GST, TDS and Invoicing on Festival Advertising: What Indian Businesses Need to Know

Most festival advertising in India has historically been bought in cash, against a receipt book, with no GST and no paper trail.

For a shop sponsoring the pandal next door, that is understandable. For a registered business, it is expensive — and the reason is arithmetic rather than compliance anxiety.

Advertising bought without a tax invoice costs you materially more than the same advertising bought with one, at the same headline price.

This page explains why, what a valid invoice must contain, and where TDS fits. It is general information for Indian businesses, not tax advice — your CA knows your specific position and should confirm anything here that affects your filings.

Why the same price is not the same cost

Take two identical ₹1,00,000 banner deals.

Deal A — cash, no invoice. You spend ₹1,00,000. There is no GST credit to claim, and the expense is difficult to substantiate if questioned. Your real cost is ₹1,00,000 of after-tax money spent on something you cannot cleanly account for.

Deal B — with a proper tax invoice. You pay ₹1,00,000 plus 18% GST. If you are GST-registered and using the advertising for business, that GST is generally available to you as input tax credit — set off against your own output GST liability. The expense is also cleanly deductible.

The GST component is not a cost to a registered business. It is a credit. Which means the informal cash rate has to be substantially cheaper before it is genuinely cheaper — and it usually is not, once you account for the credit you gave up.

Brands consistently get this comparison wrong because the invoice total looks bigger.

What a valid tax invoice must contain

If you are going to claim input credit, the invoice has to stand up. Check for:

• Supplier's name, address and GSTIN
• Your business name, address and GSTIN — the credit attaches to the GSTIN on the invoice, so a personal name or a wrong GSTIN loses it
• A unique, sequential invoice number and date
• Description of the service and the SAC code — advertising services fall under SAC 998361
• Taxable value shown separately from tax
• GST shown as separate lines, at the applicable rate
• Place of supply — this determines whether the tax is CGST + SGST or IGST
• Signature or digital signature

The place-of-supply point that trips people up

If the supplier and your registered place of business are in the same state, the invoice shows CGST + SGST. If they are in different states, it shows IGST.

This matters practically: you cannot generally use SGST credit from one state against liability in another. If your GSTIN is in Maharashtra and the invoice was raised showing Maharashtra CGST + SGST when it should have been IGST, sorting it out is tedious.

Give your correct GSTIN at the time of booking, not afterwards. Retro-fitting a GSTIN onto an already-issued invoice is the single most common cause of a lost credit.

Where TDS fits

Advertising payments to a resident are generally covered by TDS under Section 194C (payments to contractors), which applies to advertising contracts.

The commonly applied rates under 194C are 1% where the payee is an individual or HUF and 2% for others, subject to the threshold limits in the section and to a higher rate where PAN is not furnished.

Some advertising arrangements — particularly where the substance is professional or technical services rather than a contract for advertising — may instead fall under Section 194J. The distinction depends on what is actually being supplied, and it is exactly the kind of question to put to your CA rather than decide from a blog.

Two practical points either way:

Get the PAN. Payments without a valid PAN attract a materially higher deduction rate.

Deposit and report on time. The credit only reaches the payee if the deduction is deposited and reflected correctly, and a mismatch creates work for both sides.

What TCS is doing on the invoice

You may see TCS at 1% as a separate line on a marketplace booking.

TCS in a marketplace context is a collection mechanism — the operator collects a small percentage and deposits it against the supplier, who then sees it reflected in their own returns and adjusts accordingly. It is not an additional tax on the transaction; it is tax collected at source and credited onward.

The reason to care as a buyer is simply that it should appear as its own line, clearly labelled, rather than being absorbed into a rounded total. If a quote gives you one number with no breakdown, ask for the breakdown before you pay.

Reverse charge, and when it might apply

Most straightforward advertising purchases from a GST-registered supplier are ordinary forward-charge transactions — the supplier charges GST, you claim the credit.

Reverse charge can arise in specific situations defined by the GST rules, and whether it applies to a particular arrangement depends on the parties and the nature of the supply. If your supplier is unregistered, or the arrangement is unusual, confirm the treatment with your CA before you pay rather than after.

The practical checklist

Before money moves on any festival advertising booking:

• [ ] Supplier is GST-registered, and you have the GSTIN
• [ ] Your GSTIN is on record with them before the invoice is raised
• [ ] Invoice will show SAC 998361, taxable value and GST as separate lines
• [ ] Place of supply is correct for your registration state
• [ ] You have the supplier's PAN for TDS purposes
• [ ] Your TDS treatment is settled — section, rate and threshold
• [ ] Payment goes to the entity named on the invoice, not an individual
• [ ] You retain the invoice, the proof of installation, and the payment record together

That last item is worth emphasising. An invoice on its own proves you paid. An invoice plus dated photographs of the advertising installed proves you received the service — which is a much stronger position if the expense is ever examined.

Why platform bookings are simpler here

Booking through a marketplace removes most of the friction above, because the paperwork is generated rather than assembled.

On PujaSathi, every booking produces a tax invoice from Tracetex 360 Innovations (OPC) Private Limited — the entity behind PujaSathi — carrying:

• GSTIN 19AAMCT1876A1Z6 and the corresponding PAN
• SAC 998361
• GST at 18% and TCS at 1% as separate, labelled lines
• Slot price, platform fee and gateway charge itemised, never rolled into a total
• A sequential invoice number
• Place of supply

You supply your GSTIN once, at booking, and it appears on every invoice for the season.

For a brand buying twenty venues across four cities, this is the difference between one consistent set of documents and twenty separate conversations about whether a receipt book counts.

Two things worth asking your CA

1. Your TDS position on marketplace bookings. Who you are contracting with, and therefore whom you deduct against, is a question of substance. Settle it once, before the season, and apply it consistently.

2. Anything involving a foreign element. If you are an Indian business advertising at an overseas festival, or a foreign business advertising in India, the treatment is materially different from a domestic booking. Do not assume it mirrors the domestic case.

This page is general information for Indian businesses and is not tax or legal advice. Rates, thresholds and rules change. Confirm your specific position with a qualified chartered accountant before relying on anything here.

See the full breakdown before you pay: browse festivals — slot price, platform fee, GST, TCS and gateway are shown as separate lines at checkout, and the tax invoice is issued automatically on payment.