IGST Act · Chapter V
Place of Supply of Goods or Services or Both
s. 10POS for goods other than imports or exports
Section 10 fixes the place of supply of goods bought and sold within India. With the supplier's location, it decides — through sections 7 and 8 — whether a sale is inter-State (IGST) or intra-State (CGST and SGST).
- Under section 10(1)(a) of the IGST Act, 2017, where a supply of goods involves movement, the place of supply is where the movement terminates for delivery to the recipient.
- In a bill-to-ship-to supply, the third person on whose direction goods are delivered is deemed to have received them, and the place of supply is that person's principal place of business (section 10(1)(b)).
- From 01.10.2023, for a supply of goods to an unregistered person, the place of supply is the address recorded in the invoice; recording the State's name is enough (section 10(1)(ca)).
- Goods assembled or installed at site have their place of supply at the site; goods supplied on board a conveyance, where they are taken on board.
s. 11POS for goods imported into or exported from India
Section 11 is the place-of-supply rule for goods crossing India's border. It is short because the heavy lifting is done elsewhere: imports are inter-State by section 7(2) and taxed at customs under the proviso to section 5(1); exports are zero-rated under section 16.
- Under section 11(a) of the IGST Act, 2017, the place of supply of goods imported into India is the location of the importer.
- Under section 11(b), the place of supply of goods exported from India is the location outside India.
s. 12POS for services where supplier and recipient in India
Section 12 fixes the place of supply of services when both supplier and recipient are in India. It starts with a general rule built on the recipient's registration, then sets out special rules for services whose natural place is a property, an event, a journey or a connection.
- Under section 12(2) of the IGST Act, 2017 the place of supply of a service to a registered person is that person's location; to an unregistered person, the recipient's address on record, failing which the supplier's location.
- Services directly in relation to immovable property, hotel accommodation and event venues have their place of supply where the property is located (section 12(3)).
- The place of supply of transport of goods to a registered person is that person's location; to an unregistered person, where the goods are handed over for transport (section 12(8)). The destination rule for exports in the former proviso was omitted from 01.10.2023.
- Banking and financial services are supplied at the recipient's location on the supplier's records (section 12(12)).
s. 13POS for services cross-border
Section 13 fixes the place of supply when the supplier or the recipient is outside India. It decides whether a service is an export (place of supply outside India) or an import (place of supply in India), and so whether it is zero-rated or taxed.
- Under section 13(2) of the IGST Act, 2017 the place of supply of a cross-border service is the location of the recipient, unless a special rule in sub-sections (3) to (13) applies.
- Section 13(8)(b), which made an intermediary's place of supply its own location, was omitted by the Finance Act, 2026 from 30.03.2026; intermediary services now follow the recipient-location rule and can qualify as exports.
- Before its omission, section 13(8)(b) was upheld by the Gujarat High Court (Material Recycling Association, 2020) and by the Bombay High Court (Dharmendra M. Jani, 2023), the latter confining it to the IGST Act.
- Section 13(9), a destination rule for transport of goods, was omitted from 01.10.2023; such services now follow section 13(2).
- Online information and database access or retrieval services are supplied at the recipient's location; the recipient is deemed to be in India if any two of seven indicators point there (section 13(12)).
s. 14OIDAR special provision
Section 14 makes a foreign supplier of online services — streaming, cloud, apps, online advertising, digital content — pay IGST itself when it sells to Indian consumers who cannot pay on reverse charge. Without it, those sales would escape tax.
- Under section 14 of the IGST Act, 2017 a supplier located outside India who supplies online information and database access or retrieval (OIDAR) services to a non-taxable online recipient in India is liable to pay IGST.
- Since 01.10.2023 a "non-taxable online recipient" is any unregistered person receiving OIDAR services in India, including a person registered only to deduct tax at source.
- A foreign intermediary that arranges such a supply is treated as the supplier unless it meets all four conditions in the proviso to section 14(1).
- The supplier takes a single registration under the simplified registration scheme; a representative in India, or a person it appoints, registers and pays on its behalf.