GST Rate for Stationery Products, Pen and Paper

The GST portal has gone live from 1st July 2017 in India, and the GST regime shall replace the taxation prices and process. GST registration and GST filing process and all the companies in India stared shifting the procedure for GST taxation. 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.

12% GST applies to the following stationery products and pens

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 looseleaf 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.

Check out the GST rate for iron and steel.

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 notebook

Click here for GST rate for all paper and paper products.

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, notebooks, order books, receipt books, letter pads, memorandum pads, diaries and similar articles, exercise books, blotting-pads, binders (looseleaf or other), folders, file covers, manifold business forms, interleaved carbon sets and other articles of stationery, 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.

Find the GST rate for all goods and services in India.

GST Registration

GST LUT Form