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Purchase › Purchase register format
Purchase register format: what to write for every supplier bill
A purchase register is the list of everything you bought on bills, in date order, with the GST on each. It is where your input tax credit comes from, and the first thing an accountant asks for at the end of the month.
The columns
- Date of the supplier's bill (not the day you entered it).
- Supplier name and GSTIN. The GSTIN is what links the bill to the supplier's own return.
- Bill number, exactly as printed. Two bills from the same supplier never share a number in a year, so this is how duplicates are caught.
- Taxable value: the price before GST, after any discount shown on the bill.
- CGST and SGST (supplier in your state) or IGST (supplier in another state).
- Total of the bill.
Many businesses add the HSN code, the GST rate and the place of supply. The register here keeps them with each bill and shows the totals per period.
A worked example
Gupta Hardware in Punjab bought from three suppliers in October 2026:
| Date | Supplier | Bill | Taxable | CGST | SGST | IGST | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03 Oct 2026 | Sharma Pipes, Ludhiana | SP/1182 | 40,000.00 | 3,600.00 | 3,600.00 | 47,200.00 | |
| 11 Oct 2026 | Delhi Fittings, Delhi | DF/26-27/0457 | 25,000.00 | 4,500.00 | 29,500.00 | ||
| 20 Oct 2026 | Sharma Pipes (return of SP/1182) | PR/26-27/003 | −5,000.00 | −450.00 | −450.00 | −5,900.00 | |
| Total for October | 60,000.00 | 3,150.00 | 3,150.00 | 4,500.00 | 70,800.00 | ||
The Delhi bill has IGST because the supplier is in another state. The return is shown as a minus line, so the totals are what you really bought: GST of ₹10,800 on purchases of ₹60,000.
Why the register matters for GST
The GST you paid on these bills is your input tax credit, set off against the GST on your sales in GSTR-3B. You can take it only when the conditions of section 16 of the CGST Act are met, and only for bills that appear in your GSTR-2B (see input tax credit conditions). Matching the register with GSTR-2B every month catches missing or wrong bills while the supplier can still fix them.
Records the law asks for
- Section 35 of the CGST Act and Rule 56 ask every registered person to keep accounts of inward supplies (purchases) at the principal place of business. They may be kept electronically.
- Section 36 says the books and records must be kept for 72 months (six years) from the due date of the annual return for that year. A bill of April 2026 belongs to 2026-27, whose annual return is due on 31 December 2027, so keep it until at least 31 December 2033.
- Keep the supplier's bills themselves, not only the register. A photo saved with each entry helps, but keep the original paper or PDF too, and keep a backup file of your data.