18% on warehousing with an agri produce exemption
Storage and warehousing services carry 18% with credit. The services exemption notification exempts loading, unloading, packing, storage or warehousing of agricultural produce, and Notification 11/2017 refers to storage of agricultural produce in its definitions. Processed foods such as packaged flour, edible oil or sugar are not agricultural produce in this sense, so a food warehouse holding both raw grains and packaged foods must tax the second at 18%. Keep commodity details on each storage line.
The client's additional place of business
A registered client that keeps its goods in your warehouse must add that location as an additional place of business on its own registration. Your invoice should carry the full warehouse address so the client can show it as evidence. When the client's stock moves out to its customers, the client issues the tax invoice and e-way bill, not the warehouse, unless you have been engaged to do so on its behalf.
Value-added services and composite contracts
Many warehouses bundle storage with picking, packing, kitting, labelling and dispatch. If one contract covers storage plus these activities, it may be treated as a composite or mixed supply. Since most of these services are also at 18%, the rate rarely changes, but a separate code for packaging services, 998541, keeps your reports clearer. Freight arranged for clients is a different matter and should be billed separately.
Bonded and customs warehouses
Customs-bonded warehouses store imported goods before duty is paid. Storage there is still a taxable service at 18%, and the bill of entry or warehouse bond reference should appear on the invoice. Where goods move from the bond to home consumption, the importer pays customs duty and IGST; the warehouse only charges for its own storage and handling.
Rent of warehouse space versus warehousing service
Some owners simply lease an empty godown to a tenant who runs it. That is renting of immovable property for business, taxed at 18%, and the invoice should show the lease period, area and rent rather than pallets or handling. A warehousing service is different: the operator controls the premises, receives and issues the goods and is responsible for them. The classification affects the SAC code, the contract and how liability is described, so choose the description that matches what you actually provide, and keep the lease deed or service agreement consistent with the invoice.