How to Make a Quotation: Format, What to Include, and Common Mistakes

A quotation is an offer: this is what the work costs, on these terms, valid until this date. It isn't a demand for payment, it creates no GST liability, and your client can't claim input tax credit on it. It exists to let someone say yes.

That makes it the least regulated of the three documents you'll send a client — there's no Rule 46 equivalent listing what a quotation must contain. Which is exactly why so many are bad. Nothing forces you to get it right, and a vague quote is how you end up doing ₹40,000 of extra work for free. If you want the full picture of how a quotation differs from a proforma and a tax invoice, we've written that up separately.

What a quotation should contain

Who's quoting

Your business name, address, phone and email. Your GSTIN if you're registered — a business client will look for it, because it tells them whether they can expect input tax credit later.

Who it's for

The client's name and address, and their GSTIN if they have one. This one isn't just admin: the first two digits of each GSTIN are the state code, and comparing yours against theirs is what decides whether the eventual invoice carries CGST plus SGST or IGST. Getting it on the quotation means the tax you quote is the tax you'll bill.

A quotation number and date

A serial number and the date you issued it. You'll need both the moment a client comes back three weeks later asking about "that quote you sent".

The items

One line per item or service, with quantity, rate and amount. Then — separately — the tax:

Subtotal	Sum of the line items
Discount	If you're offering one, show it before tax
GST	CGST + SGST, or IGST, at the applicable rate
Total	What the client will actually pay

Show the GST as its own line. A single bundled number invites the "is this inclusive or exclusive?" email, and if you meant exclusive and they assumed inclusive, you've just lost 18% of the job.

A validity date

This is the field most quotations are missing, and the one that protects you most.

Terms

Payment terms, delivery timeline, what's in scope and what isn't. Three lines is enough. This is where you prevent the scope argument, not in an email afterwards.

Why the validity date matters

Without one, your quote is open forever. A client can accept a price you gave in April in the following February, after your costs have moved — and refusing to honour it makes you look unreliable even when you're right.

"Valid for 15 days" or "Valid until 5 October 2026" closes that door politely. It also creates useful pressure: a quote with an expiry gets decided on, a quote without one gets parked.

Common mistakes

• No validity date. The big one, for the reason above.
• Tax bundled into the price. Ambiguity that costs you money or costs you the client.
• No scope line. "Website development — ₹80,000" with nothing about how many pages or revisions is an argument waiting to happen.
• No number. You can't refer to it, track it, or convert it cleanly.
• Calling it an invoice. A document headed "Invoice" is a demand for payment. If you've supplied nothing yet, that's the wrong document and it confuses the client's accounts team.

Making one in CredHill

Open Create Quotation, pick the client, add your items and save. A few things happen without you doing anything:

• The quotation number is generated in sequence for the financial year — QUO/2026-27/001.
• CGST/SGST versus IGST is worked out by comparing your GSTIN against the client's, so you don't have to think about which applies.
• Rates come from your item master, so the same service is quoted the same way every time.
• There's a validity field on the form, and it prints on the document.

Pick whichever of the three print templates suits your client, and send the PDF.

From quotation to invoice

A quotation's job is to become something else. Once the client accepts, mark it Accepted and convert it — one click to a proforma if they need something to raise a payment against, or straight to a tax invoice once you've supplied.

Every line item, tax figure and client detail carries across. You don't retype anything, which also means the invoice can't quietly disagree with the quote the client agreed to. The original quotation is marked converted and linked to what it became, so the trail from quote to invoice stays intact.

The short version

• A quotation is an offer, not a demand — no GST liability, no input tax credit.
• Include: both parties' details and GSTINs, a serial number and date, itemised lines, tax shown separately, a validity date, and scope and payment terms.
• The validity date is the field most people skip and the one that protects you most.
• Once accepted, convert rather than retype — the invoice should never disagree with the quote.

Not tax advice. Quotations aren't defined under GST law, so the practice above is commercial convention rather than statutory requirement. For contract terms that matter, take legal advice.