Direct answer
A registered supplier cannot treat every small retail receipt as exempt from invoicing. Section 31(3)(b) permits non-issue of an individual tax invoice only for supplies valued below ₹200, subject to prescribed conditions. Rule 46 requires an unregistered recipient who does not require the invoice, followed by a consolidated tax invoice at each day’s close. The rule excludes the specified multiplex cinema-admission supplier. Exactly ₹200 is not below ₹200. ICAI GST and Indirect Taxes Committee: CGST Act section 31(3)(b) and CGST Rules rule 46.
Scope checked on 27 October 2026
This guide concerns the small-value tax-invoice exception in the CGST framework, using the consolidated Act and Rules published by ICAI’s GST and Indirect Taxes Committee. It does not replace special supplier rules, bill-of-supply provisions or applicable electronic-document obligations. The invoice exception does not exempt the underlying taxable supply or permit sales to disappear from the books or returns.
Classify the supply before suppressing the invoice
Capture the actual supply value, recipient registration status and whether the recipient requests an invoice. Keep an affirmative record of the exception decision in the point-of-sale data. A setting that suppresses all invoices under a cash amount is inadequate because recipient status and request matter as well. Do not split one supply into several artificial transactions to bring each receipt below the boundary.
Make daily consolidation a controlled document
At close of day, identify only supplies for which individual tax invoices were validly omitted. Reconcile the population to the sales register and issue the consolidated tax invoice. Maintain tax-rate and tax-head breakdowns where applicable. An individually invoiced sale must not also enter the consolidated taxable total. Keep the underlying transaction records so a reviewer can rebuild the consolidated document rather than relying on a single unexplained total.
Cash controls and tax controls are different
Cash, card and other settlement summaries can contain deposits, prior-period collections or refunds. First reconcile the sales population, then bridge it to collections. A settlement fee withheld by a payment processor does not by itself reduce invoice value. Resolve voided transactions, later invoice requests and day-end corrections through traceable records; do not erase the original sales audit trail.
Understand what the numerical models prove
The examples test invoice-population selection and daily value reconciliation. Their figures are stipulated supply values for the boundary test; they deliberately omit GST-rate calculations and do not decide disputed tax-inclusive valuation. Each case assumes ordinary taxable supplies by a registered supplier outside the multiplex exclusion and other special regimes unless stated otherwise. A daily aggregate can exceed ₹200 even though every included supply individually meets the low-value condition.
Applicable primary references
ICAI GST and Indirect Taxes Committee: CGST Act section 31(3)(b) and CGST Rules rule 46
Six worked illustrations
All facts and amounts below are fictional. Assumptions describe the model, not additional statutory rules.
Illustrative example 1: Below the boundary
Three separate qualifying supplies have stipulated values ₹80, ₹120 and ₹199. All recipients are unregistered and require no invoice. Individual invoices may be omitted under the model’s conditions; the day-end consolidated value is ₹399. The ₹399 aggregate does not defeat eligibility that was tested separately for each genuine supply.
Illustrative example 2: Exactly ₹200 requires a different outcome
A day includes separate supplies of ₹199, ₹200 and ₹201. With all other assumptions satisfied, only the ₹199 supply enters this exception’s consolidated population. The ₹200 and ₹201 supplies, totalling ₹401, require individual tax invoices under the ordinary applicable rules. Total sales reconcile to ₹600.
Illustrative example 3: Recipient request removes one small sale
Ten separate ₹150 supplies total ₹1,500. Nine unregistered customers do not require invoices; one requests an invoice. Issue the requested invoice for ₹150 and consolidate only ₹1,350. Including all ten in the consolidated value while separately recording the requested invoice would overstate invoiced sales by ₹150.
Illustrative example 4: Registered recipient is outside the exception
Five separate ₹100 supplies total ₹500. Two recipients are registered; three are unregistered and require no invoice. The model requires individual invoices totalling ₹200 for the registered recipients and a ₹300 consolidated value for the other supplies. Low value alone would incorrectly consolidate all ₹500.
Illustrative example 5: Mixed-price daily population
There are 20 qualifying supplies at ₹75, 15 qualifying supplies at ₹180 and four separate supplies at ₹250. Consolidated value is ₹1,500 + ₹2,700 = ₹4,200. The four higher-value supplies total ₹1,000 and are individually invoiced. The complete sales population is ₹5,200, with no duplication between the two groups.
Illustrative example 6: One transaction must not be counted twice
Eligible omitted-invoice supplies originally total ₹2,400. A ₹180 supply is instead individually invoiced before day-end consolidation. Transfer that supply out of the population: consolidated value ₹2,220 plus individual value ₹180 equals ₹2,400. A draft retaining ₹2,400 and adding the ₹180 invoice produces an erroneous ₹2,580 document total.
Ten-step verification table
| Step | Action | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Confirm the governing document rule | Tax invoice versus bill of supply and special-regime check. |
| 2 | Identify excluded supplier activities | Multiplex admission and other applicable provisions. |
| 3 | Record actual supply values | Transaction-level records with no artificial splitting. |
| 4 | Capture recipient registration status | Customer classification and GSTIN evidence where relevant. |
| 5 | Record whether an invoice is required | Request flag and issued-document reference. |
| 6 | Select the eligible daily population | Below-₹200 and both recipient conditions tested. |
| 7 | Remove individually invoiced transactions | Unique identifiers preventing overlap. |
| 8 | Issue the close-of-day consolidated invoice | Date, value and appropriate tax breakdowns. |
| 9 | Reconcile sales and settlements | Population totals, collections and documented differences. |
| 10 | Preserve corrections and return linkage | Audit trail and invoice-to-books/return reconciliation. |
Sixteen practitioner FAQs
1. Is exactly ₹200 eligible?
No. The statutory boundary is below ₹200, not ₹200 or below.
2. Does low value remove the tax liability?
It is an individual-invoice exception subject to conditions, not an exemption from tax on the supply.
3. Can a registered customer be included?
Rule 46’s stated recipient condition is that the recipient is not registered.
4. What if an unregistered customer asks for an invoice?
The no-invoice condition fails for that supply. Record and issue the required document.
5. Is a daily consolidated invoice optional after omitting individual invoices?
Rule 46 requires the consolidated tax invoice at each day’s close for those supplies.
6. Can the consolidated total exceed ₹200?
Yes. Test each genuine supply; the combined daily total is a different figure.
7. Can one large sale be split to meet the boundary?
Do not replace the actual supply with artificial small entries. Preserve transaction substance.
8. Do cash receipts alone define the consolidated population?
Use the sales and eligibility records. Collections can include amounts unrelated to that day’s qualifying supplies.
9. Should an individually invoiced sale also be consolidated?
Exclude it from the omitted-invoice population to avoid duplicate sales and tax-document totals.
10. Does the rule contain a multiplex exclusion?
Yes, for the specified cinema-admission supplier described in the rule. Do not apply the ordinary retail model to it.
11. Does this guide cover composition bills of supply?
No. The bill-of-supply framework requires its own review rather than automatic reuse of this tax-invoice model.
12. Are these amounts GST-rate calculations?
They are stipulated supply values for selection and reconciliation. Verify valuation and tax separately.
13. What if there are multiple tax rates?
Preserve the necessary rate and head breakdowns in the supporting data and consolidated document.
14. Can payment-processor charges reduce sales automatically?
They are settlement items requiring separate accounting; do not silently net them into supply value.
15. What should happen to a corrected day-end total?
Retain a traceable correction and the underlying transaction references rather than deleting the original history.
16. What is the core review evidence?
A reproducible transaction list linking every sale to either its individual invoice or the correct consolidated document.
Conclusion
Test the below-₹200 GST invoice exception transaction by transaction, record recipient requests and reconcile the daily consolidated invoice without duplication.