Hotel GST invoice format: fields, rates and a sample bill (2026)

The hotel GST invoice format is not a design choice. The CGST Rules list what a tax invoice must contain, and a bill that misses a field can cost a business guest their input tax credit and cost you a corporate account. This guide sets out the fields a hotel GST bill must show, which rate and SAC code to use, how CGST and SGST are split, when a guest's GSTIN belongs on the invoice, and how to number and correct invoices, with a sample bill you can check your own against.

It reflects the rules as of November 2026. It is not tax advice, so confirm the details for your property with your chartered accountant.

What is GST on an invoice?

GST on an invoice is the tax you collect from the guest on behalf of the government, shown separately from the price of the room. For a hotel stay it appears as two equal halves: CGST, the central share, and SGST, the state share. Together they make up the rate for that night, so a 5% room carries 2.5% CGST and 2.5% SGST, and an 18% room carries 9% of each.

The invoice is also the document your guest's company uses to claim credit, and the record your CA uses to file your returns. If the figures on it are wrong, the tax you owe does not change, but the paperwork to fix it does.

Hotel bill GST applicability: do you need to charge it?

A hotel, guest house or homestay has to register for GST once its aggregate turnover crosses the registration threshold for services, which is ₹20 lakh in most states and ₹10 lakh in a few special category states. Once registered, every stay you sell is a taxable supply and every bill must be a GST invoice.

If you are below the threshold and not registered, you cannot charge GST at all, and your bill should not show any. If you sell rooms through OTAs, the position on registration and who pays the tax is different, so read our guide to TDS and TCS on OTA payouts and settle it with your CA.

Hotel invoice GST rate: 5% or 18%

From 22 September 2025, rooms are taxed in two bands, set by the value of each unit for each night:

The band follows the value actually charged for that unit that night, and an extra bed counts towards it. A room sold at ₹7,200 on Friday and ₹8,100 on Saturday is taxed at 5% on Friday and 18% on Saturday, so the invoice should show the nights on separate lines when the rate changes.

The 1 November 2026 change did not move these rates. Notification No. 06/2026-Central Tax (Rate), in force from 1 November 2026, lets a 5% hotel take limited credit on accommodation it buys from another hotel for its own guest, for example when it walks an overbooked guest. The 5% and 18% bands and the ₹7,500 line are unchanged. Our guides to GST on hotel rooms and restaurants and walking a guest when overbooked cover the rates and the credit change in full.

Hotel GST invoice format: the fields every bill must show

Rule 46 of the CGST Rules sets the contents of a tax invoice. For a hotel stay, that means:

1. Your legal name, address and GSTIN.
2. A unique invoice number and the date of issue (more on numbering below).
3. For a business guest, the company's name, address and GSTIN.
4. For a guest without a GSTIN, the name, address and place of supply with the state name are required once the taxable value is ₹50,000 or more. Below that, record them if the guest asks.
5. The SAC for each service: 996311 for room or unit accommodation.
6. A description of each line, with the quantity (nights) and the rate.
7. The taxable value of each line, after any discount.
8. The rate and amount of CGST and SGST (or IGST where it applies) for each line.
9. The place of supply, which for a stay is your property's state.
10. Whether tax is payable on reverse charge (for a room, normally "No").
11. Your signature or digital signature, or that of an authorised person.

On SAC digits, Notification 78/2020-Central Tax ties the number of digits to last year's turnover: up to ₹5 crore, at least four digits on business invoices; above ₹5 crore, six digits on every invoice. Most hotels simply print the full six digits, 996311, on every room line, which satisfies both.

Hotel GST bill sample

Here is a three-night stay for a business guest at a Bengaluru hotel, at ₹4,500 a night. The GSTINs and names are placeholders.

If the same room had sold at ₹9,000 a night for two nights, the taxable value would be ₹18,000, CGST at 9% ₹1,620, SGST at 9% ₹1,620, and the total ₹21,240.

Restaurant and other charges on the guest bill go on separate lines, each with its own SAC and rate. The restaurant rate depends on whether your hotel is a "specified premises", which the GST guide explains, and the hotel POS guide covers how those bills reach the room.

How to put GST on an invoice, step by step

1. Price each night. Take the actual value charged for each unit for each night, including any extra bed.
2. Pick the band. Up to ₹7,500 is 5%; above ₹7,500 is 18%.
3. Split the tax. Half as CGST, half as SGST, calculated on the taxable value after any discount.
4. Add the identifiers. SAC 996311, your GSTIN, the guest's GSTIN for a business invoice, and the place of supply.
5. Number and date it from the right series, at checkout or when the stay is billed.
6. Keep the copies. Issue the original to the guest and keep your copy for filing.

Place of supply: CGST and SGST, not IGST

Section 12(3) of the IGST Act sets the place of supply for lodging accommodation by a hotel, inn, guest house or homestay as the location of the property. So a stay at a Bengaluru hotel is supplied in Karnataka, whoever the guest is.

That has one practical result that surprises guests. A company registered only in Maharashtra, sending staff to your Karnataka hotel, still receives an invoice with Karnataka CGST and SGST, not IGST. Whether it can use that credit is the company's question, not yours, but corporate travel desks do ask, so it helps for the desk to know the answer. IGST on a room is rare, and arises only in special cases such as supplies to SEZ units; ask your CA if you have one.

B2B invoice with a guest GSTIN

A business guest who wants to claim credit needs the invoice in the company's legal name, with its GSTIN and address, raised that way when the bill is closed. A few habits prevent most problems:

• Ask for the GSTIN at booking, not at checkout, and save it on the company profile so the next stay is right automatically.
• Check the GSTIN's state. The first two digits are the state code. A GSTIN from another state is still valid on the invoice, but the guest may ask the question in the section above.
• Report every business invoice in your monthly return so the company sees the credit. Missing ones are the most common complaint from corporate accounts.

E-invoicing. If your aggregate turnover has exceeded ₹5 crore in any financial year since 2017-18, e-invoicing has applied to your business invoices since 1 August 2023 (Notification 10/2023-Central Tax). Each business invoice must be reported to the Invoice Registration Portal and carry the IRN and QR code it returns. Since 1 April 2025, a business with aggregate annual turnover of ₹10 crore or more must report each e-invoice within 30 days of its date, or the portal will not issue an IRN. E-invoicing covers business invoices only; consumer (B2C) invoices to leisure guests do not get an IRN.

Invoice numbering and credit notes

Invoice numbering series

Rule 46 requires a consecutive serial number of no more than 16 characters, using letters, numbers, hyphens or slashes, unique for the financial year. You may run more than one series, which suits hotels well:

• One series per property, for example BLR/26-27/000123.
• Separate series for rooms, the restaurant and banquets, if your CA prefers them apart.
• A new series each 1 April, so numbers never repeat across financial years.

Never reuse or skip numbers to tidy up a mistake. A cancelled invoice should stay in the series and be reported as cancelled.

Credit notes for cancellations

Once an invoice is issued, it is corrected with a credit note, not by editing it. Section 34 of the CGST Act allows a credit note where the value or tax on an invoice turns out to be too high, for example a refund after an early departure or a discount agreed after checkout. The credit note must be declared in your return no later than 30 November after the end of the financial year in which the stay took place, or the date you file the annual return, whichever is earlier.

For cancellations before the stay, the treatment depends on what you have issued. If you took an advance and raised a receipt voucher but no invoice, a refund voucher records the money returned. If you keep a cancellation charge, CBIC Circular 178/10/2022-GST treats it as part of the accommodation service, so it is taxed at the same rate as the room it relates to. A room in the 5% band therefore attracts 5% on the retained amount.

Getting the format right every time

The format only works if the data behind it is right: the nightly value, the band, the guest's GSTIN captured at booking, and numbering the system controls instead of the desk. GuestHawk issues the GST invoice from the guest bill with the right rate on every line and business invoices ready for your accountant, and its accounting sync handles e-invoices where your turnover requires them. See billing on GuestHawk, or book a demo to see a checkout on your own rates.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. CBIC: Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (rule 46, tax invoice)
2. CBIC: IGST Act 2017, section 12, place of supply of services
3. CBIC: CGST Act 2017, section 34, credit and debit notes
4. GST Council: Notification 10/2023-Central Tax, 10 May 2023 (e-invoicing threshold)
5. GST Council: Notification 78/2020-Central Tax, 15 Oct 2020 (HSN/SAC on invoices)
6. GST Council: Explanatory notes to the scheme of classification of services (SAC)
7. PIB: FAQs on the decisions of the 56th GST Council meeting
8. PIB: Recommendations of the 57th GST Council meeting, 8 Oct 2026

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