Clothing Store Bill Format: Sizes, GST Slabs and Sample

Most clothing store bills fail at the exchange counter. The customer comes back with a shirt that does not fit, and the bill says "Shirt 1 x 1,499" with no size, colour or article code. A good clothing store bill format fixes that by recording SKU, size and colour on every line, alongside the price, discount and tax, so exchanges, returns and stock updates take seconds.

This guide covers the fields a garment shop bill should carry, a sample bill that applies India's per-piece GST slabs, how discounts change tax, variations for the UK and Pakistan, and the mistakes that cause the most counter arguments.

Clothing store bill format: the fields

Shop and bill details

• Store name, branch address, phone and tax number (GSTIN, VAT number, NTN/STRN).
• Heading: "Tax Invoice" for registered sellers, or "Cash Memo" / "Receipt" where tax registration does not apply.
• Bill number, date, time, cashier and counter.
• Customer name and phone (optional for walk-ins, useful for loyalty and exchanges).

Item lines

• Article or SKU code printed from the barcode tag.
• Description: product type, fabric and style (Men's cotton shirt, slim fit).
• Size and colour: M / Navy, 32 / Indigo, 7 / Black.
• HSN code for GST-registered sellers in India.
• Quantity, MRP, discount and net amount.
• Tax rate per line when items fall in different slabs.

Footer

• Total MRP, total discount ("You saved Rs 840"), taxable value, tax by rate, round-off and amount paid.
• Payment mode, gift voucher or credit note redeemed.
• Exchange and return policy.

These are the same building blocks as any retail invoice format; clothing adds size, colour and per-piece tax.

GST on clothing in India: the Rs 2,500 per piece rule

Since 22 September 2025, the GST rate on ready-made garments depends on the sale value of each piece. According to the official release on the 56th GST Council meeting, apparel up to Rs 2,500 per piece is taxed at 5%, and apparel above Rs 2,500 per piece moved from 12% to 18%. Before that change the threshold was Rs 1,000. Our overview of GST 2.0 rate changes covers the wider reform.

Three practical consequences for your bill format:

• Rate is per piece, not per bill. One bill can contain both 5% and 18% lines, and the footer must show tax for each rate.
• Discounts given on the bill reduce the value. A discount shown on the invoice at the time of sale reduces taxable value, so a discount can move a piece from the higher slab into the lower one. Configure your billing software to apply the slab after discount, and confirm the treatment with your tax adviser.
• Correct HSN codes matter. Garments, fabric and footwear sit in different chapters with their own conditions. See our HSN code guide.

This is general information, not tax advice.

Sample clothing store bill

Threadline Fashion, Mall Road branch. GSTIN: (shown). Tax Invoice. Bill No. TF-MR/26-27/07215. Date: 12 Nov 2026, 19:20. Customer: N. Verma.

Article	Description	Size / Colour	Qty	Price incl. GST (Rs)	GST rate	Taxable (Rs)	GST (Rs)
SH-2231	Men's cotton shirt	M / Navy	1	1,499.00	5%	1,427.62	71.38
DN-0874	Slim fit jeans	32 / Indigo	1	2,299.00	5%	2,189.52	109.48
BL-0410	Wool blend blazer	40 / Charcoal	1	4,999.00	18%	4,236.44	762.56
Totals						7,853.58	943.42
GST 5%: CGST 90.43 + SGST 90.43						180.86
GST 18%: CGST 381.28 + SGST 381.28						762.56
Amount paid (UPI)						8,797.00

How it adds up: prices on the tags include GST, so taxable value = price / (1 + rate). The shirt: 1,499 / 1.05 = 1,427.62, tax 71.38. The jeans: 2,299 / 1.05 = 2,189.52, tax 109.48. The blazer is above Rs 2,500, so 18% applies: 4,999 / 1.18 = 4,236.44, tax 762.56. Total taxable 7,853.58 plus tax 943.42 = 8,797.00, the same as the three tag prices added together.

Showing a discount

If the blazer had been on a 20% sale, the line would read: MRP 4,999.00, discount 20% (999.80), net 3,999.20. Because 3,999.20 is still above Rs 2,500, 18% still applies. A kurta with MRP 2,799 sold at 15% off (net 2,379.15), however, would fall below the threshold. Showing MRP, discount and net on each line makes that logic visible to both the customer and an auditor. Our guide on how to show a discount on an invoice covers the formats.

Variations by country

Country	What to add or change
India	GSTIN, HSN, per-piece rate, CGST/SGST split; customer name and address on B2C bills of Rs 50,000 or more.
UK	Adult clothing is standard-rated for VAT; qualifying children's clothing is zero-rated. Mark zero-rated lines and show VAT by rate on any VAT invoice.
Pakistan	Large branded outlets classed as Tier-1 retailers must issue FBR-integrated POS bills with an FBR invoice number and QR code.
US	Sales tax depends on the state; a few states exempt most clothing or clothing under a price limit, so the POS needs per-item tax codes.

Exchanges, returns and credit notes

Clothing stores process more exchanges than almost any other retailer. A few rules keep the paperwork clean:

• Print the policy on the bill: time limit, tags attached, unwashed, bill required, sale items exchange only.
• Exchanges at the same price can be recorded as a return line and a new sale line on one bill, so stock moves correctly by size.
• Refunds or store credit should be issued against the original bill number. Our guide to the refund invoice covers how to document them.
• Do not override legal rights. Faulty goods often carry statutory refund rights regardless of store policy; our return policy template includes wording for the US and UK.

How to set up a clothing bill format in your POS or template

1. Create the product master with article code, HSN, size, colour, MRP and tax category.
2. Print barcode tags that carry article, size and colour so scanning fills the bill automatically.
3. Enable per-item tax calculation after discount.
4. Design the printout: shop header, item table with size/colour column, tax summary by rate, savings line, policy footer.
5. Test with a mixed bill (one item under and one over Rs 2,500) and check the totals by hand.

Common mistakes on clothing bills

• No size or colour, which makes exchanges a matter of trust.
• One GST rate for the whole bill instead of per piece.
• Applying the slab before discount, overcharging tax on discounted pieces.
• "No exchange, no refund" with no exceptions, which can conflict with consumer law on faulty goods.
• Handwritten corrections instead of a proper return entry.

If you make custom or made-to-measure garments rather than selling off the rack, the deposit and fitting stages need a different document; see our boutique invoice template.

Clothing bill template: layout tips

Clothing bills are often printed on 80 mm thermal rolls at busy tills. A few layout choices keep them readable:

• Two lines per item. First line: article code and description. Second line: size/colour, quantity, MRP, discount, net. This avoids squeezing seven columns onto a narrow roll.
• Tax summary at the bottom, grouped by rate (5% and 18% in India), instead of tax on every line.
• A savings line ("Total savings: Rs 1,140"). Customers like it, and it makes discounts transparent.
• Exchange policy in two or three short lines, not a paragraph nobody reads.
• A barcode of the bill number at the bottom, so the exchange counter can pull up the original sale with one scan.

For A4 bills used for online orders, corporate uniform orders or wholesale, add the customer's address and tax number, a delivery address, and a column per size if you sell sets (for example a uniform order of 20 shirts split S 4, M 8, L 6, XL 2). Wholesale garment buyers also expect the HSN code and tax rate on every line, because they will claim input tax on it.

Finally, test your template with a real exchange. Sell a test item, return it, and exchange it for a different size. If your staff can find the original line, reverse it and record the new size in under a minute, your format is doing its job.

Whatever layout you choose, keep a copy of every bill for the period your tax rules require, and make sure returned and exchanged items are reflected in your stock count the same day. Size-level stock accuracy is what lets you tell a customer, honestly, whether the medium in navy is still available.

For bulk orders, corporate uniform sales or online orders where you need an A4 bill, our free invoice generator lets you add size and colour in each line and save the finished bill as a PDF, with no sign-up.