A plain-English guide for shop owners billing under India's GST system.
Under India's Goods and Services Tax (GST), the same sale can be taxed in one of two ways depending on where the buyer and seller are located — not on what's being sold. Getting this split right is what makes a GST invoice valid.
When the seller and buyer are in the same state, the applicable GST rate is split equally into two components:
For example, an 18% intra-state sale is billed as 9% CGST + 9% SGST, adding up to the same 18% total.
When the seller and buyer are in different states (an inter-state sale), the full rate is charged as a single tax instead:
The same 18% sale, if inter-state, is billed as 18% IGST with no CGST/SGST split at all.
An invoice that shows CGST+SGST for an inter-state sale (or IGST for an intra-state one) is incorrect, even if the total tax amount happens to match. The split itself is part of what makes a GST invoice valid, since CGST/SGST and IGST are remitted to different governments.
This determination is based on comparing your business's registered state to your customer's billing state on each individual sale — not a one-time setting.
HisaabBox computes the correct split automatically on every sale, comparing your business's state to each customer's state, so you never have to work it out by hand or risk an incorrectly split invoice.
This page is general information, not tax advice. Confirm your specific GST obligations with a qualified GST practitioner.