How this template was made: laid out like our GST invoice template on purpose, since that is what a bank, customs desk or cautious buyer expects to see — with a clear "not a tax invoice" line built into the field list rather than left for the buyer to notice on their own. Laid out and the formulas written by us.
A worked example
A Ludhiana machine-tool manufacturer agrees to build a custom press for a buyer, total price ₹8,40,000, and asks for 50% advance before work starts, balance before dispatch. He sends a proforma invoice so the buyer's accounts team has something to pay against.
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Taxable value | ₹8,40,000 |
| IGST 18% (indicative — buyer in another state) | ₹1,51,200 |
| Total (indicative) | ₹9,91,200 |
| Advance requested (50%) | ₹4,95,600 |
Once the advance lands, it is the payment receipt — specifically a receipt voucher, since this is an advance against a future supply — that actually carries a GST consequence, not the proforma invoice above it. The real tax invoice, with its own serial number, follows at dispatch.
What a generic invoice template usually gets wrong
- No "not a tax invoice" line anywhere on it. Laid out identically to a real invoice with nothing to distinguish it, which is exactly how a proforma invoice ends up wrongly claimed for input tax credit or mistaken for the filed document at the other end.
- A serial number from the invoice series. Numbering a proforma invoice from the same series as your tax invoices risks a gap in that series the day one gets cancelled or revised — keep it in its own sequence, or unnumbered.
- No payment-terms field. The entire reason most proforma invoices exist — advance percentage, balance trigger, validity — left implicit in an email instead of on the document itself.
Questions
Is a proforma invoice a tax invoice?
No. It is a commercial document laid out like one, with no serial-number obligation and no Rule 46 requirement, and it creates no GST liability by existing. The real tax invoice still has to be issued separately.
Can I show GST or IGST on it?
Yes, and it usually helps — a buyer asking for a proforma invoice to arrange payment or financing wants to see the expected tax too. Mark it clearly as indicative; the amount actually charged is fixed only on the real tax invoice.
Is a proforma invoice legally required for an advance?
No — it's a convenience, not a requirement. What the law does require, if the advance is against a future supply of services, is a receipt voucher once the money actually arrives. See the payment receipt format.
When do I have to issue the real tax invoice?
At the time of actual supply, under the time-of-supply rules explained in turning a quotation into a tax invoice — a proforma invoice, however detailed, does not move that date.
How is this different from a quotation?
A quotation is typically sent before a deal is agreed, to offer a price. A proforma invoice is typically sent after, laid out like the real invoice, usually because the buyer needs that specific shape of document for a payment, loan or customs process.
How BahiSathi handles it
A proforma invoice isn't a separate document type to maintain in BahiSathi today — send a quotation with payment terms stated, and raise the tax invoice with the correct serial number once you actually supply. If an advance comes in against it, a receipt voucher keeps that GST event straight until the final invoice nets it off.
This is a format, not tax advice. The tax shown on a proforma invoice is indicative only — confirm the rate actually in force at the time of supply before relying on it.