Bill a service (Accounting / Service invoice)

Bill fees, labour, rent or other services against an income ledger, with the right SAC and GST, without touching stock.

A service invoice is billed against an income ledger, not a product. It posts the sale to your accounts but does not move any stock. It is made on the same screen as a normal sales invoice.

Before you start

Create the customer.
Create an income ledger for each kind of service, such as "Consultancy Fees" or "Repair Charges", in Chart of Accounts. You can also create one from the invoice screen.
On each service ledger, set the SAC Code and Default GST rate. They are under Advanced — GST classification in the ledger form.

Steps

Open Transactions > Sales.
Pick the Customer.
Check Inv No., Invoice Date and Place of Supply. These work the same as on a sales invoice.
In Invoice Type, choose Accounting / Service. The items table changes to Ledger Lines.
In Income Ledger, pick the service ledger. If the ledger has a default GST rate, GST % fills in by itself.
Type a Description of the work, such as "Annual maintenance, April".
Enter the Amount. Enter any discount in Disc.
Check GST %. Total shows the line amount with GST.
Click Add Line for more services. Click the bin icon to remove a line.
Turn on Tax Incl. if your amounts already include GST.
Add charges or round off if needed, then click Save Invoice.

Create a service ledger while billing

In Income Ledger, choose Create Ledger at the top of the list.
Type the Ledger Name and pick the Group.
Click Advanced — GST classification.
Type the SAC Code and pick the Default GST rate.
Leave GST supply nature as Taxable (normal) for a normal taxable service.
Click Create Ledger. The new ledger is put on the line.

How the SAC is used

The SAC comes from the ledger, not from the invoice line. It is printed on the invoice and goes into the HSN/SAC summary and the e-invoice.
If a ledger has no SAC, the e-invoice uses a general "other services" code. Set the correct SAC on every service ledger to avoid this.
If a ledger's GST supply nature is Reverse Charge (RCM) — tax paid by recipient, the Reverse Charge (RCM) box on the invoice is ticked for you. You can untick it.
If the nature is exempt, nil-rated or non-GST, sales to that ledger go to GSTR-1 Table 8 and print as a Bill of Supply.

Sell a service as a product line

You can also keep a service as an item in Products and bill it on an Item Invoice. This is useful when you bill goods and a service together.

In Products, turn the switch to Service and type its SAC Code.
On the sales invoice, keep Invoice Type as Item Invoice and pick the service in Select item.
Check the HSN Code column on that line. Type the SAC there if it is blank. A service SAC starts with 99.
Enter Qty, Rate and GST % as usual.

A code that starts with 99 is sent as a service on the e-invoice. Note that every line on an Item Invoice is posted as stock going out, even a service item. For pure services, use Accounting / Service instead.

Fields

Field	What to enter
Income Ledger	The income ledger for this service. Only income ledgers that are not GST ledgers are listed.
Description	What the work was. This prints on the invoice.
Amount	The value of the service before GST, or with GST if Tax Incl. is on.
Disc	A discount in rupees for this line.
GST %	The GST rate for this line. It fills from the ledger's default rate.

Common problems

Add at least one ledger line — no line has a ledger picked. Pick an Income Ledger.
Ledger must be INCOME: ... — the ledger picked is not an income ledger. Pick a ledger under an income group.
Ledger cannot be GST ledger: ... — a GST tax ledger was picked. Pick the service income ledger instead.
Wrong SAC on the printed invoice — correct the SAC on the ledger in Chart of Accounts.

More in Sales

Create a sales invoiceMake a sales invoice for goods: pick the customer and items, add discount, GST and charges, then save, edit or duplicate it.View, print and share an invoiceOpen a saved sales invoice to check it, print 1 to 3 copies, save it as a PDF, send it on WhatsApp, edit it or duplicate it.Sales RegisterFind, filter and export your sales invoices, and view, edit, duplicate, print or cancel any of them.Make a counter sale (POS)Bill a walk-in customer in a few seconds with the keyboard, take cash, see the change and print a small receipt.Proforma invoice (quotation)Make a proforma invoice or quotation for a customer, print it, and later convert it into a real sales invoice.Create a credit note (sales return)Record goods returned by a customer, or a price reduction after the sale, with a credit note that reduces the sale and the customer's balance.Make a delivery challanSend goods without an invoice under Rule 55, move stock between your own godowns, print the challan, and convert it to a sales invoice later.