Course Invoice Generator — Online Course & Subscription Tax Invoice

Selling an online course, a paid cohort, a recorded masterclass, or an annual subscription? Under Indian GST, you are supplying a taxable service and your learner (or their employer, when claiming reimbursement) needs a proper tax invoice — not a payment confirmation email. BillCraft's course invoice generator fills that gap in about a minute.

Exact fields in this template

Invoice Info

• Invoice # — e.g. IN0000-0000000. Use your own sequential series.
• Invoice Date.

Supplier (your) Details

• Company Name — your education company brand.
• Address — full registered address (default sample shows a Gurgaon Unitech Cyber Park address; overwrite with yours).
• GSTIN — 15-digit GST identification number of the supplier.
• PAN No. — 10-character PAN.

Recipient (learner) Details

• Name.
• Email.
• State & Code — e.g. "Uttar Pradesh, 09, UP, India".

Courses (multi-line)

Each course on its own line, in this format: CourseName | Description | HSN | Qty | TaxableValue

Complete Algorithms | Big O Notation course | 998433 | 1 | 2965
Advanced React | React patterns deep-dive   | 998433 | 2 | 1500

Pricing (auto-calculated)

• GST Rate (%) — auto-filled from the HSN code of the first course line (or from the course name via a built-in GST lookup). You can override.
• CGST / SGST / IGST Rate — auto-split based on supplier vs customer state.
• Total Amount — auto = Σ(Qty × TaxableValue) + GST.

GST State Info

• Business State — supplier's registered state.
• Customer State — learner's state of supply.

Same state → CGST 9% + SGST 9%. Different state → IGST 18%. Triggered automatically by the State fields.

Sample output

HSN & GST rate quick reference for ed-tech

• 998433 — "On-line periodicals, directories, etc." — commonly used for self-paced recorded courses, subscriptions, cohorts. GST 18%.
• 999294 — "Other education and training services n.e.c." — used by private coaching not linked to a recognised board. GST 18%.
• 999293 — "Commercial training & coaching services" — legacy code, widely used by competitive exam coachings. GST 18%.
• 999211 — Pre-primary / primary education provided by a recognised institution. Exempt.
• 999241/999242/999259 — Recognised secondary & higher education services. Exempt.

In short: if you are a recognised school/university giving approved education, most services are exempt. If you are a private ed-tech, coaching institute, YouTube-based course creator, or a Udemy-style platform — you're at 18%. The template defaults correctly for the commercial case.

When to choose CGST+SGST vs IGST

Place of supply for services supplied to a registered person is their location; for an unregistered person it's the recipient's address on record. So:

• Your GST registration is in Karnataka, learner is from Karnataka: CGST 9% + SGST 9%.
• Your GST registration is in Karnataka, learner is from Maharashtra: IGST 18%.
• Exports of online course to a non-Indian learner: zero-rated supply (with LUT) — this template does not handle exports, treat it separately.

Who uses a course invoice?

• Ed-tech startups selling recorded masterclasses or subscription access to content libraries.
• Independent course creators on their own domain (bypassing Teachable/Thinkific) who still need GST-compliant invoices for Indian buyers.
• Private coaching institutes — UPSC, CA, JEE, NEET — issuing term-wise fee invoices to parents.
• Corporate trainers invoicing companies for in-house workshops.
• Yoga studios, dance academies, music schools offering cohort programs.

What your learner's employer looks for on the invoice

If your buyer plans to claim reimbursement under an L&D budget or as a business expense, finance/accounts teams will check:

1. Invoice has your GSTIN and PAN.
2. Recipient name is the employee's name (not a nickname, not the company name unless invoice is B2B).
3. HSN code is visible.
4. CGST/SGST or IGST is split correctly per state.
5. Invoice number is unique and sequential — duplicate numbers get flagged.
6. Amount in words matches the numeric total (the template auto-fills this where applicable).

Common mistakes to avoid

• Missing pipe separators in the course list — each line needs exactly four | characters for the Qty × TaxableValue parsing to work.
• Wrong HSN driving wrong GST. The template auto-looks-up the GST rate from HSN of the first line. If you enter "1234" as HSN, the lookup misses and you'll fall back to the default. Use real SAC codes (998433 works for most online courses).
• Same-state selected with IGST expected. Check Business State vs Customer State carefully. Same state always gives CGST+SGST.
• Calling yourself exempt when you're not. Only recognised educational boards / universities are exempt. "My coaching centre is education, so exempt" is a common — and wrong — assumption.
• Invoice number format inconsistent across months — stick to a single series per financial year.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to register for GST to issue this invoice?

Only if your annual turnover from services exceeds ₹20 lakh (₹10 lakh in special-category states). Below that, you can still use the template but you must not charge GST — set GST Rate to 0% and add a note "Not registered under GST". Once registered, you must charge GST on every invoice.

Is online education really at 18% and not exempt?

Yes, for private ed-tech and coaching. The exemption under Notification 12/2017 (as amended) is narrow — it covers pre-school, primary/secondary/higher education by institutions approved or recognised by a law in force, and specific vocational/qualification courses. Udemy-style courses, YouTube-membership courses, paid cohorts, and most "bootcamps" fall outside this and are taxable at 18%.

Can my learner claim ITC on this invoice?

Yes — if the learner is a registered business buying the course in the company's name for business purposes, ITC is eligible. Make sure the recipient details show the company name and GSTIN (add GSTIN in the recipient name field if needed since there's no separate buyer-GSTIN input).

How does the auto GST rate work?

The generator reads the HSN code from the first line of the course list. If it matches a known SAC/HSN, GST is set to that HSN's rate (18% for 998433). If not, it falls back to the name-based lookup — course names containing "education", "training", "certification" etc. also default to 18%. You can always override the GST Rate field manually.

What about courses sold to international students?

Export of services is zero-rated under GST (with an LUT filed) — you don't charge GST but you show the transaction in your GSTR-1. This template is built for the domestic Indian case; for exports, use your accounting software that supports foreign-currency invoices and LUT references.

Generate your course invoice

Related generators

• Broadband bill generator — another 18% GST service invoice.
• Book receipt generator — for printed textbooks at 0% GST.
• Mandatory fields in a GST invoice