GST Billing for Jewellers: CGST/SGST/IGST Explained With Examples

Published July 17, 2026 · CaratOS

Jewellery sales carry the same GST split logic as any other goods sale in India — the difference is that jewellery invoices tend to involve larger taxable values, so getting the split wrong is a costlier mistake. Here's how the split actually works, with worked numbers.

The core rule: intra-state vs. inter-state

GST on a sale splits differently depending on whether the buyer and seller are in the same state:

• Intra-state sale (both parties in the same state): tax splits equally into CGST (Central GST) and SGST (State GST)
• Inter-state sale (buyer and seller in different states): the full tax amount is charged as IGST (Integrated GST) instead

The total tax rate is the same either way — what changes is how it's split and which government it's remitted to.

Worked example: intra-state sale

A Jaipur showroom sells a piece to a Jaipur-based customer, both in Rajasthan.

CGST and SGST are always equal halves of the total tax — that's the structural giveaway that a sale was treated as intra-state.

Worked example: inter-state sale

The same showroom sells an identical piece to a customer based in Maharashtra.

Same total tax, same final amount payable — but it appears as a single IGST line instead of a CGST/SGST split, and gets remitted differently.

Why the mistake happens

The split is usually determined by place of supply, not just the customer's billing address — and in retail jewellery, customers sometimes provide an out-of-state address (for a gift, for shipping, for a family member) that doesn't match where the sale actually took place. Billing software that blindly uses whatever address is typed in, rather than the actual place of supply, can misclassify a sale and apply the wrong split.

What to check on any invoice

• Does the CGST/SGST vs. IGST split match where the sale actually happened, not just an address field?
• Is the split calculated automatically, or does someone have to remember which fields to fill in for out-of-state sales?
• Does the invoice stay linked to customer, inventory and cash flow records, or does it live as an isolated PDF?

This explains the mechanics of the CGST/SGST/IGST split as commonly applied to retail sales; it isn't tax advice for your specific situation. Confirm treatment of edge cases (gifting, job-work, exports) with a GST practitioner.