GST Rate on Stationary

GST Rate for Stationery Products, Pen and Paper

GST portal has gone live and GST regime set to being in India from 1st July, 2017. GST registration and GST filing process has started. GST rates in India has been released for all goods and services based on HSN code, the international system for classifying goods in international trade. Under the HSN code system, GST rate for stationery products, pens and paper fall under different HSN code chapters. However, all goods and services are taxed at 5 slabs namely, 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. In this article, we look at the GST rate for stationery products, pen and paper in detail.

GST Rate for Stationery Products and Pen

Majority of the stationery products including pens are classified under chapter 96 of the HSN code system. The only type of stationery product not attracting any GST is slate pencils, chalk and slates. All other stationery products are taxable under GST at the following rates.

The following stationery products and pens are taxed at 12% under GST

  • Pens [other than Fountain pens, stylograph pens]
  • Pencils, crayons, pastels, drawing charcoals, writing or drawing chalks and tailor’s chalk

The following stationery products and pens are taxed at 18% under GST

  • Brushes (including brushes constituting parts of machines, appliances or vehicles), hand operated mechanical floor sweepers, not motorised, mops and feather dusters; prepared knots and tufts for broom or brush making; paint pads and rollers; squeegees (other than roller squeegees)
  • Hand sieves and hand riddles Fountain pens, stylograph pens and other pens
  • Boards, with writing or drawing surface, whether or not framed.
  • Typewriter or similar ribbons, inked or otherwise prepared for giving impressions, whether or not on spools or in cartridges; ink-pads, whether or not inked, with or without boxes.
  • Monopods, bipods, tripods and similar articles.

Stationery Products of Base Metals Taxed at 28% GST

The following stationery products and pens are taxed at 28% under GST. However, they are not classified under chapter 96. The following stationery products are classified under chapter 83 -miscellaneous articles of base metal.

  • Filing cabinets, card-index cabinets, paper trays, paper rests, pen trays, office-stamp stands and similar office or desk equipment, of base metal, other than office furniture.
  • Fittings for loose-leaf binders or files, letter clips, letter corners, paper clips, indexing tags and similar office articles, of base metal; staples in strips (for example, for offices, upholstery, packaging), of base metal.
  • Signplates, name-plates, address-plates and similar plates, numbers, letters and other symbols, of base metal.

GST Rate for Paper Based Stationery Products

Paper and paperboard; articles of paper pulp, of paper or of paperboard are classified under HSN Code chapter 48. Paper based stationery products under this chapter attract different GST rates as follows:

Paper Based Stationery Product Attracting 12% GST

The following goods attract 12% GST:

  • Uncoated paper and paperboard, uncoated kraft paper, greaseproof paper, glassine paper, composite paper, etc.
  • Aseptic packaging paper
  • Boxes, pouches, wallets and writing compendiums, of paper or paperboard, containing an assortment of paper stationery including writing blocks
  • Cartons, boxes and cases of corrugated paper or paper board
  • Exercise book, graph book, & laboratory note book

Paper Based Stationery Product Attracting 18% GST

The following goods attract 18% GST:

  • Carbon paper, self-copy paper and other copying or transfer papers (including coated or impregnated paper for duplicator stencils or offset plates), whether or not printed, in rolls or sheets.
  • Envelopes, letter cards, plain postcards and correspondence cards, of paper or paperboard; [other than boxes, pouches, wallets and writing compendiums, of paper or paperboard, containing an assortment of paper stationery including writing blocks].
  • Registers, account books, note books, order books, receipt books, letter pads, memorandum pads, diaries and similar articles, exercise books, blotting-pads, binders (loose-leaf or other), folders, file covers, manifold business forms, interleaved carbon sets and other articles of stationery, of paper or paperboard; and book covers, of paper or paperboard [including Albums for samples or for collections].
  • Paper or paperboard labels of all kinds, whether or not printed.