Jewellery bill format: what a GST bill for jewellery must show

Why a jewellery bill is different

A shop selling shirts writes one price per item. A jewellery bill has to show how the price was reached: the weight of the piece, its purity, the day’s rate, the making charge and any stones. Customers check these lines, especially at weddings and big purchases, and your CA needs them for GST returns.

Two sets of rules shape the bill. GST rules say what every tax invoice must carry. BIS hallmarking rules say what a bill for hallmarked jewellery must show. A good jewellery bill format meets both on one page.

The top of the bill: your shop and the customer

• Your shop’s name, address and GSTIN.
• A bill number of up to 16 characters, letters, numbers, a dash or a slash, unique for the financial year. You can run more than one series, for example one for each counter.
• The date of the bill.
• For a customer with a GSTIN (another jeweller or a business): their name, address and GSTIN.
• For a customer without a GSTIN: their name, address, delivery address, and state with its code, when the taxable value is ₹50,000 or more. Below ₹50,000, only if they ask for it.
• Place of supply with the state name, when the sale goes to another state.

Each piece: the lines a jewellery bill must carry

• Description. What the piece is: “22K necklace”, “18K diamond ring”. BIS asks for a separate description of each article.
• HSN code. Jewellery of gold, silver and other precious metals is HSN 7113. With turnover up to ₹5 crore last year, use at least 4 digits, and the HSN may be left off bills to customers without a GSTIN. Above ₹5 crore, at least 6 digits on every bill. This is Notification 78/2020-Central Tax. Your CA will give you the full code.
• Gross weight and net weight. Gross is the whole piece; net is the metal alone, without stones. BIS asks for the net weight of precious metal on the bill.
• Purity in karat and fineness. For example 22K and 916, or 18K and 750. BIS asks for both.
• Rate and metal value. Your rate per gram for that purity, and net weight × rate.
• Making charge. As a percentage, per gram or a flat amount, whichever your shop uses. If your shop shows wastage, show it the same way every time. The making charge calculator and the wastage calculator show the working.
• Stones. Diamonds or stones priced on their own line, so metal is charged only on metal weight.
• Hallmarking charge. BIS asks for the hallmarking charges to be shown on the bill.
• HUID. The 6-character hallmark code of the piece. The BIS bill list doesn’t name it, but printing it lets the customer match the piece to the bill and check it with “verify HUID” in the BIS CARE app.

The bottom of the bill: GST, old gold and payment

Taxable value. Metal, making, stones and other charges together, after any discount.

GST at 3%. CBIC’s own FAQ for gems and jewellery says GST is 3% of the total value of the jewellery, whether the making charge is shown separately or not. Making on a piece you sell is not taxed at 5%. Show the rate and the amount: CGST 1.5% and SGST 1.5% for a sale in your state, or IGST 3% for a sale to another state.

Bill total. Taxable value plus GST.

Old gold exchange. If the customer gives old gold, show its weight, tested purity, fine weight, your old-gold rate and its value, and take it off the bill total. GST stays on the full value of the new piece; agree the treatment with your CA. Work the value out with the old gold exchange calculator.

How it was paid. Cash, UPI, card, and anything left as dues. For cash and PAN limits on big sales, see the GST billing guide and the PAN and TCS guide.

The BIS line. BIS asks that a bill for hallmarked jewellery says the customer can get the purity checked at any BIS-recognised assaying and hallmarking centre. One printed line covers it.

Reverse charge, written as “No” for a normal sale, and your signature or digital signature.

A worked jewellery bill, with sample numbers

Here is one bill worked out end to end. Every number is a sample chosen to make the maths easy to follow. It is not today’s gold rate, a real customer or a real piece. Put your own figures in the gold GST and making calculator or the gold price calculator, or make the whole bill in the free jewellery bill maker and print it or save it as a PDF.

Sample sale: a 22K necklace with small stones, sold in your own state, with an old 22K chain taken in exchange.

Reading the sample bill

• GST is on ₹3,12,000, the full value of the necklace, not on the amount left after old gold. The old gold is part of how the customer pays.
• The making charge carries the same 3% as the metal, even though it has its own line.
• For a customer from another state whose piece you deliver there, the two GST lines become one: IGST 3%, ₹9,360, with the place of supply named. The total stays the same.
• The old gold line shows its weight, purity, fine weight and rate, so the customer sees how the ₹1,03,250 was reached.
• Above ₹50,000, as here, the customer’s name, address and state must be on the bill even if they have no GSTIN.

Job work bills are different

A karigar or workshop that makes jewellery from a registered jeweller’s gold and bills only for the work is doing job work. CBIC’s FAQ says a registered job worker charges GST at 5% on the job charges only, not on the gold. The jeweller can take credit for that GST.

So a job-work bill shows the weight of gold received and returned, the job charge, and 5% GST on the charge: for a sample job charge of ₹10,000, that is CGST 2.5% (₹250) and SGST 2.5% (₹250). It uses a service code, not HSN 7113; your CA will give you the right one. Don’t mix job-work lines into a retail bill.

Estimate or bill?

An estimate is a quote the customer can take home. Mark it clearly as an estimate, with the rate and the date, and don’t give it a bill number from your GST series. When the customer comes back to buy, make the GST bill at that day’s rate, or the rate you promised.

Mistakes to avoid on a jewellery bill

• Charging metal on gross weight when the piece has stones. Show net weight and price stones apart.
• Charging 3% on gold and 5% on making on a retail bill. CBIC’s FAQ says 3% on the total.
• Charging GST only on the amount after old gold, without agreeing that with your CA.
• Leaving out purity in karat and fineness, or the hallmarking charge, on hallmarked jewellery.
• Gaps or repeats in bill numbers, or handwritten corrections after the bill is given.
• Missing customer details on a bill of ₹50,000 or more.
• IGST on a walk-in customer from another state who takes the piece at your counter. That is usually a same-state sale; ask your CA when unsure.

How CaratOS makes the bill

CaratOS is jewellery billing and shop management software for Indian jewellers. It runs in the browser at app.caratos.co.in, in English and Hindi.

Scan the price tag and the piece comes in at your rate for the day, with weight, purity, making and stones line by line and the HUID on every line. Every bill is a GST bill with HSN codes, and 3% as CGST and SGST, or IGST when the customer is in another state. Old gold goes on the same bill: weigh it, enter the tested purity, and it is valued at your old-gold rate. Split the payment across cash, UPI and card. Invoice numbers run without gaps.

Share the bill on WhatsApp or email, print it on A5, or save it as a PDF. On every plan you can set your bill’s look. Growth adds all premium invoice themes, your own custom invoice design and GST e-invoices with IRN.

Starter is ₹1,199 a month and Growth ₹3,999 a month, GST included. You can request a 15-day Starter trial, with no card; it starts when CaratOS approves it. See Billing and old gold and pricing, or book a demo and bring a real bill from last week.

Questions shop owners ask