CGST, SGST or IGST? Place of supply for interior design invoices

A Bengaluru studio designs a flat in Pune for a client whose company is registered in Bengaluru. Is the invoice CGST and SGST, or IGST? It is an easy one to get wrong, and the rule is simpler than it looks.

This note explains the general rule. It isn’t tax advice: confirm your own case with your CA.

The rule for work on a property

For services provided in relation to immovable property, the place of supply is where the property is located. Section 12(3) of the IGST Act names interior decorators explicitly, alongside architects. For a studio designing or executing a space, that usually means the site decides, not the client’s billing address or GSTIN.

• Site in your own state: charge CGST and SGST, split equally.
• Site in another state: charge IGST.

So in the example above, the Pune flat makes it IGST, even though the client and the studio are both in Karnataka.

Projects with more than one site

A client with a home in Bengaluru and a farmhouse in Goa is two places of supply. Invoice each site’s work separately, and choose the place of supply invoice by invoice instead of setting it once for the client.

Keep the paperwork consistent

• Print the place of supply on every invoice, with the state code.
• Number invoices in one series per financial year, and never reuse a number, even for a cancelled invoice.
• Correct an issued invoice with a credit note that names it, rather than editing it.

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In DoYourDesign, each project location carries its state, and an invoice’s place of supply defaults to the project’s location (you choose one when there are several). CGST and SGST or IGST follows from it, and documents are numbered per financial year.