GST on a Gold Jewellery Bill: Reading It Line by Line

₹2,466.90.

That's the GST on a pair of 22 carat earrings we'll price out below, from an imaginary jeweller on Laxmi Road. It comes from one rate, 3%, applied once to everything on the bill except the old gold you hand over. Most of the confusion at the counter comes from the bill being split into lines that look like they should carry different taxes.

If you want the rate on coins, bars, digital gold and the rest, the main GST on gold guide covers it. This page is about the jewellery bill itself.

The bill, line by line

Say you're buying a pair of 22K earrings. Net gold weight 6 grams. To keep the maths clean we're using ₹12,000 a gram as the 22K rate. Check the day's board rate at your own shop. Making is 14% of gold value, and each earring is a separately hallmarked piece.

Type ₹82,230 into the calculator above at 3% and you'll get the same ₹2,466.90.

Gold value

This is net weight times the rate for that purity. Net weight means the gold alone. If the earrings have stones or enamel, their weight shouldn't be in this figure. Ask for gross and net weight separately; BIS rules for hallmarked jewellery require the invoice to show net precious-metal weight and the purity.

Making charges: 3% or 5%?

3%. This is where most people get confused, because they've heard "5% on making" somewhere.

CBIC answered exactly this question in its GST FAQ for the gems and jewellery sector. When a jeweller sells a finished piece to a customer, GST is 3% of the total transaction value, whether making charges are shown separately or not. You are buying one item, the earrings, and making is part of its price.

The 5% rate is real, but it belongs to a different deal. A karigar doing job work on a registered jeweller's gold charges that jeweller 5% on his labour. That rate was kept at 5% in the September 2025 changes. It's a business-to-business charge and shouldn't appear on your retail bill.

One case that does change things: you bring your own gold and pay only for the work. Under GST, "job work" means work on goods belonging to another registered person. You aren't registered, so the 5% job-work rate doesn't fit. Jewellers' association FAQs take the view that 18% applies on the making charge in that case. If the shop adds some gold of its own, that added gold should be billed separately at 3%.

Hallmarking and HUID

Every hallmarked gold piece carries three marks: the BIS mark, the purity (22K916 for 22 carat), and a six-character alphanumeric HUID that's unique to that piece. You can check an HUID in the BIS Care app before you leave the shop.

The jeweller pays an assaying centre for hallmarking. BIS raised that fee for gold from ₹45 to ₹75 per article from 14 September 2026, with a ₹200 minimum per consignment. It's charged per piece, not per gram, so a pair of earrings is two articles. BIS also requires hallmarking charges to be shown on the invoice.

Should GST go on that line too? The GST valuation rule includes incidental charges the seller bills you at the time of the sale in the taxable value. So the hallmarking line normally sits inside the 3% base, as in our example. At ₹150 it changes the GST by ₹4.50.

Old gold exchange: how GST works on it

When you hand over old jewellery, you aren't a business selling goods, so there's no GST on your side. CBIC said this in a July 2017 press release: an individual selling old jewellery to a jeweller isn't making a supply in the course of business, and the jeweller doesn't pay reverse charge on it either.

The harder question is what the 3% is worked out on. Industry FAQs from the GJC and from jewellers' associations treat it as two transactions. The jeweller buys your old gold (no GST) and sells you the new piece (3% on its full value). The old gold's value is then knocked off what you pay, after GST. That's how our table is laid out.

You'll also see bills where GST is charged only on the balance after exchange. In our example that would be 3% on ₹38,230, or ₹1,146.90, about ₹1,320 less. Those industry FAQs don't describe it that way, and a shop that bills like this is taking the risk. Neither layout should change the exchange value the shop gives you for your old gold.

Cash bills and proper bills

A registered jeweller has to issue a tax invoice for a taxable sale. An "estimate" slip with no GSTIN and no GST isn't one. You may save 3% at the counter, but you walk away with no shop record of the piece's weight and purity. That paper is what you lean on if a piece tests low, or when you sell or exchange it years later.

Separately, income-tax law has its own limits on jewellery purchases. A seller can't accept ₹2 lakh or more in cash from you for one transaction, in one day, or for one occasion. That's section 186 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, which replaced section 269ST from 1 April 2026. And any purchase above ₹2 lakh, whatever way you pay, needs your PAN, under rule 159 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026.

Splitting a ₹3 lakh wedding set into two "cash bills" doesn't get around the limit either.

Can you claim the 3% back?

For a family buying jewellery to wear, no. Input tax credit is for registered businesses, and the law blocks credit on anything used for personal consumption.

A registered business can claim it only when the gold is used in the business. In practice that mostly means a jeweller or manufacturer buying stock or raw gold for making and selling jewellery. A company buying gold coins as Diwali gifts for clients or staff can't, because credit is blocked on goods given away as gifts.

Before you sign the bill

• Shop's GSTIN, HSN 7113 and the 3% split as 1.5% CGST + 1.5% SGST
• Net weight, purity and an HUID for each piece
• Making charges and hallmarking shown as separate lines
• Old gold exchange shown with its weight and the rate used

Related: GST on gold (main guide) · Reverse GST calculator · GST discount calculator · CGST SGST calculator

General information, not tax advice. The gold rate, making percentage and exchange value are made up for the example. Sources: Notification 9/2025-Central Tax (Rate) Schedule IV (HSN 7113); CBIC sectoral FAQ on gems and jewellery, Q7 and Q8; CBIC press release of 13 July 2017 on old gold; Notification 11/2017-CT(R) S. No. 26 as substituted by 15/2025-CT(R); CGST Act sections 2(68), 15(2)(c), 17(5)(g) and (h), and 31; GJC and JAB GST FAQs for jewellers; CBIC Circular 126/45/2019-GST (job work only on goods of a registered person); BIS Brief on Hallmarking (updated 1 October 2026); Income-tax Act, 2025 section 186 and Income-tax Rules, 2026 rule 159.

Last reviewed 8 November 2026.