GST Rates 2019 – Updated List of Tax on Goods & Services

The implementation of the new tax system in the form of GST was one of the biggest tax reforms in India in recent times. The introduction of “One Nation, One Tax” concept based GST System has completely transformed the earlier tax structure, cascading different types of state, centre, and other taxes into one uniform tax.

GST stands for Goods and Services Tax. It is divided into three different types:

• CGST– Central GST
• SGST– State GST
• IGST– Integrated GST

As per the Indian government and GST council, efforts have been made to keep consistency between the older tax rates and new tax rates under the GST system. Although, differences were observed in tax rates of some items due to changes in the economy as well as customer preferences.

Government has also been scrutinized by tax experts and the general public in India for putting some basic commodities in the high tax bracket (18-28%). Seeing public resistance, GST rates were revised for commodities like notebooks, exercise books, spectacles, etc.

GST Rates on Goods

The Indian government and GST Council has set up a 4-tier structure for all types of good and service. The four different tax slabs include 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%.

As per the recent GST council meeting after the revision in GST rates, the commodities have been put under four different tax slabs along with the ones who don’t attract any tax.

Let us have a look at various products and the tax slab in which they fall into:

No Tax (0% GST)

After 11th June GST rate revision, here is a list of commodities that attracts zero tax:

• Hulled cereal grains like barley, wheat, oat, etc.>
• Kajal [other than kajal pencil sticks]
• Bones and horn-cores unworked and waste of these products.
• Palmyra jaggery
• All types of salt
• Dicalcium Phosphate (DCP) of animal feed
• Picture books, colouring books or drawing books for children
• Preserved Vegetables through various techniques including brine and other preservatives
• Human hair – dressed, thinned, bleached or otherwise worked
• Sanitary Napkins
• Unit container-packed frozen branded vegetables (uncooked/steamed

5% Tax Rate Slab

Here is a list of commodities that fall under the 5% GST tax rate slab along with the other existing items, as per the 11th June 2019 GST Council meeting:

• Cashew nuts/cashew nuts in shell
• Ice and snow
• Coir mats, matting and floor covering
• Wind-based Atta Chakki
• Biogas
• Insulin
• Aggarbatti
• Kites
• Postage or revenue stamps, stamp-postmarks, first-day covers, etc.
• Numismatic coins
• Braille paper, hearing aids, braille typewriters, braille watches, and other appliances to compensate for a defect or disability
• Fly-ash blocks
• Walking sticks
• Natural cork
• Marble rubble
• Accessories/parts for carriages designed for differently-abled individuals

12% Tax Rate Slab

Based on the GST council meeting on 11th June, here is a list of items that are now a part of the 12% GST rate category:

• Preparations of vegetables, fruits, nuts or other parts of plants, including pickle, murabba, chutney, jam, jelly
• Ketchup, sauces and mustard sauce but excluding curry paste, mayonnaise and salad dressings, mixed condiments and mixed dressings
• All diagnostic kits and reagents
• Plastic beads
• Exercise books and notebooks
• Bari made of pulses including mungodi
• Menthol and menthol crystals, peppermint, fractionated/de-terminated mentha oil, dementholised oil, Mentha piperita oil and spearmint oil
• Glasses for corrective spectacles and flint buttons
• Spoons, forks, ladles, skimmers, cake servers, fish knives, tongs
• Fixed Speed Diesel Engines
• Corrective spectacles
• Two-way radio (Walkie talkie) used by defence, police and paramilitary forces etc.
• Intraocular lens
• Playing cards, carom board, chessboard and other board games, like ludo, etc.
• Debagged/roughly squared cork
• Items manufactured from natural cork
• Agglomerated cork

18% Tax Rate Slab

Here is a list of items that have been added to the 18% GST tax rate slab with other existing items by GST council after its meeting on the 11th June 2019:

• Kajal pencil sticks
• Dental wax
• Plastic Tarpaulin
• Salt Glazed StoneWare Pipes
• Aluminium foil
• School satchels and bags other than of leather or composition leather; toilet cases
• Handbags and shopping bags of artificial plastic material,
• Cotton or jute, Handbags of other materials excluding wicker work or basket work
• Headgear and parts thereof
• Precast Concrete Pipes
• All goods, including hooks and eyes
• Rear Tractor tyres and rear tractor tyre tubes
• Rear Tractor wheel rim, tractor centre housing, tractor housing transmission, tractor support front axle
• Weighing Machinery other than electric or electronic weighing machinery
• Printers other than multifunction printers
• Ball bearing, Roller Bearings, Parts & related accessories
• Transformers Industrial Electronics
• Electrical Transformer
• Static Converters (UPS)
• CCTV including CCTV with video recorders
• Set-top Box for TV
• Pencil-sharpening machines, Baby carriages and instruments for measuring length, for use in the hand (for example, measuring rods and tapes, micrometres, callipers)
• Bamboo furniture
• Computer monitors not exceeding 17 inches
• Electrical Filaments or discharge lamps
• Winding Wires, Coaxial cables and Optical Fiber
• Perforating or stapling machines (staplers)
• Swimming pools and paddling pools
• Televisions/Monitors (up to 32 inches), power banks powered by Lithium-ion batteries
• Sports goods, games consoles and related items with HS code 9504
• All items with HS code 8483 including gearboxes, transmission cranks and pulleys
• Used or retreaded pneumatic rubber tires

28% GST Slab

• Small cars
• Consumer durables like AC and Refrigerators
• Premium cars
• Cigarettes and aerated drinks
• High-end motorcycles

GST Tax Rate Finder

GST Rates on Services

Besides products, the Goods & Services Tax (GST) system has also been applied to eligible services being supplied within or outside India. These services are taxed as per the following four tax slabs:

0 or Nil GST

• Educational services
• Healthcare
• Paid services offered on Basic Savings Deposit (BSBD) account opened under the PMJDY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana)

5% Tax Slab

• Rail Transportation of goods or passengers by Railways
• Renting a motor cab, with separate fuel cost
• Air travel for pilgrimage via chartered/non-scheduled flights
• Services offered by tour operators
• Leasing of aircrafts
• AC contract/stage or radio taxi transport
• Print media advertising
• Transporting of goods in a vessel from outside India
• Printing of newspapers

12% GST Slab

• Rail transportation of goods by a third party other than Indian Railways
• Services by restaurants without AC/heating or liquor license
• Chit fund services by a foremen
• Construction of building for sale
• temporary IP rights
• Air travel, other than economy class
• Renting of accommodation (hotel rooms) for more than Rs.1000 but less than Rs.2500 per day
• Movie Tickets with price less than or equal to Rs. 100

18% Tax Slab

• Services by restaurants with liquor license
• Services by restaurants with AC/heating
• Party arrangements, including the supply of food (catering) and shamiyana
• Circus, Indian classical, theatre, folk, drama
• Outdoor catering
• Supply of works contract
• Renting of hotel rooms for more than Rs.2500 but less than Rs.5000 per day
• Movie Tickets with price over Rs. 100
• Loans and Advances

28% Tax Slab

• Amusement facility, including water parks, joy rides, theme parks, merry-go-round, go-carting, casinos, race course, ballet, and sporting events like IPL
• Gambling
• Services (accommodation, food, drinks, etc.) of AC 5-star hotels
• Race club

GST on Gold

The current GST rate on Gold is 3%, while the making charges are taxable at 5% GST rate.

GST On Real Estate

GST on under-construction commercial or residential properties – 5% for non-affordable housing and 1% for affordable properties.

No GST on purchase of ready to move in property.

5% (sand, marble rubble, etc.)

28% (cement, etc.)