GST on Event Management in India — 18% or Something Else?

The SAC code for event management is 998596 — "events, exhibitions, conventions and trade shows organisation and assistance services" — taxed at 18%. Related components have their own SACs: catering under 9963 (5%), venue rental under 9972 (18%) and photography under 9983 (18%). Each invoice line should carry the correct SAC.

No. The GST 2.0 rationalisation effective 22 September 2025 restructured goods and services into a two-slab (5%/18%) system with a 40% demerit rate, but event management services remained at 18% under SAC 998596. The 28% slab was abolished, but it did not apply to event management, so there is no change for event organisers.

It depends on how the wedding is billed. If each element is billed separately, the planning/management fee, decor, venue and photography are at 18% and outdoor catering is at 5%. If the whole wedding is sold as one composite package, it is taxed at the rate of the principal supply — usually 18% where event management is the main service. A buffet-only caterer whose principal supply is food charges 5% on the full bill.

For a full wedding-planning package where management/coordination is the dominant service, it is 18% as a composite supply. It is 5% only when the dominant supply is outdoor catering (food). Billing components separately lets each carry its own rate — management at 18%, catering at 5% — but the split must reflect genuinely separate supplies.

Outdoor catering (food and beverages) is taxed at 5% without ITC under SAC 9963. Where the catering is supplied at "specified premises" — a hotel or venue with a declared room tariff of ₹7,500 or more per night — it attracts 18% with ITC. The event management fee itself remains a separate 18% supply.

Venue or banquet-hall rental is 18% (SAC 9972), photography and videography are 18% (SAC 9983), and decoration as a service is generally 18%. Where any of these is bundled into a single composite package with event management, the whole package usually follows the 18% principal-supply rate.

Yes, at 18%. Who deposits it changed on 16 January 2025 under Notification 07/2025-CT(R). If the sponsorship service is supplied by a body corporate, the supplier now charges 18% under forward charge. Reverse charge (RCM) applies only where the supplier is not a body corporate and the recipient is a body corporate or partnership firm.

No — not from 16 January 2025. Earlier, sponsorship to a body corporate or firm was under RCM regardless of who supplied it. After Notification 07/2025-CT(R), a body-corporate supplier of sponsorship must pay 18% under forward charge. RCM now applies only when the supplier is a non-body-corporate (individual or firm) supplying to a body corporate or partnership firm.

If the sponsorship service provider is a company (body corporate), the provider charges and pays 18% under forward charge. If the provider is an individual or firm and the recipient is a body corporate or partnership firm, the recipient self-pays 18% under RCM. Recipients should check the supplier's status before deciding whether to self-pay RCM.

Yes. An event management company providing taxable 18% services can claim ITC on business inputs — venue rental, vendor payments, equipment hire, marketing and staff services. The main exception is food and outdoor catering purchased for the event, where ITC is blocked under Section 17(5)(b) of the CGST Act.

Yes for the event management fee (18%) when the event is for a genuine business purpose — with a valid tax invoice appearing in GSTR-2B. But the catering portion is blocked: Section 17(5)(b) blocks ITC on food, beverages and outdoor catering. So the management fee ITC is claimable while the catering ITC is not.

Section 17(5)(b) of the CGST Act blocks Input Tax Credit on food and beverages, outdoor catering and certain other personal-consumption supplies, unless they are used to make an outward taxable supply of the same category. So even when your event is a legitimate business event, the GST paid on catering cannot be recovered as ITC — only the management fee, venue and similar business services can.

Generally no. Commercial exhibitions, conventions and trade fairs attract 18% GST under SAC 998596 across the chain — space and stall rental, exhibition management and participation fees. Only genuinely non-commercial government or educational exhibitions notified as exempt fall outside GST. International exhibitions held in India are still taxable at 18%.

Stall and space rental at a commercial exhibition is taxed at 18%, and a business exhibitor can claim ITC on it since it is used for business promotion. Exhibition management services provided to a foreign exhibitor may qualify as a zero-rated export of service (with an LUT) if the place-of-supply and payment conditions are met.

An event management company supplies services, so GST registration is mandatory once aggregate turnover crosses ₹20 lakh in a financial year (₹10 lakh in special-category states). Businesses making inter-state supplies or supplying through an e-commerce operator may need to register regardless of turnover.

Yes. Admission to events, concerts and exhibitions is a taxable entertainment/access service, generally at 18%. Only specifically exempt cultural, sporting or government events with notified concessional or nil rates fall outside this. The event organiser collects and deposits the GST on ticket sales.