Bill Book Printing Guide: NCR Sets, Sizes and GST Invoices

A badly planned bill book shows its faults within a week: faint copies, repeated numbers and no room for a GSTIN. Good bill book printing comes down to copies, colours, numbering, size, binding and what the bill must show.

How NCR (carbonless) paper works

NCR stands for "no carbon required". The back of the top sheet carries tiny capsules of colourless dye, and the sheet below has a reactive clay coating on its face. Pen pressure breaks the capsules and the writing appears on the copy. In sets of three or more parts, the middle sheets are coated on both sides.

• Use a ballpoint and press firmly. Gel and felt-tip pens give faint copies.
• Slip a card under the set you are writing on, or the writing comes through to the next set.
• Store books away from sunlight and heat. NCR images fade over the years, so scan important copies.

Duplicate, triplicate and paper colours

A duplicate set has two parts: the original for the customer and a copy that stays in the book. Triplicate adds a third. Under GST, an invoice for goods is generally made in three copies (original for the recipient, duplicate for the transporter, triplicate for the supplier), while services need two. Each copy must be marked as such, for example "Original for Recipient".

The original is usually white and the copies are tinted, so nobody hands over the wrong one. On our bill books and invoice books you can have one, two or three copies behind the original, in light blue, light green, pink or yellow.

Numbering that stays in order

Printed numbers make a missing bill easy to spot. Every copy in a set carries the same number, and each new book carries on from the last.

GST asks for invoice numbers that run in sequence and are unique within a financial year (April to March). A number can be up to 16 characters of letters, digits, hyphens and slashes, and you may keep separate series, say one per counter. Choose a starting number such as 001 or 101, or give a custom one. On reorders, tell us your last used number so nothing repeats.

Bill book printing: sizes, paper and binding

• A4 (210 x 297 mm): room for long item lists and full tax columns.
• A5 (148 x 210 mm): the everyday shop bill, with space for a GST layout.
• A6 (105 x 148 mm): cash memos, receipts and delivery slips. Usually too tight for a full GST invoice.

Paper comes in 70 or 90 GSM. The 90 feels firmer; in a four-part set, 70 helps the last copy come through clearly. The top sheet prints in black or multicolour for a coloured logo; copies print in black. Books are glued or stapled along one edge; originals tear out and your copy stays bound.

Sending your own file? Keep text and ruled lines 6 mm inside the trim, more on the bound side. Colour that runs off the edge needs 3 mm bleed.

What a GST tax invoice should show

A registered business needs space for:

• Your business name, address and GSTIN
• A "Tax Invoice" heading, invoice number and date
• Buyer's name and address, and GSTIN if registered
• Place of supply with the state name, for inter-state sales
• Description, quantity and unit of each item
• HSN code for goods or SAC for services
• Taxable value after any discount
• CGST and SGST rates and amounts within your state, or IGST for other states
• Invoice total, often also in words
• Whether tax is payable on reverse charge
• Signature of the supplier or an authorised person

How many HSN digits you need depends on turnover; check with your accountant. Composition dealers, and anyone selling exempt goods or services, issue a "Bill of Supply" for those sales and cannot charge GST. A composition dealer's bill must also say "composition taxable person, not eligible to collect tax on supplies" at the top. Unregistered businesses leave out the "Tax Invoice" heading and tax columns. Businesses under e-invoicing must register business-to-business invoices on the government's Invoice Registration Portal and print the QR code it issues, so a handwritten book will not do for those sales.

Check the proof before anything prints

Start from a template in our online editor, upload your own file or ask our team to design it. You get a free digital proof and nothing prints until you approve it. Read your 15-character GSTIN one character at a time (Tamil Nadu GSTINs begin with 33), then the address, phone and starting number. A mistake here repeats on every page of every book.

When you are ready, the bill books and invoice books page shows every option with live prices.