Cash memo format

A cash memo is a bill for a sale paid in full at the counter: cash, UPI or card. The name comes from the days of carbon-copy bill books. Under GST there is no separate document called a cash memo. For a registered seller, the cash memo is a tax invoice (or a bill of supply, for a composition dealer) and must carry the same details. Only the buyer side is lighter, because walk-in buyers are usually unregistered.

Shops that are not registered under GST can use a simple cash memo with the shop name, date, items and total.

Many shops keep two pads: one for walk-in customers and one for credit customers. With billing software, both can come from the same invoice series. What matters is that every sale is billed when it happens, the GST in each memo adds up to what you report, and the day's cash in the drawer matches the memos.

When to use it

• Walk-in customers who pay on the spot: medical stores, electricals, kirana, stationery.
• Sales where you do not need the buyer's name, because they are unregistered and the bill is below ₹50,000.
• Tiny sales below ₹200 where the buyer does not want a bill: you may skip the memo but must make one consolidated invoice for all of them at the end of the day.
• Unregistered shops that still want to give a proper bill.

For registered sellers, section 31 and Rule 46 apply as for any tax invoice. Section 31(3)(b) lets you skip an invoice when the value is below ₹200 and the buyer does not ask for one; the proviso to Rule 46 then requires a consolidated tax invoice for those sales at the close of each day. For a buyer who is unregistered, the name and address are needed only when the taxable value is ₹50,000 or more, or on request (Rule 46(e) and (f)).

In your GSTR-1, cash memos to unregistered buyers within your state are reported in the B2C (small) summary by rate, not one by one.