GST billing software for a small shop should produce invoices your accountant approves, store item details once, leave a trail when a bill is corrected, reconcile the day's bills with the money received, and let you export everything if you leave. Test those five with your own sample bills before you pay. This guide shows how.
Not tax advice. Confirm with your accountant. This is a buyer guide for billing software. It does not give tax rates, dates, filing steps or legal requirements, and nothing here says what the law requires of your business. Tax rules differ by business and change over time.
At a glance
| What to check | Why it matters | How to test it |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice format | Your accountant has to work with it | Print sample bills and get them approved |
| Item details stored once | Retyping causes mistakes | Create items with every field your accountant asked for |
| Corrections leave a trail | Silent edits make records unreliable | Cancel and correct a printed bill, then look for the record |
| Daily reconciliation | Gaps are easiest to explain the same day | Match one day's bills to cash, UPI and card |
| Reports | Your accountant needs them monthly | Download a month's report in a spreadsheet |
| Data export | You may leave one day | Export items, customers and bills before paying |
Step 1: get a one-page brief from your accountant
Before you look at any tool, ask your accountant these questions and write the answers on one page. That page is your checklist, and it is specific to your business.
- What must appear on my invoices?
- What details do I need from business buyers, and when?
- Which details should be stored against each item?
- How should invoices be numbered if I have more than one counter or branch?
- How should I correct a bill after it is printed: cancel it, issue a note, or something else?
- Which reports do you want from me each month, and in what file format?
- How long should I keep my billing records, and in what form?
Any vendor who says their software is "GST ready" should be able to show you how it meets each line of this page, with your items.
What should GST billing software do?
Judge each tool against your accountant's brief, then against these practical needs.
| Capability | Why it matters to you | How to test it |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice layout you can adjust | Your accountant's brief decides the fields | Add your business details and print a bill |
| Item fields filled once | Tax category, codes and units stay consistent | Create five items and bill them |
| Business buyer details on the bill | Needed for some buyers, as your accountant advises | Bill a business buyer with their details |
| Numbering as your accountant wants | Gaps and duplicates are hard to explain later | Bill from two counters and check the numbers |
| A trail for every correction | A changed number with no record cannot be trusted | Cancel a printed bill, then find the record |
| Sales by payment type | Lets you match bills to money received | Pull today's split of cash, UPI and card |
| Downloadable reports | Your accountant should not retype anything | Export a month into a spreadsheet |
| Stock linked to billing | Bills and stock should agree | Sell an item and check its stock fell |
| Offline billing | Bills written by hand during an outage are a mess | Disconnect the internet and bill |
| Full data export | Protects you if you change software | Export items, customers and bills |
Worked example: the daily reconciliation test
The figures below are an illustrative example with round numbers, not data from any shop.
At closing, your bills for the day add up to ₹48,000. The money received:
| Source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cash in the drawer | ₹18,000 |
| UPI received | ₹22,500 |
| Card settlements | ₹7,000 |
| Total received | ₹47,500 |
There is a ₹500 gap. Good software lets you find it in minutes: compare sales by payment type with what each source shows, then check the list of cancelled and edited bills. Common causes are a bill cancelled after printing but counted as a sale, a part payment recorded as full, or a UPI payment that went to the wrong bill.
Now the reason to do it daily. A ₹500 gap left unexplained on 26 working days is ₹13,000 a month that nobody can account for. Found the same evening, each one is usually a five-minute fix. Found at month end, most cannot be traced at all.
If a tool cannot show sales by payment type and a list of cancelled bills for the day, you cannot run this test.
How to test a tool in one day: 10 sample bills
Run these on the vendor's system with your own items, then print each one.
- A regular sale of three items.
- A sale with a discount.
- A sale mixing items in different tax categories.
- A sale to a business buyer, with their details.
- A sale paid partly in cash and partly by UPI.
- A high-value sale.
- A bill cancelled after printing.
- A bill corrected after printing, the way your accountant described.
- A bill made while the internet is disconnected.
- A bill from a second counter or branch, if you have one.
Then download the day's report. Take the ten printed bills and the report to your accountant and ask one question: is this what you need from me? If the answer is yes, the tool fits. If the answer is "almost", ask the vendor to fix it before you pay, not after.
Vendor traps and how to avoid them
| Trap | What it looks like | How to protect yourself |
|---|---|---|
| "Compliant" with nothing to show | A badge on the website, no sample invoice | Ask for sample bills made with your items |
| Locked-in data | Exports cost extra or come as PDFs only | Export a spreadsheet before you pay |
| Limits that appear later | Caps on invoices, users or counters in the fine print | Ask for the limits in writing |
| Renewal surprises | A low first-year price, a higher renewal | Get the renewal price in writing |
| Basics sold as extras | Reports or stock only on a higher tier | List what you need and get a price for exactly that |
| Silent edits | A printed bill can be changed with no record | Test a correction and look for the trail |
| Hardware tie-in | Works only with the vendor's printer or device | Test with the printer you already own |
| No human support | Chat bot only | Call the support number during the demo |
Questions to ask a seller
- Can I make sample bills with my own items today?
- Can my accountant see those samples before I pay?
- How do I correct a printed bill, and what record does it leave?
- How are invoices numbered across counters and branches?
- Which reports can I download, and in which formats?
- Can I export all my data, including old bills, if I leave?
- What are the limits on invoices, users, counters and branches?
- What will the renewal cost, in writing?
- What happens when the internet drops?
- Who do I call when billing stops at the evening rush?
Rolling out new billing software
Week 1: get the brief from your accountant, set up items with the fields they asked for, and set staff roles so only managers can cancel bills.
Week 2: run the 10-bill test, get your accountant's approval, then bill in parallel with your old method for two or three quiet days and compare totals.
Week 3: switch over on a weekday. Reconcile every evening. At the end of the first month, send your accountant the report and ask what to change.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
- Choosing before asking your accountant. You buy a tool that cannot produce what they need. Fix: get the one-page brief first.
- Trusting a "GST ready" badge. It tells you nothing about your bills. Fix: ten sample bills, approved.
- Letting anyone cancel bills. Records become unreliable. Fix: cancellations by managers only, with a trail.
- Reconciling once a month. Gaps cannot be traced. Fix: match bills to money every evening.
- Not billing small sales. Records stop matching cash. Fix: bill every sale, however small.
- Ignoring the exit. Your records are stuck with a vendor. Fix: test the export before paying.
A free way to make occasional invoices
If you only need a few invoices, Ordrio's free GST invoice generator works in your browser. You add items with HSN codes and rates, it works out CGST and SGST or IGST, the round-off and the amount in words, and you save the invoice as a PDF. Nothing you type is sent to Ordrio or saved. Show the result to your accountant before relying on it.
Where Ordrio fits
Kadal is Ordrio's billing and POS software for shops and restaurants. Against this guide:
- Invoices: GST-ready invoices, custom invoices with barcode support, printed at the counter.
- Items: SKU codes, categories, units and costing in one form.
- Records: roles and access control per person, and activity logs that show who did what.
- Reconciliation: daily sales summaries and sales by payment type and by device, with cash, card, UPI and wallet on the bill.
- Reports: reports you can download when your accountant asks.
- Stock and offline: stock that falls with every sale, and billing that continues offline and syncs later.
If you also sell online, Nadi runs your own website and app on the same products and stock. Nadi's add-ons include Inventory and e-Way Bill Generation. Ask your accountant whether you need either.
What is not included or not stated. Our pages do not state that Ordrio files GST returns, prepares return data, or connects to accounting software. Treat Ordrio as your billing and store system, and your accountant and their tools as the place filing happens.
When Ordrio is not the right choice. If what you need is accounting and filing, not billing, use accounting software with your accountant. And as with any tool, if your accountant does not approve the sample bills, do not switch.
You start on the free plan. Any paid plan costs ₹1 for the first 30 days. See pricing.