GST on Advertising Services — 18% or 5%?

It depends on the medium. Almost all advertising is 18% — digital/online ads, TV, radio, hoardings and agency services. Only the sale of advertising space in print media (newspapers and periodicals) is 5%. So a newspaper ad booking is 5%, while a Google or Facebook ad, a TV spot or a hoarding is 18%.

Advertising services fall under SAC heading 9983. The display and sale of advertising space or time in most media (digital, TV, radio, outdoor) is SAC 998361 at 18%. The sale of advertising space in print media is SAC 998363 at the concessional 5% rate.

Advertising agency services — creative work, media buying and agency commission — attract 18% GST. This is the agency's own service fee. Where the agency also books print space for you, that print portion can be billed at 5%, so the agency fee (18%) and the print space (5%) should be shown as separate invoice lines.

Yes. Digital advertising on Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and similar platforms attracts 18% GST. If you buy through an Indian agency, the agency charges 18% on its invoice. If you buy directly from the foreign platform (Google LLC, Meta), it is an import of service and you, the GST-registered recipient, self-pay 18% under Reverse Charge (RCM) and then claim it as ITC.

Advertising on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and X (Twitter) is taxed at 18% as an advertising/online service. When bought directly from the foreign platform by a registered business, the 18% is discharged under RCM by the recipient; when routed through an Indian agency it is charged on the agency's forward-charge invoice.

Yes. Payments to influencers or content creators for sponsored posts and brand promotion are a supply of service taxed at 18% GST, where the influencer is registered (turnover above the threshold). The paying business can generally claim this 18% as ITC as a business input service.

A newspaper (or magazine/periodical) advertisement is the sale of space in print media, taxed at a concessional 5% GST under SAC 998363. This 5% applies to display ads and classified listings alike. The rate is on the advertising space — the newspaper sold to readers is a separate exempt supply. The advertiser can claim the 5% as ITC.

Outdoor advertising — hoardings, billboards, bus shelters, transit media, metro and airport branding — attracts 18% GST as advertising services under SAC 998361. The media owner charges 18% on the space rental and the advertiser can claim full ITC. Where a hoarding site is leased from a government body, the advertising company may have to pay RCM on that lease.

On the tax rate, yes — sale of space in print media is 5% versus 18% for digital, TV, radio and outdoor advertising. But since ITC is generally available on all of them for a registered business, the 18% on digital is usually recoverable, so the effective cost difference is smaller than the headline rates suggest.

Yes. When a GST-registered Indian business buys advertising directly from a foreign platform such as Google LLC or Meta, it is an import of service and the recipient must pay 18% GST under Reverse Charge (RCM). You raise a self-invoice, declare the liability in GSTR-3B Table 3.1(d), pay via the cash ledger, and claim the same amount back as ITC in the same period.

For a GST-registered business, the recipient pays — you self-assess and deposit 18% under RCM on ads bought directly from foreign platforms, because a non-resident supplier without an Indian establishment does not charge Indian GST on a B2B (GSTIN) invoice. The RCM you pay is generally recoverable as ITC.

Yes. Advertising is used in the course or furtherance of business and is not a blocked credit under Section 17(5), so ITC is generally fully available — on digital, print, TV, radio, outdoor and agency spend — provided you hold a valid tax invoice in your name, it appears in your GSTR-2B, and payment is made within 180 days. RCM GST paid on foreign ads is equally creditable.

A few. If advertising relates to an exempt supply, ITC must be reversed proportionately under Rule 42. GST on free samples or gifts distributed in a campaign is restricted under Section 17(5)(h). And a business making both taxable and exempt supplies apportions advertising ITC by the exempt-to-total turnover ratio. Otherwise, advertising ITC is freely available.

Export of advertising services to a foreign client generally qualifies as a zero-rated supply. No output GST is charged (supply under LUT, or pay IGST and claim a refund), and the exporter can claim a full refund of the input GST used to provide the service, provided the place-of-supply and payment-in-forex conditions for export of service are met.

No. The GST 2.0 rationalisation effective 22 September 2025 restructured many goods and services rates but did not change advertising. Advertising services remain at 18% (SAC 998361), sale of space in print media stays at the concessional 5%, and the RCM position on ads bought from foreign platforms is unchanged.