Plain-English guides on GST rates, filing deadlines, and invoicing — written for Indian business owners and their accountants.
Most businesses treat the customer master as an address book. It is closer to a settings file: two fields on it silently decide the tax on every invoice you will ever raise to that party.
The thing that stops most businesses switching is not the software. It is the thought of re-keying every customer and every item by hand. You do not have to.
Every accounting screen shows a total that is equal on both sides, and most business owners assume that means the numbers are correct. It does not. Here is what it actually proves.
Nobody switches on 1 April. You switch in August, with half a year of history in the old system, and the question is what has to come with you and what does not.
Material goes out to be worked on and comes back in pieces, over weeks, sometimes short. Almost nobody tracks it until a stock count refuses to add up. Here is the small amount of discipline that prevents that.
Goods leave your premises long before anyone raises a bill — for job work, for approval, to your own godown. The paperwork that travels with them is a different document, and it is the one most often improvised.
Two fields people fill in carelessly on every invoice, and the specific ways that comes back — at filing, at a customer dispute, and when you try to work out what actually sells.
Five documents that look almost identical and mean completely different things. Sending the wrong one is one of the easiest mistakes to make and one of the most annoying to unwind.
Four lines, in order, and what each one is actually telling you. No accounting background needed and none assumed.
A profit figure built from complete sales and partial expenses is not conservative or approximate. It is wrong in one direction, every month.
Four fields decide whether an expense entry is a real record or just a number in a list. Most people fill in one of them.
Sales get recorded because they bring money in. Purchases get recorded in a panic at filing time. The asymmetry is the single biggest source of scramble.
Every block on a GST invoice is pulled from somewhere you configured. Knowing which is which turns 'the invoice is wrong' into a field you can go and fix.
Six fields you fill in on day one, and what each one silently controls on every bill afterwards — including the two that decide your tax split.
The same four requests arrive every filing cycle. They are all derivable from your invoices — which is why the scramble is a bookkeeping problem, not an accounting one.
Sharing a login is the usual way and the worst way. What read-only accountant access should look like, what it should not be able to do, and how to take it back.
The single field most often entered carelessly, and what it silently controls on every bill you raise afterwards.
What you actually need before your first invoice — business details, one customer, one item — and why the GSTIN matters more than anything else you enter.
An honest look at when a free plan is enough for a small business, and the specific signals that mean it is time to pay for one.
Per-user fees, invoice caps, renewal jumps and paid add-ons. A checklist for working out what billing software will actually cost you over a year.
The khata works. This is an honest look at what a digital customer ledger adds, what it does not, and how to move across without losing your history.
Most small businesses lose money not to bad sales but to bills nobody chased. Here is a simple system for knowing exactly who owes you what, and getting paid.
The composition scheme lets small businesses pay 1-6% flat tax with quarterly filing. Eligibility limits, tax rates, restrictions, and when it's a bad idea.
Every GST invoice needs HSN codes. Learn what HSN/SAC codes are, how many digits you need by turnover, how to find your code, and wrong-code penalties.
ITC lets you reduce GST liability by the tax paid on purchases. Learn the four conditions, GSTR-2B matching, blocked credits, and time limits.
Compare GST billing software for Indian SMBs: Tally, Zoho Books, Vyapar, and BizGST Pro — pricing, features, cloud access, and which fits your business.
Missed a GST deadline? Here are the exact late fees for GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, 18% interest rules, and penalties for wrong invoices and unregistered business.
E-way bill is required for goods movement above ₹50,000. Learn generation rules, validity by distance, exemptions and penalties for transport without one.
E-invoicing is mandatory for businesses above the turnover threshold. Learn the current limit, how IRN generation works, exemptions, and penalties.
Who needs GST registration in India? Current threshold limits (₹40/20/10 lakh), mandatory registration cases, documents required, and the online process.
GSTR-3B is your monthly GST summary return, due by the 20th. Step-by-step filing guide, due dates, late fee rules, and how to avoid interest.
Calculate GST with simple formulas: add GST, remove GST from inclusive price, and split CGST/SGST/IGST. Updated for GST 2.0 rates 0%, 5%, 18%, 40%.
GST 2.0 removed the 12% and 28% slabs from 22 Sep 2025. Here's the new 0/5/18/40 structure and exactly what small businesses must do.
GSTR-1 is your monthly sales return, due by the 11th. Learn what it contains, when to file, and how to prepare it without the last-minute rush.
A valid GST invoice needs specific fields — GSTIN, HSN, place of supply, tax split, and more. Here's the complete checklist for compliant invoicing.