How to Create an Invoice for Free Sample under GST in Excel

An invoice for free sample under GST is not a tax invoice. It is the delivery challan you send with goods that the other person does not pay for. This guide fills one in Excel and checks the arithmetic: shampoo ₹2,550, cream ₹2,400, soap ₹840, total ₹5,790, GST nil. Download the invoice for free sample under GST and follow the cells.

The same search in the plural — invoice for free samples under GST — is this document. One challan covers the consignment.

Why it is not a tax invoice

Section 7 of the CGST Act taxes a supply made for a consideration. A free sample has no consideration. CBIC Circular No. 92/11/2019-GST (7 March 2019) says samples supplied free of cost do not qualify as a supply, except where Schedule I applies. No output tax. The circular's own example is a drug sample given to a stockist, a dealer, or a doctor. The Excel sample uses shampoo, cream, and soap so the sheet is not a drug label. The GST point is the same.

Rule 55 of the CGST Rules lets you move goods for reasons other than supply on a delivery challan, in lieu of an invoice. The challan needs a date and a number (16 characters or fewer), the consigner's name, address, and GSTIN, the consignee's name and address (and GSTIN only if they have one), HSN and description, quantity, value, and a signature. Place of supply goes on it only for an inter-state movement. Tax rate and tax amount go on it only where the transportation is for a supply to the consignee. A free sample is not that, so this sheet has no GST columns.

The GST invoice template is the wrong download. It adds CGST and SGST and asks the buyer to pay the total. Putting free samples on that invoice tells the department you made a taxable sale.

Worked example: ₹5,790, nothing collected

| Line | HSN | Qty | Value / unit | Value | |---|---|---|---|---| | Herbal shampoo, 50 ml | 3305 | 30 | 85 | 2,550 | | Moisturising cream, 20 g | 3304 | 40 | 60 | 2,400 | | Bathing bar, 75 g | 3401 | 24 | 35 | 840 | | Value of goods | | | | 5,790 | | GST | | | | none | | Amount the consignee pays | | | | 0 |

30 × 85 = 2,550. If that cell shows 255, the rate was typed as 8.5 instead of 85. The total cell is a SUM of the value column. Empty spare rows stay out of the sum because the row formula returns a blank when quantity or rate is empty.

₹5,790 is under ₹50,000, so the e-way bill cell says Not required. That is the general limit in Rule 138 for goods moving on a delivery challan. It is not a promise about every state. Intra-state limits differ. If you change the shampoo quantity to 600, the value becomes 600 × 85 = 51,000 on that line alone, and the cell says Required.

Movement is Intra on the sample, so place of supply stays blank. Type Inter in G6 when the consignee's state is different, then fill G7 with that state and its code. Rule 55(1)(viii) is the reason that one cell exists.

What to type, in order

1. Consigner. Your legal name, address, GSTIN, and state. You are the person removing the goods.
2. Challan number and date. A series of your own, not the sales INV- series. Sixteen characters is the cap in Rule 55.
3. Movement. Intra or Inter. Do not edit the formula that reads G6.
4. Consignee. Name and address. GSTIN, or the word Unregistered. A doctor or a shopkeeper often has no GSTIN. That does not turn the sample into a sale.
5. Transport. Vehicle number and transporter when someone else carries the goods.
6. Lines. Description, HSN, quantity, unit, value per unit. Use the HSN length your turnover requires. The sample is the four-digit heading.
7. Value in words. The printed words match ₹5,790. Change them when the total changes. Excel will not write the words for you.
8. Copies. Original for the consignee, duplicate for the transporter, triplicate for you. Mark which one you are printing. Sign it. Save a PDF if you email it, so the formulas cannot be edited in transit.

Input tax credit

Section 17(5)(h) says input tax credit is not available on goods disposed of by way of gift or free samples. If you already claimed credit on the shampoo, the cream, or the soap, reverse it. Circular 92 is explicit: credit is not available on inputs, input services, and capital goods to the extent they are used for gifts or free samples distributed without consideration.

The circular then states the exception. Where Schedule I makes the distribution a supply, you pay GST, and you may take the credit. Do not reverse credit and also pay output tax on the same goods. Pick the limb that applies.

When this challan is the wrong file

• You charge a price, including a token price. That is consideration. Use the GST tax invoice.
• The goods go to a related person, or to your own establishment that has a different GSTIN (a distinct person). Schedule I. Tax invoice. GST payable.
• The "sample" is a gift to an employee and the gifts to that employee in the financial year exceed ₹50,000. Schedule I treats the excess as a supply. Gifts within ₹50,000 to an employee are not a supply, but they are still not this customer-sample challan.
• You are only moving stock between two godowns under the same GSTIN. That can be a Rule 55 challan too, and it is not a free sample. Do not use the free-sample declaration.
• The supplier is unregistered and you, the recipient, owe GST under reverse charge. That is a self invoice, not a sample challan.

FAQ

Can I title the PDF "Tax Invoice" so the customer files it?

No. Calling it a tax invoice does not create a supply, and it can create one on paper that you then have to explain. The heading on the sheet is a delivery challan. The page title matches the search people use.

What value do I put if I never sell this pack on its own?

Use a real value: what it cost you, or the price you would have charged for the same goods. Rule 55 wants that figure on the challan. ₹0 is a bad value. It hides the consignment from the e-way bill test and does not describe the goods.

Does the consignee issue a self invoice for samples they received free?

No. A self invoice is for a reverse-charge purchase from an unregistered supplier, where GST is payable. A free sample from a registered consigner, with no consideration, is not that purchase.

Is the Excel challan valid?

GST law does not prescribe the software. It is valid when the Rule 55 particulars are on it and the declaration matches the facts. If the facts are a Schedule I supply, no layout makes this challan the right document.