Question 1

Are hospital and clinic charges exempt from GST?

Accepted Answer

Healthcare services provided by a clinical establishment, an authorised medical practitioner or paramedics are exempt from GST. This covers diagnosis, treatment and care for illness, injury, deformity or pregnancy in any recognised system of medicine in India, and includes transportation of patients by ambulance, which is separately exempt for any provider. Consultation fees, surgery charges, nursing and diagnostic services within this definition carry no GST, which is why hospitals do not charge tax on treatment bills. The exemption attaches to the nature of the service, not the size of the hospital, so both a large corporate hospital and a single-doctor clinic are covered.

Question 2

What GST do hotels charge on room tariffs after the 2025 rate changes?

Accepted Answer

From 22 September 2025, hotel accommodation with a value of supply up to Rs.7,500 per unit per day attracts 5 percent GST without input tax credit, and accommodation above Rs.7,500 attracts 18 percent with input tax credit. The earlier 12 percent slab for mid-range rooms was abolished in the rate rationalisation. Tax applies on the actual transaction value charged, so a discounted rate below Rs.7,500 falls in the 5 percent bracket even if the printed tariff is higher. Hotels should reconfigure billing software slab-wise and watch the ITC restriction on the 5 percent category, which changes costing materially.

Question 3

Which purchases commonly attract GST under reverse charge for a regular business?

Accepted Answer

Under Section 9(3), the recipient pays tax on notified supplies. The entries a typical business in Porur encounters are: goods transport agency services, services of advocates and arbitral tribunals, sponsorship provided to companies and partnership firms, services of directors, security services from non-corporate providers, renting of passenger motor vehicles from non-corporate operators charging five percent, import of services, and renting of property from unregistered landlords in notified cases. Each month, scan your expense ledger for these heads, pay the tax in cash through GSTR-3B, and claim it back as ITC where eligible. Missed RCM is among the top audit findings; call +91 - 9600 606 444 for an RCM exposure review.

Question 4

How do I round off tax amounts on a GST invoice?

Accepted Answer

Section 170 of the CGST Act prescribes normal rounding to the nearest rupee: where the tax contains a part of a rupee, fifty paise or more is rounded up to one rupee, and less than fifty paise is ignored. The rounding is applied to the tax amount on each invoice, separately for each tax head, so CGST and SGST are each rounded individually rather than rounding only the invoice total. Most billing software handles this automatically, but spreadsheets and manual bills often round the grand total instead, creating one-rupee mismatches that clutter reconciliations across thousands of invoices.

Question 5

Why are so many businesses suddenly receiving GST notices these days?

Accepted Answer

Enforcement has shifted from manual selection to data analytics. The portal now automatically compares GSTR-1 with GSTR-3B and flags tax shortfalls through DRC-01B intimations under Rule 88C, and compares GSTR-2B with GSTR-3B to flag excess ITC through DRC-01C under Rule 88D. E-way bill, e-invoice, TDS and income tax data are also cross-matched, and limitation deadlines for older financial years have pushed departments to clear pending demands in batches. The practical lesson for Porur businesses is that mismatches no longer go unnoticed, so month-wise reconciliation before filing is now essential hygiene rather than a year-end exercise.

Question 6

How do I document free samples and gifts given to customers?

Accepted Answer

Goods supplied genuinely free of cost to unrelated persons are not a supply, so no tax invoice is raised and no GST is charged; the movement is covered by a delivery challan marked as free samples. The cost is that input tax credit on those goods must be reversed. Two traps deserve care: gifts to related persons or between distinct GSTINs of the same PAN are taxable under Schedule I even without consideration, and promotional schemes like buy one get one are treated as a single price for two items, taxed normally with credit intact. Structure your Porur promotions with this distinction in mind.

Question 7

My customer in Mumbai asked me to deliver goods directly to his buyer in Porur. How do I bill this?

Accepted Answer

This is a bill-to ship-to transaction under Section 10(1)(b). When goods are delivered to a third party on the instruction of your customer, the law deems your customer's principal place of business as the place of supply, not the actual delivery point. So you invoice the Mumbai customer with IGST even though the goods physically moved within Tamil Nadu, and the Mumbai customer raises a second invoice on the ultimate recipient in Porur. Only one e-way bill is needed for the movement, generated by either party with both invoice legs captured. Wrongly billing the delivery-point state is a classic error that misplaces the credit chain entirely.

Question 8

What is the difference between a GST credit note and a commercial credit note?

Accepted Answer

A GST credit note is issued under Section 34, is reported in GSTR-1, and reduces your output tax, with the buyer reversing equivalent input credit. A commercial or financial credit note adjusts only the money owed between the parties; it carries no GST, is not reported in returns, and leaves everyone's tax position untouched. Businesses use commercial credit notes when the 30 November deadline has passed, or for post-supply discounts that do not satisfy the statutory conditions for a tax adjustment. Choosing the wrong instrument is a frequent audit finding, so decide the type before the note is issued.

Question 9

Which educational services are actually exempt from GST?

Accepted Answer

The exemption is confined to an educational institution as defined, meaning one providing pre-school education, education up to higher secondary school or equivalent, education as part of a curriculum for obtaining a qualification recognised by Indian law, or an approved vocational education course. Services by such institutions to their students, and specified input services to schools such as transport, catering and security, are exempt. Everything outside this boundary is taxable: private tuition, test preparation, hobby classes, skill courses without recognised certification, and training by ed-tech companies. The recognition of the qualification under Indian law is the decisive test, not the subject taught.

Question 10

What details must a GST tax invoice compulsorily contain?

Accepted Answer

Rule 46 of the CGST Rules prescribes the mandatory contents: your name, address and GSTIN; a consecutive serial number not exceeding sixteen characters, unique for the financial year; the date of issue; the recipient's name, address and GSTIN if registered; the HSN or SAC code; description, quantity and unit; total and taxable value; any discount; the rate and amount of CGST, SGST or IGST shown separately; place of supply with the state name for inter-state supplies; a declaration where tax is payable on reverse charge; and signature or digital signature of the supplier. Missing fields make the invoice defective and can jeopardise your buyer's credit.

Question 11

How do I track the status of a grievance ticket or any ARN I have on the GST portal?

Accepted Answer

For grievance tickets, open selfservice.gstsystem.in and use Check Status by entering the ticket reference number; the screen shows whether it is open, under processing or resolved, with the resolution comments. For applications filed on the main portal, log in and use Services, then Track Application Status, choosing the module and entering the ARN, or open My Applications to see every application with its case detail folder, notices and replies in one place. Diarise every ARN the day it is generated, because reply windows run from portal timestamps. ChennaiGST maintains an ARN tracker for every client engagement.

Question 12

How do I decide whether to charge CGST plus SGST or IGST on an invoice?

Accepted Answer

Compare two data points: the location of the supplier and the place of supply determined under the IGST Act. If both fall in the same state, the supply is intra-state and you charge CGST plus SGST; if they fall in different states, it is inter-state and you charge IGST. The buyer's billing address alone is not the test; the place of supply rules for the specific goods or service govern. Common traps include hotel stays, property-linked services and bill-to ship-to chains, where the place of supply departs from the customer's address. Configuring these rules in your billing software saves Porur businesses repeated corrections; call +91 - 9600 606 444 for a setup review.

GST Consultant in Porur, Chennai

Get a Free GST Consultation

GST Services Available in Porur

Why Porur Businesses Choose ChennaiGST

Free Health Check of Your Past Filings

Same-Day Response, Every Working Day

Refund and Export Experience That Shows

Support in Tamil and English

WhatsApp Updates at Every Stage

Reverse Charge Tracked, Not Forgotten

What the Department and the Courts Have Said — relevant to Porur businesses

The nil-rate list narrowed to goods that are not pre-packaged and labelled

Council adopts a fixed 14 per cent growth rate for compensation

CBIC answers on what counts as pre-packaged and labelled

Frequently Asked Questions

Related GST Services & Nearby Areas

Streets We Serve in Porur

GST Consultants Near Porur

Ready to Sort Out Your GST?