Specified Premises: The Declaration That Moves the Liability

Specified Premises explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.

For a restaurant inside a hotel, one defined term decides whether the platform pays the tax or the restaurant does. That term was redefined with effect from 1 April 2025, and the new version is not a threshold at all — it is partly a choice.

Restaurant service supplied at specified premises is outside section 9(5) — the supplier invoices, pays and files. Until 31.03.2025, "specified premises" meant premises providing hotel accommodation service having declared tariff of any unit above ₹7,500 per unit per day or equivalent. Notification No. 8/2025-CT(Rate) dated 16.01.2025, effective 01.04.2025, replaced that with a cross-reference to clause (xxxvi) of paragraph 4 of Notification No. 11/2017-CT(Rate), inserted by Notification No. 05/2025-CT(Rate) of the same date — a three-limb, financial-year-based definition resting on the preceding year's actual value of supply or on a declaration.

The old definition, and what was wrong with it

Inserted by Notification No. 17/2021-CT(Rate) dated 18.11.2021, effective 01.01.2022:

"specified premises means premises providing hotel accommodation service having declared tariff of any unit of accommodation above seven thousand five hundred rupees per unit per day or equivalent."

Two words caused the difficulty: "declared tariff". A declared tariff is a published rate, not what a guest actually pays. A hotel with a rack rate above ₹7,500 that discounted heavily was inside; a hotel that never published a tariff above the line but transacted above it was outside. And because the test operated on any unit of accommodation, a single suite could pull an entire property's restaurant out of section 9(5).

Worse, the status could change with a price list. A platform onboarding a restaurant had no stable, verifiable basis on which to decide whether it was the deemed supplier.

The definition from 1 April 2025

Notification No. 05/2025-Central Tax (Rate) dated 16.01.2025 inserted clause (xxxvi) in paragraph 4 of Notification No. 11/2017-CT(Rate), effective 1 April 2025:

"Specified premises", for a financial year, means,— (a) a premises from where the supplier has provided in the preceding financial year, 'hotel accommodation' service having the value of supply of any unit of accommodation above seven thousand five hundred rupees per unit per day or equivalent; or (b) a premises for which a registered person supplying 'hotel accommodation' service has filed a declaration, on or after the 1st of January and not later than 31st of March of the preceding financial year, declaring the said premises to be a specified premises; or (c) a premises for which a person applying for registration has filed a declaration, within fifteen days of obtaining acknowledgement for the registration application, declaring the said premises to be a specified premises.

And Notification No. 8/2025-Central Tax (Rate), also dated 16.01.2025 and effective 01.04.2025, amended the explanation in Notification No. 17/2017-CT(Rate) so that "specified premises" for section 9(5) purposes takes the same meaning.

What actually changed

"Declared tariff" became "value of supply". The test now runs on what was actually supplied in the preceding financial year, not on a published rate. That is objective, auditable and backward-looking.

Status is fixed for a financial year. The opening words — "for a financial year" — mean the classification does not move mid-year with a price change. For a platform deciding whether it is the deemed supplier, that stability is the whole point.

Two of the three limbs are elective. Limbs (b) and (c) let a supplier declare premises to be specified premises, even where the preceding year's value would not have made them so. A hotel that expects to move above ₹7,500 can opt in rather than wait a year for limb (a) to catch up.

And the windows are strict. Limb (b) mirrors the 1 January to 31 March window used elsewhere in GST for annual elections — the GTA's Annexure V runs on the same calendar. Limb (c) gives a new registrant fifteen days from the acknowledgement of its registration application, not from the grant of registration.

Miss the window and the classification is decided by limb (a) alone, on last year's numbers, for the whole of the coming year.

Why the restaurant, not the hotel, feels this most

The section 9(5) restaurant entry reads: supply of restaurant service other than the services supplied by restaurant, eating joints etc. located at specified premises.

So the consequence runs like this:

The hotel's declaration therefore determines the restaurant's position, and, through it, the platform's. A restaurant operating inside a hotel that files a limb (b) declaration moves out of section 9(5) for that year — and the platform must switch from deemed supplier to TCS collector on the same date.

For a platform this is an onboarding-data problem. It needs, for each financial year, a reliable statement of whether the outlet is at specified premises — and the answer can change on 1 April.

The billing point that follows

The Handbook addresses the case where a restaurant sells restaurant service and other goods or services under the same order. Since liability on the non-restaurant items, and the related compliances including issuance of invoice, continue to lie with the respective supplier — the ECO being liable only to collect TCS on those —

"it is advisable that ECO raises separate bill on restaurant service in such cases where ECO provides other supplies to a customer under the same order."

Two documents for one order, because two different mechanisms are operating on the same basket.

Key takeaways

• Restaurant service at specified premises is outside section 9(5); the supplier invoices and pays.
• Until 31.03.2025 the test was "declared tariff" above ₹7,500; from 01.04.2025 it is the preceding year's actual value of supply, or a declaration.
• The definition now lives in clause (xxxvi) of paragraph 4 of Notification No. 11/2017-CT(Rate), inserted by Notification No. 05/2025-CT(Rate) and adopted for 9(5) by Notification No. 8/2025-CT(Rate).
• Status is fixed for a financial year — it does not move with a mid-year price change.
• A registered supplier may opt in between 1 January and 31 March of the preceding year; a new registrant, within fifteen days of the registration acknowledgement.
• The hotel's declaration decides the restaurant's position, and therefore the platform's.
• Where an order mixes restaurant service with other supplies, the ECO should raise a separate bill for the restaurant service.

Read next

• Section 9(5) Notified Services and Their Effective Dates
• Circular 240/2024: Cash Ledger Only, and No ITC Reversal
• Section 52 TCS: Rate, Net Value and When to Collect

Disclaimer: Positions stated as on 5 September 2026, based on clause (xxxvi) of paragraph 4 of Notification No. 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) as inserted by Notification No. 05/2025-Central Tax (Rate) dated 16 January 2025 effective 1 April 2025, the explanation to Notification No. 17/2017-Central Tax (Rate) as amended by Notification No. 8/2025-Central Tax (Rate), and Notification No. 17/2021-Central Tax (Rate), as reproduced in the ICAI Handbook on E-Commerce Operators under GST (updated to 15 December 2025).