challan in one log, with a column that flags any consignment that needed an e-way bill and has no number recorded against it, plus the ITC-04 period each job work challan falls into.

Worked Example

The Example sheet: a filled inter-State job work challan for a polymer unit in Ahmedabad, showing why the tax columns are empty and why an e-way bill is still required at any value.

Rule Reference

Rule 55, Rule 138, Rule 45 and section 143 quoted in plain text with their sub-clauses, so you can check anything in this template against the source rather than taking our word for it.

Do all of this automatically with Petpooja Invoice

Petpooja Invoice generates e-way bills and GST-compliant invoices from the same billing data, and tracks stock live across every branch, so a godown transfer does not need a second entry to stay accurate.

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Why This Matters

The movements nobody issues a document for

A tempo leaves your godown with stock for the Rajkot branch. Nothing is being sold, so no invoice is raised. Most businesses send it with a handwritten slip, or with nothing at all. That is the movement a roadside check is built to find.

Rule 55 of the CGST Rules 2017 sets out when goods may travel on a delivery challan instead of a tax invoice, and the list is shorter than most people assume. There are four cases: supply of liquid gas where the quantity is not known at removal, transportation of goods for job work, transportation of goods for reasons other than by way of supply, and anything else the Board notifies.

The third one does most of the work and gets left out of almost every blank format you can download. Branch and godown transfers, goods going out for repair or testing, stock sent to an exhibition, items returned to a supplier, goods sent on approval: none of these is a supply at the moment the vehicle moves, so all of them belong on a challan. A transfer order is the internal instruction behind many of them, and the stock has to move in the books as well as on the road, which is what the features of an inventory management system are for.

Getting the document right is only half of it. Rule 55(1)(vii) requires the tax rate and amount only where the transportation is for supply to the consignee. A branch transfer or a job work despatch is not a supply, so those challans carry a taxable value with no tax against it. Blank formats print the tax columns regardless, and people fill them in, which is how a movement that was never taxable ends up looking like an unreported sale.

Then there is the e-way bill. The e-way bill threshold is a consignment value above ₹50,000, and Explanation 2 to Rule 138(1) confirms a delivery challan is a valid document for declaring that value. But where a principal in one State sends goods to a job worker in another, the proviso to Rule 138(1) requires a bill irrespective of the value of the consignment. There is no ₹50,000 floor on inter-State job work, and a ₹9,000 consignment of dies going to Pune is caught exactly as firmly as a ₹9,00,000 one. Dies are a good example of the two rules pulling different ways: that consignment needs an e-way bill at any value, yet section 143(4) gives it no return deadline whatsoever.

This template does the deciding. Set the reason and the movement type, enter the lines, and it computes the consignment value, shows tax only where the rule asks for it, and states which limb of Rule 138 applies before the vehicle leaves. For goods sent out on job work it starts the section 143 clock, because inputs not back within a year are deemed to have been supplied on the day they left, and that liability is backdated. If you also need the e-way bill side in full, our e-way bill compliance checklist covers Rule 138 end to end. A challan is not an e-invoice and never needs an IRN, though the invoice that follows a Rule 55(4) movement may, depending on your turnover, which we set out in why most bills do not need an e-invoice.

Sample Preview

What the challan shows for an inter-State job work despatch

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

Reason for movement: Job work, with the rule reference Rule 55(1)(b) and Rule 45(1) filling in automatically beside it

Line items: HDPE granules 400 kg, masterbatch 60 kg, twelve returnable steel crates, with HSN codes against each

Taxable value: ₹80,500 declared, with the CGST, SGST and IGST columns left at zero

Tax on this challan: "Not shown. Rule 55(1)(vii) requires tax only where the transportation is for supply to the consignee. Taxable value is still declared."

E-way bill: "REQUIRED, irrespective of value. Inter-State job work carries no ₹50,000 floor (proviso to Rule 138(1)). Principal or registered job worker may generate it."

... plus the job work return date, the days remaining before it becomes a deemed supply, and the ITC-04 period the challan falls into, across 6 sheets.

Key Numbers

Three numbers that decide every despatch

₹50,000

The consignment value above which an e-way bill is required. Explanation 2 defines that value as the amount declared in the invoice, bill of supply or delivery challan, including the tax charged in it.

Source: Rule 138(1) and Explanation 2, CGST Rules 2017

Any value

Inter-State movement from a principal to a job worker needs an e-way bill regardless of consignment value. Either the principal or the registered job worker may generate it. There is no threshold to fall under.

Source: Proviso to Rule 138(1), CGST Rules 2017

1 yr / 3 yrs

Inputs must return from a job worker within one year, capital goods within three. Miss it and the goods are deemed supplied on the day they were sent out, which backdates the liability. Moulds, dies, jigs, fixtures and tools are excluded and have no deadline at all.

Source: Section 143(3) and 143(4), CGST Act 2017

Common Mistakes

7 delivery challan mistakes that cost money

Using a challan where an invoice is required

Rule 55(1) is a closed list of four cases and an ordinary sale is not one of them. There is a narrow exception, and it is not a loophole: Rule 55(4) covers goods moving for supply where the tax invoice could not be issued at removal, and it obliges the supplier to issue that invoice after delivery. Use a challan for a sale on any other footing and the supply is undocumented at the moment it happened.

Sending clause (c) movements with no document at all

Branch transfers, goods out for repair, stock to an exhibition and returns to a supplier are all "transportation of goods for reasons other than by way of supply". They need a challan. In practice they often travel on a delivery boy's notebook. When they come back, the receiving end needs a goods receipt note against the same challan. A business running a central kitchen or a hub godown makes this movement daily, which is the operating problem behind our central kitchen and multi-outlet stock guide.

Showing tax on a movement that is not a supply

Rule 55(1)(vii) asks for tax only where the transportation is for supply to the consignee. Printing CGST and SGST on a godown transfer makes an internal movement look like a sale you never reported.

Assuming the ₹50,000 floor covers job work

For inter-State movement from a principal to a job worker it does not. The proviso to Rule 138(1) requires an e-way bill irrespective of value, so a small consignment of tooling is caught just as firmly as a large one.

Not marking the three copies

Rule 55(2) requires the challan in triplicate for a supply of goods, marked ORIGINAL FOR CONSIGNEE, DUPLICATE FOR TRANSPORTER and TRIPLICATE FOR CONSIGNER. An unmarked set is the first thing an officer notices.

Losing track of the job work return date

Nobody diarises it. A year later the inputs are still with the job worker and the deemed supply is backdated to the day they were sent out, so the liability lands in that earlier period, not the one you finally noticed in.

Filing ITC-04 on the wrong frequency

Under Rule 45(3) it is half-yearly where aggregate turnover in the preceding financial year exceeded ₹5 crore, and annual below that. Businesses that cross the threshold often carry on filing once a year without noticing.

Comparison

A blank format vs this template

Aspect	A blank challan format	With this template
Reason for movement	A free text box	Dropdown of the Rule 55 cases, with the sub-clause shown
Tax columns	Always printed, always filled in	Shown only where the movement is a supply, per Rule 55(1)(vii)
CGST and SGST vs IGST	Decided by whoever is typing	Driven by the movement type you select
Consignment value	Added up by hand	Totalled as Explanation 2 to Rule 138(1) defines it
E-way bill decision	Left to memory	Stated before despatch, with the limb of the rule that triggered it
Inter-State job work	Usually missed	Flagged as required at any value
Job work return clock	Not tracked	One year or three years, with days left and a deemed supply flag
ITC-04 period	Worked out at filing time	Assigned per challan from your turnover

Swipe the table sideways to see the full comparison.

Know before the vehicle leaves the gate

Download the free delivery challan template and let it decide the tax and the e-way bill for you.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

When can I use a delivery challan instead of a tax invoice?

Rule 55(1) of the CGST Rules 2017 allows it in four cases: supply of liquid gas where the quantity at the time of removal is not known, transportation of goods for job work, transportation of goods for reasons other than by way of supply, and such other supplies as the Board may notify. The third case is the broad one and covers branch transfers, goods sent for repair or testing, stock moved to an exhibition, and goods returned to a supplier. An ordinary sale is not on that list and needs a tax invoice, with one narrow exception: Rule 55(4) covers goods moving for supply to the recipient where the tax invoice could not be issued at the time of removal, and the supplier must then issue it after delivery.

Does a delivery challan need to show GST?

Only sometimes. Rule 55(1) requires the tax rate and tax amount where the transportation is for supply to the consignee. Where the movement is not a supply, such as a branch transfer or a job work despatch, the challan still declares the taxable value but carries no tax amount. This is the particular most blank formats get wrong, because they print the tax columns on every challan regardless of why the goods are moving.

Do I need an e-way bill for goods moving on a delivery challan?

If the consignment value exceeds ₹50,000, yes. Explanation 2 to Rule 138(1) treats a delivery challan as a valid document for declaring consignment value, and that value includes the tax charged in the document. There is one important exception: where a principal in one State sends goods to a job worker in another State, the proviso to Rule 138(1) requires an e-way bill irrespective of the value of the consignment. Several States also set their own intra-State limits, so check your State notification before relying on the ₹50,000 figure for a movement that stays within one State. Separately from whether a bill is needed, Rule 138A(1) decides what physically travels: the person in charge of the conveyance carries the challan, and where an e-way bill exists, either a copy of it in physical form or the e-way bill number in electronic form. Once a bill is generated its validity runs on distance, which our e-way bill distance calculator will work out.

How long can goods stay with a job worker?

Inputs must be received back, or supplied directly from the job worker's premises, within one year of being sent out. For capital goods the period is three years, with one carve-out that catches people: section 143(4) reads "capital goods, other than moulds and dies, jigs and fixtures, or tools", and the section sets no substitute period for those four, so no return clock runs on them at all. The carve-out goes further than section 143: section 19(7) disapplies both section 19(3) and section 19(6) for the same four items, so the input tax credit does not reverse either. Where a period does apply and it passes, section 143 deems the goods to have been supplied by the principal to the job worker on the day they were sent out, so the liability is backdated rather than arising on the day the period expired. The Commissioner may extend the one year and three years by a further one year and two years respectively, on sufficient cause being shown.

How many copies of a delivery challan do I need?

Three, where the challan covers a supply of goods. Rule 55(2) requires the original to be marked ORIGINAL FOR CONSIGNEE, the duplicate DUPLICATE FOR TRANSPORTER, and the triplicate TRIPLICATE FOR CONSIGNER. The template prints on one page with a copy marking field at the top, so you print it three times and change the marking each time. This template is general guidance on the GST documentation rules and not tax advice. Thresholds, State e-way bill limits and filing frequencies change, so confirm your own position with your tax adviser before you rely on it.

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