GST exempted categories on Amazon

According to Cleartax, GST or Goods and Services Tax is an indirect tax which has replaced many indirect taxes in India such as the excise duty, VAT, services tax, etc. It is a single domestic indirect tax law for the entire country and the amount depends on the goods and services availed.

Most of us know about it. Today while selling or buying anything GST is in the back of everyone’s mind. So much so that we’ve got habituated to calculating a product’s cost after adding its GST rate.

But here’s an interesting fact: Not all products come with GST.

Surprised? Most of you maybe. It’s a lesser-known fact that GST is not applicable to every product sold in the market. There’s a whole list of items which comes at a GST-free price. Let’s understand how and what are these items.
GST Categories
This maybe new to most of you, but yes, there are two different product categories regarding taxation - GST levied and GST exempt. Products upon which GST is applied are GST levied products, and those which are exempted from tax liability are called GST exempt products. The GST exemption can be for specific businesses, goods and services.

Let’s learn more about GST exempt products on Amazon.

How is GST exempted?
There are certain cases only under which GST exemptions are allowed. As per Section 6 and Section 11 of the GST Act, there are three reasons for exempting GST from any product:

If a product category on Amazon falls under any of these criteria, then that will be considered as a GST exempt product.

There are mainly two types of exemption from GST for goods:

● Absolute exemption: This is an exempt without any terms and conditions. In the absolute exemption, the supply of a specific good is GST exempt irrespective of who the supplier or the receiver is and whether the good is supplied intrastate or interstate.

● Conditional exemption: There are specific terms and conditions specified in the GST Act, amendment or notification, under which the goods can be exempted from GST.

List of GST exempt products on Amazon.

Based on all the conditions and criteria mentioned above, here’s the list of GST exempt products categories on Amazon:

Food

● Cereals
● Edible fruits and vegetables (not frozen or processed)
● Edible roots, tubers, fish, and meat (not packaged or processed)
● Tender coconut
● Jaggery
● Unprocessed Tea leaves
● Unroasted Coffee beans
● Seeds
● Ginger
● Salt
● Turmeric
● Betel leaves
● Papad
● Non-branded flour, gram flour, whole flour
● Non-branded natural honey
● Unpacked paneer
● Bread
● Puffed rice
● Eggs
● Dairy products - milk, curd, lassi, buttermilk
● Aquatic feed
● Poultry and cattle feed
● Supplements

Raw materials

● Raw silk, jute, wool
● Silk waste
● Khadi fabric
● Cotton used for khadi yarn
● Raw jute fibre
● Firewood
● Charcoal
● Handloom fabrics

Tools/Instruments

● Hearing aids
● Hand tools like spades and shovel
● Tools for agricultural work
● Handmade musical instruments
● Aids and implements for physically challenged people

Miscellaneous

● Books, maps, newspapers, journals
● Non-judicial stamps, postal items
● Drawing or colouring books for children
● Educational services
● Live animals (except horses)
● Beehives
● Human hair, blood, and semen
● Bangles
● Chalk sticks
● Contraceptives
● Earthen pots
● Items used in pooja like idols, bindi, kumkum
● Kites
● Indian national flag
● Gandhi topi
● Organic manure
● Vaccines

These are the products which can be sold on Amazon without attracting any GST. Getting rid of taxes is always a good news. So if you wish to operate your Amazon business on any of these product categories, then you have one more reason to be happy. Join Amazon.in today to start your business and kickstart your business. For more information on GST, go through Amazon’s GST guide.