Transport Bill Format Free Excel, Word, PDF and a printable bill book
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What goes on a transport bill
A bill that shows only a total invites a phone call. These are the lines that get it paid without one.
- LR / consignment no.
- The link back to the goods. First thing the customer's accounts team checks.
- Date, from, to
- Which trip each line is. Disputes are almost always about one specific lane.
- Vehicle number
- Ties the line to a truck, and to the e-way bill if there was one.
- Weight
- Charged weight, not actual. If they differ, say which you have billed on.
- Freight per line
- Per consignment, not a lump sum. A lump is what gets queried and held.
- Detention or halting
- The charge most often forgotten and most often contested. Put the days on it.
- Loading and unloading
- Only if you actually paid them. Otherwise it reads as padding.
- GST treatment
- Reverse charge, or forward at 12% or 5%. Never leave it to be inferred.
- PAN and bank details
- Without these the bill sits in a drawer waiting for someone to ask.
- Amount in words
- What a bank looks at when the figures are ambiguous.
- Period covered
- So the customer can match it to their own month and close it off.
Reverse charge means most bills carry no tax line at all — the recipient calculates and pays it directly, then claims the credit. Adding a tax line to a reverse-charge bill is how it ends up paid twice.
Who pays GST on a transport bill
Goods transport by road sits on the reverse-charge list in Notification 13/2017-Central Tax (Rate). The default position is that a registered recipient pays the GST directly to the government at 5%, claims the credit if they are entitled to it, and the transporter charges no tax at all. The bill total is freight.
A goods transport agency can opt out of that and charge forward instead, in one of two ways: 12% with full input tax credit available to the GTA, or 5% without. It is an election, made for the financial year, and it has to be declared — commonly by an annexure filed at the start of the year and a line on every invoice.
Which you are on changes what the bill should say, and getting it wrong is expensive in both directions. Charge tax on a reverse-charge bill and the recipient may pay it to you and again to the government. Charge nothing while having elected forward charge and the liability is yours, unpaid, with interest. This is why the formats on this page put it on the face of the bill as a tick-box, and why the Excel makes it a dropdown that cannot be left empty.
Transport bill vs lorry receipt
Two documents, two jobs, and the bill references the receipt. People conflate them constantly.
| Lorry receipt (LR / bilty) | Transport bill | |
|---|---|---|
| When it is issued | At pickup, before the goods move. | After delivery, usually monthly. |
| What it does | Acknowledges goods received for carriage. | Asks for payment. |
| How many consignments | One. | Many — a period's worth. |
| Who holds it | Consignor, consignee and driver each get a copy. | The customer's accounts department. |
| Carries GST | No. | States the treatment; may or may not charge tax. |
| What links them | — | Lists the LR numbers it is billing for. |
How to raise a transport bill
- Collect the period's LRs
- Every consignment note issued in the month for that customer. Missing one is a month's delay.
- One line per consignment
- LR number, date, route, vehicle, charged weight, freight. Resist the urge to summarise.
- Add the extras separately
- Detention, loading, unloading, other — each on its own line so each can be defended or dropped.
- Subtotal the freight first
- Then add extras to that subtotal. Lumping everything into one column is how a halting charge falls out of the total.
- State the GST position
- Tick reverse charge, or the forward-charge rate you have elected. If forward, add the tax line.
- Add PAN and bank details
- And the period covered. These are the two things that decide how fast it gets paid.
- Keep the office copy
- Serially numbered. The bill book does this for you; a printed bill needs a numbering discipline of its own.
Why a transport bill gets held up
Five reasons, in roughly the order they happen.
- An LR number that does not match theirs
- Their goods-inward register is indexed by it. One wrong digit stops the whole bill, not just the line.
- Detention charged without days
- “Detention ₹2,000” gets struck out. “Detention 2 days at ₹1,000” gets paid.
- GST position unclear
- Their accounts team cannot book it until they know whether they owe the tax. Ambiguity is a month's delay.
- No bank details
- Nobody chases you for them. The bill simply waits.
- Charged weight not explained
- If you billed 25 t on a 22.8 t load, say why — minimum load, volumetric, or agreed rate.
GTA, or a transporter who is not a GTA
The reverse-charge position applies to a goods transport agency — someone who issues a consignment note. That definition does real work. If you carry goods and issue a lorry receipt, you are a GTA and the notification applies. If you hire out a vehicle without issuing a consignment note, that is a different supply with different treatment.
The practical consequence for a small fleet is simple: issue the LR. It is the document that makes you a GTA, puts the movement on reverse charge, and gives your bill something to reference. Carrying goods on no paperwork at all is not a tax strategy, it is an unbillable trip.
Bill book, or print each bill?
A bound book of pre-numbered bills in duplicate earns its place when you bill at the customer's premises, or when the person raising bills is not the person with the printer. The serial numbering is already done, the customer gets the original, and the counterfoil stays with you.
Printing each bill is better if you raise them monthly from a desk, because you can pull the LR lines from wherever you recorded them rather than copying by hand — and copying LR numbers by hand is where the mismatches come from. Whichever you use, the numbering has to be unbroken and separate from any other series you keep.
Getting paid faster
Three things move a transport bill through a customer's accounts faster than anything else, and none of them costs money. Raise it within a week of the period closing, not three weeks. Reference their LR numbers exactly as they appear on the receipts their own store issued. And put the payment terms on the bill, in words, next to the bank details.
The fourth is harder: bill the same way every month. Accounts teams process a familiar layout on sight and query an unfamiliar one on principle. A bill book, or one saved template, is worth more than a better-looking bill each time.
When the paper stops being enough
A transport bill is a copying exercise: LR numbers, routes, weights and freights carried from a stack of consignment notes onto one sheet, once a month, usually against a deadline. Every mismatch that holds a bill up starts there.
Fleetbooks issues the lorry receipt, so the bill assembles itself from the consignments already recorded — the numbers cannot disagree because they were never typed twice. It also tells you what is billed, what is outstanding, and which customer is slowest, which is the thing a stack of counterfoils cannot.
Questions operators ask
What is a transport bill?
An invoice a transporter raises for freight already carried, listing each consignment note with the trip it covers and the freight due. It is usually monthly and spans many trips, which is what separates it from a lorry receipt — the LR travels with one load, the bill asks for money for all of them.
Who pays GST on a transport bill?
By default the recipient, under reverse charge. Goods transport by road is listed in Notification 13/2017-Central Tax (Rate), so a registered customer pays the tax directly at 5% and the transporter charges none. A GTA can instead elect forward charge at 12% with input tax credit or 5% without, but that is a declaration it must make for the year.
Should I show GST on the bill if it is reverse charge?
Show the treatment, not the tax. State that GST is payable by the recipient under reverse charge and leave the tax amount off — the total is freight only. The recipient calculates and pays it themselves. Adding a tax line to a reverse-charge bill is what causes it to be paid twice.
What is the difference between a transport bill and a lorry receipt?
A lorry receipt travels with one consignment and proves the goods were handed over. A transport bill comes afterwards and asks for payment, usually across a month of consignments. The bill lists the LR numbers, and that is the link between them.
What is the difference between 5% and 12% GST for a transport agency?
At 12% forward charge the GTA collects tax and can claim input tax credit on its own costs. At 5% forward charge it collects tax but cannot claim credit. Under reverse charge — the default — the GTA collects nothing and the recipient pays 5% directly. Which applies depends on the election you have made for the financial year.
What is a transport bill book and do I need one?
A bound pad of pre-numbered bills in duplicate, with carbon between the copies. It earns its place if you bill at the customer's premises or away from a printer — the numbering is done and the counterfoil stays with you. If you bill monthly from a desk, printing is easier and less error-prone.
Can I charge detention on a transport bill?
Yes, if it was agreed or is customary on that lane. Put the days and the rate on the line rather than a bare amount — “detention 2 days at ₹1,000” survives scrutiny where “detention ₹2,000” gets struck out. Detention is the most commonly contested line on a transport bill.
What is charged weight versus actual weight?
Actual weight is what the load weighs. Charged weight is what you bill on, which may be higher — a contracted minimum, a volumetric calculation for light bulky goods, or a rate agreed per trip. Show both if they differ and say which basis you used, or the difference reads as an error.
Is a PAN required on a transport bill?
It is not a GST requirement, but include it. Customers deducting TDS on freight under Section 194C need it, and without it they either deduct at the higher rate or hold the bill until they get it. It costs nothing to print and saves a fortnight.
How soon should I raise a transport bill?
Within a week of the period closing. Accounts teams work to monthly cut-offs, and a bill that arrives after theirs has closed waits for the next cycle — so a three-week delay in raising it can mean a six-week delay in payment.
Do I need to issue an e-way bill with a transport bill?
No. The e-way bill accompanies the movement of goods and is generated against the invoice or delivery challan at that time. A transport bill is raised afterwards, for freight already carried, and needs no e-way bill of its own.
Can I use the same bill series for transport and other income?
Better not to. Keep an unbroken series for transport bills so the period's bills can be reconciled against the period's consignment notes. Mixing series leaves gaps that look like missing bills, and that is exactly what an audit picks up on.
When the paper stops being enough
A transport bill on paper works until you need to know which ones are still unpaid, or how this month compares to last. That is a search through a stack. Fleetbooks issues the document, numbers it, and holds the answer — alongside the trip it belongs to and what that trip actually cleared.