Restaurant Bill Format with GST
A free restaurant bill format for India that fills itself in. Add your items, choose the 5% or 18% restaurant GST rate, add a service charge only if the guest agrees to it, keep liquor on its own VAT line, and get a tax invoice with your GSTIN and FSSAI number and the total in words. Print it on A4 or an 80 mm receipt printer, save it as PDF, or download it for Word or Excel. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Your restaurant
Bill
Items
Tax and charges
Payment and print size
To save a PDF, choose "Save as PDF" as the printer in the print window. For a thermal printer, pick "80 mm receipt printer" above before printing. The Excel download is a CSV file.
What a Restaurant Bill Must Contain
A restaurant bill that charges GST is a tax invoice, and two regulators have a say in what goes on it: the GST rules fix the tax fields, and the food safety authority requires the licence number. There is no prescribed layout, which is why one restaurant bill format looks different from the next, but the fields below are not optional. The generator prints all of them.
| Field on the bill | What to write |
|---|---|
| Restaurant name, address, GSTIN | The name and address on your GST registration, and the 15-character GSTIN. |
| FSSAI licence number | Your 14-digit FSSAI licence or registration number. Mandatory on every bill and cash memo since 2021. |
| Bill number and date | A running serial, unique within the financial year, with the date. Table number, covers and dine-in or takeaway are customary. |
| Items, quantity, rate, amount | Every dish and drink on its own line with quantity and unit rate. Liquor goes in its own section because it carries VAT, not GST. |
| Discount and service charge | Shown as separate lines before tax. Service charge only with the guest's consent, and labelled as optional. |
| SAC code and GST rate | SAC 996331 for restaurant service, with the rate (5% or 18%) and CGST and SGST shown as separate amounts. |
| Customer name and GSTIN | Only for a business customer who wants input credit; a walk-in guest needs nothing. |
| Total in figures and words | The payable amount after round-off, and the payment mode. |
General position as understood at the time of writing. This page is not tax advice. Confirm your own rate, SAC code and bill format with your chartered accountant.
GST, Service Charge and Liquor on a Restaurant Bill
5% or 18%. A standalone restaurant, cafe or cloud kitchen charges 5% GST without input tax credit, shown as 2.5% CGST and 2.5% SGST. A restaurant inside a hotel that counts as specified premises, broadly a hotel that sold any room above ₹7,500 a night in the previous financial year or has opted in, charges 18% with input credit. The same plate of food is taxed differently depending on where it is served, and room-service orders follow the restaurant's rate, not the room's.
Service charge is optional, and taxed when charged. Since the consumer-protection guidelines of July 2022, a restaurant may not add a service charge by default, hide it under another name, or refuse service to a guest who declines it. Where the guest agrees to it, it forms part of the value of supply and GST applies on it at the same rate as the food. The generator keeps it at zero unless you enter a percentage, and prints "optional" against the line.
Liquor is outside GST. Alcohol carries state VAT at a rate set by each state, so a bar bill has two parts: food and soft drinks with GST, and liquor with VAT. Many restaurants raise two separate bills to keep the GST return clean; the generator shows both on one bill with the taxes kept apart.
Composition scheme. A restaurant that has opted for composition pays tax at the composition rate from its own margin and may not collect GST from customers. Its bill is a bill of supply, with the words "composition taxable person, not eligible to collect tax on supplies" printed on it. Choose the 0% option in the generator for that case.
For a hotel guest's room bill, use the hotel bill format with GST; to work out the tax before printing, the hotel GST calculator covers rooms, F&B and extras together.
Restaurant Bill Format in Excel, Word and a POS
Most small restaurants begin with a restaurant bill format in Excel or Word: one file, items typed in, tax added by a formula. It is a valid way to bill, because the rules fix what the bill says and not what it is made with, and the downloads above give you the same restaurant bill format in each form. What a spreadsheet cannot do is what a restaurant actually needs on a Saturday night:
Speed at the table. Orders are taken on a phone, the KOT prints in the kitchen, and the bill is ready before the guest asks for it. See KOT and kitchen display.
One bill number series. Two cashiers on two copies of a file produce duplicate or missing numbers, which is the first thing a GST audit looks for.
Room posting. In a hotel, dinner should land on the guest's room folio by itself, at the restaurant's GST rate, with nothing retyped at check-out.
Item-wise sales and food cost. What sold, what was wasted, and whether the menu price still covers the ingredient cost, without a second spreadsheet.
GSTR-1 at month end. A day's bills exported in minutes, instead of typed up again.
Exceed's restaurant POS does these as part of the hotel system, for a standalone restaurant or for outlets inside a hotel. The hotel POS software for India page covers the detail, or book a free online demo.
Five Mistakes on Restaurant Bills
The errors that cause complaints, notices and rejected expense claims.
Service charge added by default
The most complained-about line on Indian restaurant bills, and one the guest is entitled to have removed. Ask first, print "optional" next to it.
GST on liquor
Alcohol is outside GST. Charging 5% on a beer is an overcharge, and it also lands in the wrong return.
No FSSAI number
Required on every bill since 2021. Food safety inspectors check the bill before they check the kitchen.
Collecting GST under composition
A composition restaurant cannot charge GST to customers. Printing 5% on a bill of supply is a penalty, not a rounding error.
Wrong rate inside a hotel
A restaurant in a specified-premises hotel must charge 18%, not the 5% a standalone restaurant uses. The hotel's room rates decide, not the restaurant's.
More Free Tools for Hoteliers
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the restaurant bill format and GST
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What is the GST rate on a restaurant bill?
A standalone restaurant charges 5% GST without input tax credit, split as 2.5% CGST and 2.5% SGST. A restaurant inside a hotel that is a specified premises, broadly a hotel that sold any room above ₹7,500 a night in the previous financial year or opted in, charges 18% with input credit. Takeaway and delivery from the restaurant follow the same rate as dine-in.
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What must a restaurant bill with GST contain?
The restaurant's name, address and GSTIN, its FSSAI licence number, a serial bill number and date, each item with quantity and rate, the taxable value, the GST rate with CGST and SGST shown separately, the total in figures, and for a business customer who wants input credit, the customer's name and GSTIN.
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Is the FSSAI number mandatory on a restaurant bill?
Yes. Since 2021 the food safety regulator requires every food business to print its 14-digit FSSAI licence or registration number on invoices, cash memos and bills. The generator prints it under the restaurant's name.
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Can a restaurant add a service charge to the bill?
Only as a voluntary amount. Under the consumer protection guidelines of July 2022 a restaurant cannot add a service charge automatically or by default, cannot collect it under another name, and must let the customer remove it. Where it is charged with the customer's consent, GST applies on it as part of the bill. The generator leaves it at zero unless you enter a percentage and prints a line saying it is optional.
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How is liquor shown on a restaurant bill?
Alcohol is outside GST, so it carries state VAT instead, at a rate that differs by state. A bar bill therefore shows food and soft drinks with GST and liquor with VAT, either as two sections of one bill or as two bills. The generator has a separate liquor line with its own VAT rate.
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Can a composition-scheme restaurant charge GST on its bill?
No. A restaurant under the composition scheme pays tax from its own pocket at the composition rate and cannot collect GST from customers. It issues a bill of supply, not a tax invoice, and the bill must state that it is a composition taxable person not eligible to collect tax on supplies. Set the GST rate to zero in the generator for that case.
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