Return one item, credit note fields

October in Sawai Madhopur. A family bought a phone from me on the way to Ranthambore.

Phone, back cover, and a neckband earphone. Three lines on the bill.

Four days later the son came back alone. Earphone not pairing with the father's laptop. He wanted money for that piece only.

I almost opened the old invoice and wrote cancel on top.

Whole bill was 18,450. Earphone was 1,299. If I cancel all, my sale of the phone also vanish on paper. Phone is with them. They are using it in the hotel.

My CA in town, the one who sit above the photocopy shop, already shouted at me once for scratching bills.

He said, return one item, make credit note for that item. Do not kill the original invoice.

Return one item, what actually happened

I opened credit note draft on BillOnDesk.

Draft. Watermark. Not official GST credit note from the portal. Not GSTN. I say this every time because people think any PDF with GSTIN is government.

I sat with the boy and filled fields one by one. This is the part I used to skip. Skipping is how totals go mad.

First field. My shop name. Same spelling as the original bill. If original say Mobile Point SM, I do not suddenly write Mobile Point Sawai. Accounts people match headers like police.

Second. My GSTIN, if I put it on the first paper. Same. Copy paste. Do not type from memory at 8 pm.

Third. Buyer name. Father's name was on the invoice. Boy wanted his own name on credit note. I said no. Credit note follow the original buyer. Otherwise it look like I refunded a different person.

He called father. Father said ok, keep my name.

Fourth. Original invoice number. This field I forgot in 2024 in a Jaipur return and CA made a face like I stole his pen.

I wrote INV-SM-204. Date of that invoice. 14 October.

Fifth. Credit note date. Today. 18 October. Two dates. Sale date and return date. Do not put both same if they are not same. Some offices check.

Sixth. The item. Only the neckband. Qty 1. Rate 1,299. Same rate as sold.

I did not put 900 because the box was open. I was annoyed. Credit the amount you charged, or the part you agree. We agreed full 1,299 because it was dead on arrival, not user damage.

Seventh. Reason. Short. Earphone not pairing, returned. I used to write story. Don't write story. One line.

Eighth. Tax. Original line had 18 percent shown. I put same percent on the credit draft so the tax part also come down on their paper.

I am not telling you which percent is legally correct for your item. I am not a CA. I copy what was on my sale line, then I ask CA at month end if the books need something else.

Ninth. Totals. Let the tool add. I used to add in my head. Head is weak after a tiger-safari crowd day.

I downloaded PDF. I printed two. One for them, one I staple to my copy of the original invoice.

Boy took cash. I wrote in notebook: credit INV-SM-204 earphone 1299.

Notebook still my real brain. The PDF is for their office and for my folder.

Why fields matter.

If you leave original invoice number blank, later you have a credit floating. You will not know which sale it belong.

If you put qty 3 because original bill had 3 items, you just credited the phone also. Then your stock and their pocket do not match.

If you change the rate, their accounts will call. Why credit 1,100 when invoice show 1,299.

If you put a new GSTIN of the son, it look like a different party.

I learned these by doing them wrong. Not from a class.

A woman in Tonk returned a charger in January. Original bill had charger 499 and a glass 199. I credited 698 by habit, both lines. She only returned charger. She kept the glass.

How I fill the credit note draft

She came again, confused, with extra 199 in her bag. I had to make another paper. Mess. Two hours. Her husband waiting on bike outside, horn every two minutes.

Now I read the return item loud. Only charger. Qty 1. Rate 499.

The credit note draft has lines. Use one line for one returned thing. If they return two different things, two lines. Still not the whole old bill, unless they return everything.

If they return everything, still a credit note is cleaner than destroying the invoice, that is what CA said. Original stay in sequence. Credit reverse the amount.

I do not give fake higher credit so customer can show more to some company. People ask. I say no.

I also do not date the credit note back to last month because their books closed. Today is today.

BillOnDesk will not stop me if I type a wrong date. The tool is a form. My job is not to type cinema plots.

Vehicle or IMEI. For a phone return, I write IMEI on the credit note note-line if I wrote IMEI on invoice. Matching. For earphone, no IMEI. Serial if the box has.

Payment mode of refund. Cash, UPI, back to the same UPI they paid. I write it. Later they say you didn't pay. I show the line.

Signature. I sign the print. Boy sign that he took money. Small shop, this save argument.

June this year I updated the fields I always fill, even if customer is in hurry.

Shop name. Buyer name. Original invoice number. Original date. Credit date. Item. Qty. Rate. Reason. Total. Refund mode.

If any of these blank, I do not print.

The boy from Ranthambore, his father later asked, will this credit note file my GST.

I said this is a draft paper from a website. Not GSTN. Not a CA. Your company if they need official credit, talk to their CA. I will talk to mine for my books.

He said ok. He only needed something to show why 1,299 came back.

Some small buyers don't need credit note. They never took a bill. They paid cash for a cover, they return cover, I give cash, notebook tick.

When a bill already went, don't tick. Make the second paper.

I keep credit numbers separate. CN-SM-012. Not the same as INV-SM-204. If numbers mix, month end is a puzzle.

I write next number in the notebook the same minute. If I close the tab, the form die. Number in notebook do not die.

People search what fields on credit note. They want a long English list.

My list is the one I actually fill in a Rajasthan shop when one item come back.

Link the old bill.

Credit only the returned line.

Keep names same.

Keep rate honest.

Mark it draft.

Ask CA for the GST return part. Do not invent.

The family still has the phone. They sent a photo from the park. Tiger not seen. Earphone money seen in the son's wallet.

I still have INV-SM-204 in the folder, not torn.

Next to it, CN-SM-012, one line, neckband.

That is the whole trick. Two papers. One item. Fields filled. No hero cancel stamp on the original.