What is Table 13 of GSTR-1?
Table 13, "Documents issued during the tax period", is a register of the serial numbers you used. It says nothing about amounts; it tells the department which numbers exist, so a missing invoice shows up as a gap. Since the May 2025 return period it is mandatory: a GSTR-1 with sales in it cannot be filed with Table 13 empty (GSTN advisory of 1 May 2025).
Which documents go in Table 13?
The portal lists twelve natures of document. The ones an online store issues:
| Nature of document | When an online store issues it |
|---|---|
| Invoices for outward supply | Every order |
| Debit note | An order edited upwards after the invoice |
| Credit note | Returns, refunds, cancellations after invoicing, RTOs |
| Receipt voucher | Money received in advance for services (advances for goods are not taxed) |
| Refund voucher | An advance refunded before any supply |
| Delivery challan, other than by way of supply | Stock moved to another warehouse, an exhibition or a photoshoot |
| Delivery challan for job work | Goods sent to a tailor or printer to work on |
| Delivery challan for supply on approval | Goods sent to a buyer to choose from |
Revised invoices, invoices for purchases from unregistered persons, payment vouchers and challans for liquid gas complete the twelve.
What goes in each row?
| Column | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Sr. No. From | The first number in the run | INV/26-27/00418 |
| Sr. No. To | The last number in the run | INV/26-27/00464 |
| Total number | How many numbers the run holds | 47 |
| Cancelled | How many of them were cancelled | 1 |
| Net issued | Total less cancelled | 46 |
Numbers are written exactly as printed on the documents, prefix and all. A document number longer than 16 characters breaks more than its own row: the portal's schema check runs over the whole file, and one overlong number fails the upload.
What if my numbers have gaps?
Split the range. Use one row for each unbroken run of numbers, not one row from the month's lowest number to its highest.
Gaps are common on online stores. Invoice numbers are given out in the order invoices are made, but GSTR-1 groups them by invoice date, so an invoice made today for last week's order carries today's number and last week's date. We saw this filing one store's August return: 302 invoices dated in August sat in 18 separate runs inside a range that spanned 427 numbers. A single row from the lowest to the highest would have declared 125 documents that were never issued that month.
What counts as cancelled?
A number that was used and then cancelled before it carried a supply, such as a spoilt or wrongly made document, stays in its range and is counted as cancelled. An invoice for a sale that was later cancelled is not "cancelled" in this sense: the invoice stands, and the credit note that reverses it is counted under credit notes.
Common mistakes
- One range across a gap, which over-declares documents.
- Delivery challans left out. Stock sent to a warehouse, a stylist or an exhibition travels on a challan, and the challan is a document issued.
- A new prefix not given its own row. Each series is its own range.
- Credit notes counted as cancelled invoices. They are separate natures, counted separately.