Professional services
A video production invoice should break the project into pre-production, shoot days, post-production and deliverables, with crew, equipment and locations listed as the contract prices them. Motion picture, video and television programme production is SAC 999612 and post-production 999613, both at 18%. Show the film's title or campaign, its duration and versions delivered, and the usage rights granted, because a corporate film for internal use and a TV commercial with broadcast rights are priced, and documented, very differently.
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Or create these invoices in software, free| Description | HSN/SAC | Qty | Rate (₹) | Taxable (₹) | GST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-production: script, storyboard and casting for 60-second TV commercial | 999612 | 1 OTH | 1,20,000.00 | 1,20,000.00 | 18% |
| Shoot day with crew and camera package, studio floor | 999612 | 2 OTH | 2,50,000.00 | 5,00,000.00 | 18% |
| Drone aerial unit with licensed pilot | 999612 | 1 OTH | 45,000.00 | 45,000.00 | 18% |
| Post-production: edit, colour grading and sound mix | 999613 | 1 OTH | 1,80,000.00 | 1,80,000.00 | 18% |
| Additional versions: 30s, 15s and 9:16 social cut-downs | 999613 | 3 NOS | 20,000.00 | 60,000.00 | 18% |
| Taxable value | ₹9,05,000.00 | ||||
| GST (CGST + SGST, or IGST if inter-state) | ₹1,62,900.00 | ||||
| Invoice total | ₹10,67,900.00 | ||||
Sample prices are illustrative. Check the GST rate for your exact item or service before billing.
Rule 46 of the CGST Rules applies to every tax invoice, including this one:
Read more: Billing for Service Businesses: Models, GST and Best Practice · Advance Payment Under GST: Receipt Vouchers, Tax and Adjustment · TDS on Invoices: How Section 393 Changes Billing from April 2026
The official SAC list places motion picture, videotape, television and radio programme production services at 999612 and audiovisual post-production at 999613, with sound recording at 999611. These fall under heading 9996, recreational, cultural and sporting services, and are taxed at 18% for production houses working for clients. A house that only edits footage supplied by the client should use 999613; one that shoots and edits uses both.
Actors, models and voice artists may be registered or not. Registered artists charge GST to the production house, which claims credit. Services of performing artists are under 999631. Income-tax TDS under section 194J generally applies on payments to professional artists and technicians. The production house bills the client for the complete film at 18%, including cast fees it pays.
Equipment hired from rental houses carries GST at the rate for renting of goods, which the production house claims as credit. Location fees paid to private owners or government bodies are costs of the production. If the client contracts a location directly in its own name, the fee can be recovered as a pure-agent reimbursement; otherwise it forms part of the taxable value.
Under the contract, copyright in a commissioned film usually passes to the client. Where the production house keeps copyright and licenses use, later rights extensions, such as a TV run after a digital-only licence, are new supplies billed with 18% GST. Describe the rights on every invoice so later extensions are easy to document.
Production houses usually take 50% on confirmation. Tax on that advance is due when received. Raise stage invoices on delivery of the edit and final masters, adjusting the advance. If a shoot is cancelled, retained cancellation charges are taxable.
Line production for foreign producers shooting in India involves services performed on goods or at locations in India. The place of supply for services related to immovable property, or performed in India in the physical presence of the recipient, may be India, so line production is not always an export. Check each service line before zero-rating.
Production houses making shows for streaming platforms usually work on a commissioned basis, where the platform pays a production fee and owns the content. The invoice is for production services under 999612 at 18%, raised on the milestones in the agreement, often per episode delivered. Where the house instead licenses a finished show it owns, it is supplying a licence of content rather than production, and the agreement should say so. Either way, list episode numbers, run time and delivery dates of the masters, because platforms process payments episode by episode and reject invoices that do not match their delivery schedule.
Video and film production services under SAC 999612, and post-production under 999613, are taxed at 18%.
Yes, when the production house pays them as part of its own cost. They can be excluded only when paid as a pure agent in the client's name.
Use 999613, audiovisual post-production services.
If the client is abroad and the services are not location-bound to India, it can be an export under LUT. Shoots performed in India for a foreign producer need a case-by-case check.
Use the number of shoot days as quantity and the day rate for crew and equipment as the unit price, with the location and dates in the description.
Yes. Amounts retained when a client cancels a confirmed shoot are taxable at 18%.
Sources: PIB — Recommendations of the 56th GST Council (Annexure III, services rate changes) · GSTN — Official HSN/SAC master list (SAC_MSTR sheet) · GST Council — Notification 11/2017-CT(Rate), services rates (consolidated)
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