The freight HSN code is SAC 9965, the heading for goods transport services. Road freight by a goods transport agency (GTA) goes under 996511. It is taxed at 5% without input tax credit, or at 18% with full credit when the agency opts for forward charge. On the 5% route, reverse charge applies only when the recipient is a specified person, such as a factory, company, partnership firm or registered business. A truck owner who carries goods without issuing a consignment note is exempt, and GTA transport of some goods, such as farm produce, milk, salt, food grains and pulses, is exempt under separate nil entries.
This page lists the six digit codes inside 9965 and explains the reverse charge rule that trips up most accounts staff, including where it goes in your returns. It also shows how freight behaves when it sits on your own sales bill, separates out the 9967 support codes such as cargo handling and clearing and forwarding, and ends with sample bills. Passenger travel and cab hire are covered on the transport charges hub.
Freight charges: codes and GST rates
Item / SAC / GST- GTA road freight to a specified recipient (SAC 996511)5% (reverse charge)GTA bill shows no tax; a company, factory, firm or registered person pays 5% itself and can claim it back
- GTA road freight to an unregistered, non-specified recipientExemptNo reverse charge; a separate nil entry covers this service, so check that entry before charging any tax
- GTA road freight, forward charge option (SAC 996511)18%GTA files a declaration to opt, charges tax on its bill and takes full credit; this was 12% before the reform
- GTA freight on farm produce, milk, salt, food grains, small loadsExemptSeparate nil entries for these goods and for small consignments; check the conditions in the entry
- Truck owner or non-GTA carrier, no consignment note (SAC 996511)ExemptRoad transport of goods by a person other than a GTA is exempt
- Rail transport of goods (SAC 996512)5% or 18%5% without input tax credit, or 18% with credit where that option applies; check the entry
- Container rail freight by operators other than Railways (SAC 996517)5% or 18%5% without credit or 18% with credit
- Multimodal transport within India, no air leg (SAC 996540)5% or 18%5% only when the notification conditions are met, otherwise 18%
- Multimodal transport within India with an air leg18%Any air portion in the chain takes the whole contract to 18%
- Loading, unloading and cargo handling (SAC 996719)18%Billed separately by a handling contractor, not part of 9965
- Container handling (SAC 996711)18%Yard and terminal handling of containers
- Clearing and forwarding agent fees (SAC 996713)18%Fee charged by a clearing and forwarding agent for its own service
- Warehousing and storage (SAC 996729)18%Storage of some farm produce has its own exemption; check the nil entries
- Freight outward on a sales bill of 18% goods18%Added to the goods value and taxed at the goods rate under the goods HSN, not 996511
- Packing and forwarding on a sales bill of 5% goods5%Follows the goods it is charged with, same as freight outward
Quick facts
SAC heading
9965 (goods transport services); road freight 996511GST rate on GTA freight
5% (2.5% CGST + 2.5% SGST) without credit, or 18% (9% CGST + 9% SGST) under the forward charge optionReverse charge
Yes, on the 5% route, but only when the recipient is a factory, company, partnership firm, registered person or other named recipientRate before the reform
Forward charge option was 12%; it is now 18% with full creditDigits to print
4 digits (9965) when turnover is Rs 5 crore or less; 6 digits (996511) beyond thatCommon wrong code
9967 is for handling, storage and forwarding, not for carrying goodsRelated code
9967 supporting services in transport
Freight hsn code: SAC 9965 and its six digit codes
Freight is a service, so strictly it has a SAC (Services Accounting Code) and not an HSN. The invoice column usually says HSN/SAC, which is why most people search for a freight HSN code. Every SAC starts with 99. The next pair of digits gives the heading (65 means goods transport), the fifth digit shows the broad group (land, water, air or multimodal), and the sixth pins down the exact service. The official master stops at six digits, so there is no 8 digit freight code to look for.
| SAC | What it covers |
|---|---|
| 996511 | Road transport of goods by truck, trailer, tempo or any other vehicle |
| 996512 | Railway transport of goods, parcels and bulk cargo |
| 996513 | Pipeline transport of petroleum, gas and water |
| 996515 | Moving household goods and office furniture |
| 996517 | Container rail transport by operators other than Railways |
| 996518 | Transport of goods by ropeway |
| 996521 | Coastal and overseas shipping of goods |
| 996522 | Inland waterway transport of goods |
| 996531 | Air transport of letters, parcels and other goods |
| 996540 | Multimodal transport from one place in India to another |
For ordinary truck freight, which is what most traders and factories pay, the code is 996511. You can confirm any code on the GST portal HSN and SAC search. The way codes are built for every kind of service is set out on the SAC code page.
GST on freight charges and what changes the rate
Service rates are set by notification 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate), last overhauled by notification 15/2025-Central Tax (Rate) with effect from 22 September. Each rate in that notification is the central share alone, so the invoice shows twice that as CGST plus SGST, or the same total as IGST. Five questions decide the freight charges gst rate:
- Is the carrier a GTA? A GTA is a person who carries goods by road and issues a consignment note (bilty or LR). A GTA works at 5% without input tax credit, or at 18% with full credit if it has opted for forward charge.
- Is there a consignment note at all? A truck owner or any carrier other than a GTA who moves goods by road without a consignment note is exempt.
- What goods are in the truck? For most goods the GTA rate is the same, so cement, machinery and furniture all move at one freight rate. But GTA transport of certain goods, such as agricultural produce, milk, salt, food grains including flour, and pulses, is exempt under separate nil entries, and so are small consignments below a set freight value. Check those entries before you bill such loads.
- Which mode? Rail freight is 5% without credit, with an 18% option with credit where the entry allows it. Multimodal transport without an air leg is 5% if the conditions are met, otherwise 18%. Once air is part of the chain, it is 18%.
- Is it a support service? Handling, storage and forwarding are not freight. They fall under 9967 and, where not named elsewhere, the residual 18% entry.
Reverse charge on GTA freight: who pays the 5%
When a GTA works at 5%, who pays the tax depends on the recipient. If the person paying freight is a factory, a company, a partnership firm, a registered person under GST or another recipient named in the notification, that recipient pays the 5% under reverse charge. If the recipient is outside that list, such as an unregistered individual, there is no reverse charge, and GTA service to such a person is covered by a separate nil entry. Check that entry before adding any tax to the bill.
- For a specified recipient, the GTA bill shows the freight value with no tax added and states that tax is payable by the recipient under reverse charge.
- The recipient pays the 5% in cash through the electronic cash ledger. Reverse charge tax cannot be set off from the credit ledger.
- The recipient reports the freight in GSTR-3B under inward supplies liable to reverse charge, and in the same return claims that 5% back as input tax credit, if the freight was for business use.
- The GTA reports these bills in its GSTR-1 as supplies to registered persons with the reverse charge flag marked.
A GTA on the 5% route cannot take credit on its own inputs such as tyres, spares and repairs, except credit on GTA services it hires from other agencies. A GTA that wants full credit can opt for forward charge at 18%. It does this by filing the opt-in declaration on the GST portal before the start of the financial year it wants to opt for. The choice then carries on for later years until it files a declaration to withdraw. Once opted, it adds the tax on its bill and the recipient simply pays the bill and takes credit as normal.
Freight outward on your own sales bill
Many sellers deliver goods and add a freight line to the same tax invoice. Here the freight is not a separate service. Supply of goods with delivery is a composite supply, and the goods are the main part, so the freight value joins the taxable value of the goods and is taxed at the goods rate. Do not print 996511 against that line and do not charge 5% on it.
So freight on a bill of 18% goods is taxed at 18%, and freight on a bill of 5% goods at 5%. Packing and forwarding charges work the same way; the packing and forwarding page explains them in detail.
The GTA bill behind that delivery is a separate matter. If the seller hires a GTA to deliver the goods, the seller is the recipient of the GTA service. It pays the reverse charge on the GTA bill if it is a specified recipient and claims the credit, while its buyer only sees the goods rate on the sales bill. If the buyer hires and pays the transporter directly, the buyer handles the reverse charge if it is a specified recipient. The same applies when you pay a GTA for freight inward on your purchases.
9967 hsn code and other codes mixed up with freight
Heading 9967 covers supporting services in transport: the work around the movement, not the movement itself. These are usually 18% under the residual entry.
| SAC | Service | GST |
|---|---|---|
| 996711 | Container handling | 18% |
| 996712 | Customs house agent services | 18% |
| 996713 | Clearing and forwarding | 18% |
| 996719 | Other cargo and baggage handling, such as loading and unloading | 18% |
| 996721 | Refrigerated storage | 18% |
| 996729 | Other storage and warehousing | 18% |
Storage of certain farm produce is exempt under a separate entry, so a cold store or warehouse dealing in such produce should check it. Other look-alikes:
- Courier and parcel delivery sits in its own heading; see courier charges.
- Godown rent, where you simply let out space, is renting of property and not warehousing; see the rent code page.
- Cab hire, bus and passenger travel are passenger transport, covered on the transport hub and the tour and travel services page.
Freight on the tax invoice: digits, sample bills and movement papers
A business whose turnover in the previous year stayed at or under Rs 5 crore may show the 4 digit SAC 9965 on invoices to registered buyers. A larger business shows the full six digits, such as 996511. The HSN digits guide covers the rule in full.
GTA bill to a company under reverse charge: Freight, 9 tonnes, consignment note 245, SAC 996511, freight Rs 20,000, no GST added on this bill. Note on the bill: tax payable by recipient under reverse charge. The company pays Rs 500 CGST and Rs 500 SGST itself (or Rs 1,000 IGST across states) and claims it as credit.
Same trip, GTA on forward charge: SAC 996511, freight Rs 20,000. With 9% CGST and 9% SGST added, each worth Rs 1,800, the GTA bills Rs 23,600 in total.
Seller delivering goods: Goods Rs 1,00,000 plus freight Rs 5,000 makes the taxable amount Rs 1,05,000 at the goods rate of 18%. Tax of Rs 18,900 takes the invoice total to Rs 1,23,900.
The e-way bill is raised for the goods, not the freight service. Where the seller adds freight to the invoice, the value declared for the movement includes it. The vehicle number goes in Part B, along with the consignment note number where there is one. You can check figures with the GST calculator.
Freight charges hsn code errors and their fixes
| Slip | Correct approach |
|---|---|
| Freight line on a sales bill coded 996511 at 5% | Add it to the goods value and tax it at the goods rate under the goods HSN |
| Company did not pay tax on a GTA bill with no GST | Pay 5% under reverse charge in cash, show it in GSTR-3B, then claim the credit |
| GTA forward charge bill still at 12% | Update the rate to 18% for bills since the reform |
| Tax charged on GTA freight for milk, food grains or pulses | Check the nil entries; such transport is exempt when their conditions are met |
| Loading and unloading coded 9965 | Use 996719 at 18% |
| Reverse charge paid on a truck owner bill with no consignment note | No tax is due; that transport is exempt |
This guide gives the general position on freight under GST. Rates, exemptions and conditions are revised by notification from time to time, so check the entry in force in the current notification, or look it up on the GST portal, before you raise a freight bill. For a specific transport contract, take advice from your chartered accountant or a registered GST practitioner.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 9965 hsn code gst rate?
There is no single rate for the whole heading. GTA road freight is 5% without credit, paid under reverse charge when the recipient is a specified person, or 18% if the GTA opts for forward charge. A carrier without a consignment note is exempt, rail freight is 5% (18% with credit where allowed), and multimodal transport with an air leg is 18%.
Is 996511 the sac code for freight paid to a transporter?
Yes. 996511 is road transport of goods, which covers truck freight whether billed by a GTA or a truck owner. A truck owner or other non-GTA carrier who issues no consignment note is exempt, so no GST is charged or paid on that bill. Rail, water and air freight have their own codes within 9965.
Is there a freight hsn code 8 digit version?
No. SAC codes in the official master go up to six digits only. Print 9965 or 996511 depending on your turnover.
Do I charge GST on freight outward when I deliver goods myself?
Yes. The freight joins the value of the goods and is taxed at the goods rate under the goods HSN. It is not billed as a separate 5% freight service.
What is the packing and forwarding hsn code on a sales invoice?
When charged with the goods, packing and forwarding takes the goods code and rate. A clearing and forwarding agent billing its own fee uses 996713 at 18%.
What does the 9967 hsn code description cover?
9967 is supporting services in transport: cargo and container handling, customs house agents, clearing and forwarding, storage and warehousing, parking, towing and port or airport support. It does not cover carrying the goods, which is 9965.