Debit note
A document that increases the value of an earlier transaction — issued by a seller who under-charged, or raised against a supplier for short or damaged goods.
A debit note increases what is owed. It works in the opposite direction to a credit note and is used in two distinct situations that people often mix up.
The seller's debit note
Under GST, when a supplier has charged less than they should have — a rate typed wrong, a quantity understated, a price revised upward under the contract — the supplier issues a debit note against the original invoice and reports it in GSTR-1. The extra tax rides on that document.
The buyer's debit note to a supplier
In everyday trade a buyer also raises a debit note on a supplier for short supply, damaged goods or rejected material, to say "we are not paying this part". Commercially this is a claim. For GST purposes the tax adjustment is made by the supplier's credit note, not by your debit note — so the two documents usually travel together.
Keep the link
Every debit note should name the invoice it adjusts and the reason. Amounts without a reference turn into disputed balances that neither side can close.
How KillStock handles it
Debit and credit notes are first-class documents on both the customer and the supplier side. On the Growth plan and above, a supplier debit note for short, damaged or rejected goods restocks correctly and settles on the ledger. The notes appear in the payables and receivables ageing.
A common mistake
Deducting the claim from the next payment without raising any document at all. The two ledgers then never agree, and the difference is argued about a year later.