9965 SAC Code: Goods transport services

Description

Services by way of transportation of goods – (a) by road except the services ofÑ (i) a goods transportation agency; (ii) a courier agency; (b) by inland waterways. Explanation.- Ògoods transport agencyÓ means any person who provides service in relation to transport of goods by road and issues consignment note, by whatever name called.

Notes

Covers own account truckers and normal road carriers who do not issue a consignment note, and transport by inland waterways. This has been fully exempt from GST and continues as such. Only GTA and courier services are excluded from this exemption.

Description

Services provided by a goods transport agency to an unregistered person, including an unregistered casual taxable person, other than the following recipients, namely: – (a) any factory registered under or governed by the Factories Act, 1948(63 of 1948); or (b) any Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) or under any other law for the time being in force in any part of India; or (c) any Co-operative Society established by or under any law for the time being in force; or (d) any body corporate established, by or under any law for the time being in force; or (e) any partnership firm whether registered or not under any law including association of persons; (f) any casual taxable person registered under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act or the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act or the State Goods and Services Tax Act or the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act.

Notes

Goods transport agency services given to unregistered individuals and entities outside the specified categories (factory, society, company, firm, etc.) are exempt. No rate change under GST 2.0 for this exemption entry.

Description

Services by way of transportation of goods by an aircraft from a place outside India upto the customs station of clearance in India.

Notes

Import freight by air up to the Indian customs station has been kept under a special exemption window through specific notifications. That treatment is continued; for your SAC table it is correct to show 0% with the time bound nature of the exemption explained in the content, not in the rate cell.

Description

Services by way of transportation by rail or a vessel from one place in India to another of the following goods: (a) relief materials meant for victims of natural or man-made disasters, calamities, accidents or mishap; (b) defence or military equipments; (c) newspaper or magazines registered with the Registrar of Newspapers; (d) railway equipments or materials; (e) agricultural produce; (f) milk, salt and food grain including flours, pulses and rice; and (g) organic manure.

Notes

Targeted exemption for essential / socially important goods moved by rail or vessel between places in India. These items were notified as exempt and remain exempt after the service slab rationalisation.

Description

Services provided by a goods transport agency, by way of transport in a goods carriage of – (a) agricultural produce; (b) goods, where consideration charged for the transportation of goods on a consignment transported in a single carriage does not exceed 1500 Rs. (c) goods, where consideration charged for transportation of all such goods for a single consignee does not exceed 750 Rs; (d) milk, salt and food grain including flour, pulses and rice; (e) organic manure; (f) newspaper or magazines registered with the Registrar of Newspapers; (g) relief materials meant for victims of natural or man-made disasters, calamities, accidents or mishap; or (h) defence or military equipments. Explanation.- Ògoods transport agencyÓ means any person who provides service in relation to transport of goods by road and issues consignment note, by whatever name called.

Notes

GTA services are exempt where either (a) the goods fall in the notified list (agri produce, milk, food grains, organic manure, etc.) or (b) the consignment / consignee value conditions (₹1,500 per carriage / ₹750 per consignee) are satisfied. This exemption continues under GST 2.0.

Description

Transport of goods in a vessel

Notes

General domestic transport of goods by vessel is under a concessional 5% slab. ITC is allowed in line with conditions for this entry (primarily on input services and with usual blocked credit rules). No change to this main rate in the new slab structure.

Description

Transport of goods in containers by rail by any person other than Indian Railways.

Notes

Containerised rail freight by private / non railway operators has been in the 12% with ITC band. Under GST 2.0, 12% is removed as a general services slab and such entries are aligned to the standard 18% with ITC rate. Concessional / exempt treatment for certain specified goods by rail continues separately under other entries.

Description

Services of goods transport agency (GTA) in relation to transportation of goods (including used household goods for personal use). Explanation.- goods transport agency means any person who provides service in relation to transport of goods by road and issues consignment note, by whatever name called

Notes

Generic GTA services in relation to transport of goods (including used household goods), where no specific exemption applies, follow the concessional 5% without ITC scheme as the typical working rate. An optional higher rate with full ITC that earlier used the 12% slab is now aligned to 18% with ITC; your table can keep that nuance in the content, with 5% as the headline rate here.

Description

Services of goods transport agency (GTA) in relation to transportation of goods (including used household goods for personal use). Explanation.- Ògoods transport agencyÓ means any person who provides service in relation to transport of goods by road and issues consignment note, by whatever name called

Notes

Same SAC and same description repeated in your source list. The applicable rate and conditions are identical to the previous row: normal GTA operations at 5% without ITC as the common working scheme, with the full-credit option shifting from 12% to 18%.

Description

(vi) Multimodal transportation of goods. Explanation.- (a) “multimodal transportation” means carriage of goods, by at least two different modes of transport from the place of acceptance of goods to the place of delivery of goods by a multimodal transporter; (b) “mode of transport” means carriage of goods by road, air, rail, inland waterways or sea; (c) “multimodal transporter” means a person who,- (A) enters into a contract under which he undertakes to perform multimodal transportation against freight; and (B) acts as principal, and not as an agent either of the consignor, or consignee or of the carrier participating in the multimodal transportation and who assumes responsibility for the performance of the said contract.

Notes

Multimodal transport was placed in the 12% with ITC bracket. Under the new three slab framework, this moves into the standard 18% with ITC bucket, while certain concessional 5% treatments for specific legs / configurations continue separately. For your SAC notes, highlight that the multimodal transporter acts as principal and assumes full responsibility for the end-to-end transport.

Description

Other Goods transport services

Notes

Any goods transport service that does not fall under the specific exempt, concessional or special entries above is treated as a standard rated service at 18% with ITC. There is no change to this residual treatment in GST 2.0.

Description

Transportation of natural gas through pipeline

Notes

Transport of natural gas by pipeline is part of the group of 12% services that have been rationalised. The old 12% with ITC rate is replaced by 18% with ITC from 22 Sep 2025, except where a specific concessional or contract based arrangement is separately notified.

Description

Transportation of [natural gas, petroleum crude, motor spirit (commonly known as petrol), high speed diesel or aviation turbine fuel]substituted on 26/01/2018 through pipeline

Notes

This broader pipeline entry covering natural gas and specified petroleum products also sat at 12% with ITC earlier. In line with the 12% slab removal for services, it migrates to the standard 18% with ITC rate in the new structure, while any specific transitional / project contracts follow separate transitional rules.

Description

Services by way of transportation of goods by an aircraft from customs station of clearance in India to a place outside India. Nothing contained in this serial number shall apply after the 30th day of September, 2019(2018 substituted on 27.07.2018).

Notes

The notification text you have records a time bound exemption up to 30 Sep 2019. After that date, export air freight falls back to the normal services rate, i.e. 18% with ITC. GST 2.0 does not introduce a new concessional slab here; your notes can mention the past exemption period separately from the current rate.

Description

Services by way of transportation of goods by a vessel from customs station of clearance in India to a place outside India. Nothing contained in this serial number shall apply after the 30th day of September, 2019(2018 substituted on 27.07.2018).

Notes

Similarly, export ocean freight from Indian customs stations to destinations abroad enjoyed a specific exemption up to 30 Sep 2019. Post that, the service is taxable at the standard 18% with ITC slab in the absence of a fresh exemption. The 56th Council’s service rationalisation keeps it at 18%.

Description

Road transport services of Goods including letters, parcels, live animals, household & office furniture, containers etc by refrigerator vehicles, trucks, trailers, man or animal drawn vehicles or any other vehicles.(other than GTA)

Notes

Historically goods transport services under this code could be taxed at 5% without ITC or 12% with ITC (and 18% for certain cases). Post 56th Council rationalisation for logistics, concessional 5% without ITC is retained, while the 12% full-ITC option is migrated to 18% with ITC for standard cases. Exemptions (e.g. agri produce) remain as per earlier notifications.

Description

Railway transport services of Goods including letters, parcels, live animals, household & office furniture, intermodal containers, bulk cargo etc

Notes

Similar pattern to other goods transport: concessional 5% without ITC for specified configurations, and a standard option that shifts from 12% with ITC to 18% with ITC in line with the logistics-sector restructuring from the 56th Council.

Description

Transport services of petroleum & natural gas, water, sewerage and other goods via pipeline

Notes

Pipeline transport of petroleum and natural gas is explicitly cited in the logistics rationalisation: concessional 5% without ITC continues; the 12% with ITC variant is shifted up to 18% with ITC from 22 Sep 2025.

Description

Other land transport services of goods n.e.c.

Notes

Falls in the same “goods transport services” bucket as 996511; historically carried 5/12/18 options. Under GST 2.0, the concessional 5% without ITC remains and the 12% with ITC option is rationalised to 18% with ITC for fully taxable cases.

Description

Coastal and transoceanic (overseas) water transport services of goods by refrigerator vessels, tankers, bulk cargo vessels, container ships etc

Notes

Classified under goods transport services. Same broad treatment as other goods transport: concessional 5% without ITC is preserved; full-ITC option moves from 12% to 18% based on the logistics-sector rate restructuring.

Description

Inland water transport services of goods by refrigerator vessels, tankers and other vessels.

Notes

Again part of the goods transport group. Old structure allowed 5% without ITC and 12% with ITC in notified cases; post-rationalisation the standard full-ITC rate becomes 18%. Exemptions (e.g. certain agri or govt contracts) continue separately.

Description

Air transport services of letters & parcels and other goods

Notes

Air freight is treated as goods transport; the same rationalisation logic applies. Any previous 12% with ITC configurations are shifted to a standard 18% with ITC from 22 Sep 2025, while concessional 5% without ITC options, where available, are retained.

Description

Space transport services of freight

Notes

Under the general goods transport heading. The 56th Council’s rationalisation for logistics moves 12% full-ITC variants to 18% with ITC, retaining 5% without ITC in concessional cases; that pattern is applied to this code as well for standard domestic supplies.