GST Place of Supply Finder (India): CGST+SGST or IGST
Intra-State or inter-State? The place of supply, the tax heads and the section.
Place of supply
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Why
On the invoice
Reference only, not tax advice. The place of supply depends on facts such as where the recipient is located and where a service is actually performed; complex contracts may need a professional’s view.
Tax rules and rates change. This calculator follows the rules described on this page and may not cover every situation. Check the official source or a qualified tax professional before filing or invoicing.
About the GST Place of Supply Finder (India): CGST+SGST or IGST
Whether a supply carries CGST + SGST (or UTGST) or IGST depends on its place of supply: if it is in the supplier’s own State the supply is intra-State, otherwise inter-State. The wrong tax head means paying again under the right one and waiting for a refund of the first. This finder walks the rules of the IGST Act: section 10 for goods (movement, bill to – ship to, no movement, installation, on board a conveyance), section 11 for imports and exports, section 12 for services when supplier and recipient are both in India (property, hotels, restaurants, training, events, passenger transport, telecom, banking, insurance and the general rule) and section 13 when one of them is abroad.
Answer a few questions and it gives the place of supply, the tax heads — CGST + SGST/UTGST, IGST, zero-rated export or SEZ supply, IGST under reverse charge on imports — the section relied on and what to write on the invoice. It applies the Act as amended, including the omission of the intermediary rule by the Finance Act, 2026. Nothing you enter leaves your device.
How to use it
- Choose goods or services and where the supplier is.
- For goods, pick how they are supplied — sent to the buyer, billed to one party and shipped to another, sold where they lie, installed, sold on board, imported or exported — and the State the rule points to.
- For services, choose where the recipient is and whether it is registered, then the kind of service; answer the extra question when one appears (where the property or event is, where the passenger boards, the type of telecom connection, payment in foreign exchange).
- Read the place of supply and the tax heads, the section behind them and the invoice notes; Copy summary keeps them.
Examples
Place of supply Delhi (bill to – ship to, s. 10(1)(b)) → inter-State: IGST
Place of supply Goa (immovable property, s. 12(3)(a)) → inter-State: IGST
Place of supply Kerala (s. 12(3)(b)) → intra-State: CGST + SGST of Kerala; the guest cannot credit it in Tamil Nadu
Place of supply outside India (s. 13(2)) → export of services: zero-rated, under a Letter of Undertaking
Place of supply in India → import of services: the company pays IGST under reverse charge
Common uses
- Decide between CGST + SGST and IGST before raising an invoice.
- Check a bill-to – ship-to deal, an installation contract or an e-commerce delivery.
- Confirm that a service to a foreign client is an export, or why it is not.
- Work out reverse charge on a service bought from abroad.
Goods (sections 10 and 11)
- Movement: where the movement ends for delivery to the recipient.
- Bill to – ship to: when goods are delivered to someone on the direction of a third person, the third person is deemed to receive them; the place of supply is that person’s principal place of business.
- No movement: where the goods are at delivery. Installation or assembly at site: the site. On board a conveyance: where the goods are taken on board.
- Imports: the location of the importer; exports: outside India — a zero-rated supply.
- Supplies to a Special Economic Zone unit or developer are inter-State even within one State (section 7(5)(b)), and zero-rated for authorised operations (section 16).
- Sales to an unregistered buyer of goods that move or stay in place: section 10(1)(ca) sends the place of supply to the address recorded in the invoice (naming the buyer’s State is enough), whatever (a) or (c) would say; without an address it is the supplier’s location.
Services within India (section 12)
- General rule: a registered recipient’s location; for others, the address on record, else the supplier’s location. Transport of goods follows this rule since section 12(8) was omitted.
- Immovable property, hotels, function venues: where the property is.
- Restaurants, catering, grooming, fitness, beauty and health: where performed.
- Training: a registered recipient’s location, else where performed. Event admission: where the event is. Event organisation and sponsorship: a registered recipient’s location, else where the event is held.
- Passenger transport: a registered recipient’s location, else where the passenger boards. On board: the first scheduled departure point.
- Telecom by the type of connection, banking and insurance by the recipient’s location on record.
Services across the border (section 13)
The general rule is the location of the recipient. Exceptions: work on goods made physically available and services needing the client’s physical presence (where performed); immovable property; events; banks’ services to account holders and short-term hire of means of transport (the supplier’s location); passenger transport; services on board; online information and database services (the recipient’s location). Intermediary services follow the general rule since section 157 of the Finance Act, 2026 omitted the rule that put them at the intermediary’s location.
A supply is an export of services only when the supplier is in India, the recipient and the place of supply are outside India, payment is received in convertible foreign exchange (or rupees where the Reserve Bank permits), and the two are not merely establishments of one person (section 2(6)). Otherwise a supply from India with the place of supply abroad is inter-State and carries IGST.
Sources
Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, sections 2, 5, 7 to 14 and 16, as amended by the Finance Acts of 2023 and 2026 and by the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act, 2023 — Notification No. 02/2023-Integrated Tax — on CBIC’s GST site; CGST Rules, rule 46 (invoice particulars and the export endorsement); Notification No. 10/2017-Integrated Tax (Rate) for reverse charge on imported services, on CBIC’s tax information portal.
Limitations
- One supply at a time; contracts spanning several States (property or events in more than one State, advertising for governments) are split by value, which the finder only flags.
- The finder takes your answers on where the recipient is located and where a service is performed; those facts decide the result.
- Supplies to tourists (refund under section 15), the special rules for online money gaming and the distinct-person rules for branches are not worked out.
- Reference only, not tax advice.
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Frequently asked questions
How do I know whether to charge IGST or CGST + SGST?
Find the place of supply under sections 10 to 13 of the IGST Act. If it is in the same State or Union territory as the supplier, charge CGST + SGST (or UTGST); if it is in another State, or the supply goes to an SEZ, charge IGST.
What is the place of supply in a bill to – ship to transaction?
The principal place of business of the person on whose direction the goods are delivered (the bill-to party), wherever the goods are actually shipped (IGST Act s. 10(1)(b)).
Is a service to a foreign client always an export?
No. The place of supply must also be outside India — not, for example, a property, event or performance in India — and payment must come in convertible foreign exchange (or rupees where the RBI allows), between unrelated establishments (IGST Act s. 2(6)).
What is the place of supply of intermediary services?
Section 13(8)(b) used to put it at the intermediary’s location, so Indian agents of foreign principals paid GST. Section 157 of the Finance Act, 2026 omitted that clause; the general rule of section 13(2) — the location of the recipient — now applies.
Which GST does a hotel charge a guest from another State?
CGST + SGST of the State where the hotel is: the place of supply of accommodation is the location of the property (IGST Act s. 12(3)(b)).
A customer in another State is not registered and gives no address: which GST?
Section 10(1)(ca) sends the place of supply to the address recorded in the invoice. Without such an address the place of supply is the supplier’s own State, so CGST + SGST are charged. Naming the buyer’s State in the invoice counts as the address: that moves the place of supply there, and the sale becomes inter-State and carries IGST.