Invoices and GST

Every shop runs in one of three tax modes, set once in Settings under Tax configuration and used on every invoice from then on.

• IN_GST, India’s GST, available to Indian shops.
• SIMPLE, a flat rate under a label you choose (“VAT”, “Sales Tax”, whatever your local rules call it), for shops outside India.
• NONE, no tax applied at all.

India shops choose between IN_GST and NONE; everywhere else chooses between SIMPLE and NONE. Your GSTIN is an optional field on the same settings page, and it prints on every invoice once you’ve added it.

CGST/SGST versus IGST

This is the part that trips people up by hand, and it’s the part Bench does for you automatically. GST is charged based on where the customer is, the “place of supply”, not where your shop is registered. Bench takes the customer’s state (falling back to your own shop’s state if the customer doesn’t have one on file) and compares it to your shop’s state:

• Same state: the tax splits evenly into CGST and SGST, half the rate each.
• Different state: the full rate is charged as IGST instead, no split.

Either way the customer pays the same total; only how the government books it changes. You’ll see the actual split laid out on every invoice, and the place of supply printed alongside it.

HSN/SAC and line items

Each invoice line has its own quantity, unit price, tax rate, and (for India) an HSN or SAC code, since a watch part and a repair service sit under different codes for GST purposes. Getting that right matters for your own filing and for any customer who wants to claim input credit on the bill.

Numbering and status

Invoices number sequentially per shop, {your prefix}-INV-0001 and up, with no gaps and no reused numbers even if one gets voided. An invoice moves through three statuses: Draft while you’re still building it and can change anything freely, Issued once it’s final and sent, and Paid once it’s settled. Only issued, unpaid, INR invoices get a payment QR; see UPI payments for that.