Hotel bill format

Last reviewed: October 2026

What a hotel bill is and when it is issued

A hotel bill is the tax invoice a hotel, lodge, guest house or homestay issues at check-out for everything the guest owes: room nights, meals, laundry, minibar, transport and any other service. During the stay these charges sit on the guest folio, a running account. At check-out the folio is closed and becomes the bill, and the payment is recorded against it.

A GST-registered hotel must issue a tax invoice for the supply. Because one bill mixes supplies taxed at different rates, each charge needs its own line, its own SAC code and its own rate. A bill that lumps "room and food" into one figure cannot show the right tax, and a business guest cannot use it to claim credit.

How to fill in this hotel bill format

1. Enter the hotelAdd the hotel's legal name, address and GSTIN. The state in the GSTIN is the state the tax will be charged in.
2. Add the guest or companyFor a business stay, enter the company name, address and GSTIN (its registration in the hotel's state if it has one) and put the guest's name in the name or notes.
3. Set the place of supplyKeep the place of supply on the hotel's own state; this example starts that way. Left on automatic, it follows the customer's GSTIN and would charge IGST to a guest from another state.
4. Bill the room nightsAdd one line for the room: nights as the quantity, the per-night value as the rate, SAC 996311, and 5% if the value is ₹7,500 or less, otherwise 18%.
5. Add food and other servicesAdd restaurant, room service, laundry and spa on separate lines with their own rates. Note check-in and check-out times, the deposit received and the payment mode in the notes.
6. Issue itCheck the CGST and SGST split, then sign in to issue: the bill gets the next number in your series, is recorded in your books and is ready for GSTR-1. Downloading the PDF is free, with a small LuckPanda footer; issuing, sending and clean PDFs without our branding need the Sales module.

Example: a three-night business stay

Anand Kulkarni of Deccan Software Services, Pune, stays three nights at Hotel Lakeview Residency in Udaipur at ₹4,800 a night, eats dinner in the hotel restaurant and sends clothes to the laundry. The room is below ₹7,500, so it is taxed at 5%. The hotel has no room priced above ₹7,500, so its restaurant charges 5% too. Laundry is 18%. The hotel is in Rajasthan, so although the guest's company is registered in Maharashtra, the bill carries Rajasthan CGST and SGST.

1. Bill number: consecutive, at most 16 characters, unique for the financial year.
2. Hotel legal name, address and GSTIN.
3. Stay dates: check-in and check-out decide the number of nights, and the per-night value decides the room rate.
4. Place of supply: the state where the hotel is, whatever the guest's address or GSTIN.
5. Guest or company: for a business stay, the company name and GSTIN, plus the guest's name.
6. SAC per line: 996311 for rooms, 996331 for restaurant service, the service's own code for the rest.
7. Times and payment: check-in and check-out times, advance adjusted and payment mode.
8. CGST + SGST at each line's rate: 2.5% + 2.5% on room and food, 9% + 9% on laundry.

A dearer room in a specified premises

Aravalli Palace Hotel in Jaipur charges ₹9,200 a night, so its rooms are taxed at 18% with input tax credit, and because it sold rooms above ₹7,500 last financial year it is a specified premises: its restaurant charges 18% too. Spa treatments are "beauty and physical well-being" services, which have been 5% without credit since 22 September 2025, even inside a luxury hotel. The guest's company is in Gujarat; the tax is still Rajasthan CGST and SGST.

What goes on a hotel bill, field by field

Guests registered under GST should always get their GSTIN on the bill. For an unregistered guest, a hotel bill of ₹50,000 or more must also carry the guest's name and address and the state, as rule 46 requires for large B2C invoices.

GST on hotel rooms, food and services after 22 September 2025

Notification 15/2025-Central Tax (Rate) changed the rates for accommodation from 22 September 2025. The 12% slab for rooms up to ₹7,500 went; those rooms are now 5% without input tax credit. Rooms above ₹7,500 stay at 18%.

The ₹7,500 test is on the value actually charged

The threshold is applied to the value of supply of a unit of accommodation per day: the amount the guest actually pays for that room for that night, after discounts and including extra-bed charges. The older "declared tariff" test has been dropped. A room listed at ₹9,000 and sold at ₹6,900 is a 5% room; a ₹7,000 room with a ₹900 extra bed is a ₹7,900 room and goes to 18%. There is no longer any exemption for cheap rooms: rooms below ₹1,000 have been taxable since 18 July 2022.

What makes a hotel a specified premises

The restaurant rate depends on whether the property is a specified premises for the financial year. From 1 April 2025 that means either: in the preceding financial year the hotel supplied any unit of accommodation at a value above ₹7,500 per day; or the hotel declared the property a specified premises, between 1 January and 31 March of the preceding year (or within 15 days of registration for a new registration). A specified premises charges 18% with credit on all its restaurant and catering supplies, including to walk-in diners and to guests in 5% rooms. Every other hotel restaurant charges 5% without credit. A stand-alone restaurant cannot opt into 18%.

Packages: room with breakfast or meals

A tariff that includes breakfast (CP) or all meals (AP) is a composite supply whose principal supply is the room, so the whole tariff takes the room's rate and the threshold is tested on the full tariff. Show it as one line, for example "Deluxe double with breakfast", rather than splitting the breakfast out at a different rate.

Why a guest from another state still pays CGST and SGST

For lodging in a hotel, inn, guest house, homestay, club or campsite, section 12(3) of the IGST Act fixes the place of supply at the location of the property. The guest's home state, the company's GSTIN and where the booking was made do not matter. A hotel in Rajasthan therefore charges Rajasthan CGST and SGST to every guest, including a company registered in Maharashtra. IGST on an Indian hotel bill is an error.

This matters for the business guest. CGST and SGST charged in Rajasthan can generally be used only by a Rajasthan registration. When the bill carries a Maharashtra GSTIN, the guest's GSTR-2B shows the invoice with input tax credit marked not available, because the place of supply is in a different state from the recipient. Some advisers argue the law itself does not deny the credit, but the portal does, and most companies do not claim it.

What GSTIN should a company give the hotel?

The GSTIN of its registration in the hotel's state, if it has one (for Deccan Software Services, its Rajasthan GSTIN 08AACCD4471E1ZU rather than its Maharashtra one). If it has no registration there, give the GSTIN anyway: the bill still documents the expense, even if the credit is not usable.

What if the hotel has issued an IGST bill?

Ask for it to be corrected with a credit note and a fresh invoice charging CGST and SGST. An IGST bill for accommodation is a wrong tax type, and the hotel's return will not match.

Does the 5% "without ITC" rate stop the guest claiming credit?

No. "Without ITC" restricts the hotel's own credit on its inputs. A registered guest can claim the 5% charged on a business stay if the usual conditions are met, including the state point above.

Business travellers and corporate bills

• Room charges on a business trip are eligible input tax credit for the company, subject to the conditions of section 16 and the place-of-supply point above.
• Food and beverages are blocked credit under section 17(5)(b) of the CGST Act, whatever the rate. Companies claim the room and expense the meals.
• Leave travel is blocked too: travel benefits given to employees on vacation, such as a holiday stay under leave travel concession, are not eligible for credit.
• Corporate bills to a company account: when the company pays directly (a "bill to company" reservation), the hotel bills the company with the guest's name in the description or notes. For long stays or group bookings, hotels often issue one bill per guest per stay so each employee's claim is separate.
• E-invoicing: a hotel whose aggregate turnover has exceeded ₹5 crore in any year since 2017-18 must generate an IRN for each bill to a GST-registered company. Bills to individual guests do not need an IRN.

Advance deposits, cancellations and no-shows

For services, GST is due on an advance when it is received, not when the guest arrives. A hotel that takes a deposit issues a receipt voucher showing the amount, the rate and the tax, and pays GST on it for that month. The final bill at check-out shows the full stay, deducts the deposit and collects only the balance; the tax already paid on the deposit is adjusted. If the stay never happens and the deposit is returned, the hotel issues a refund voucher.

Cancellation and no-show charges are consideration for the same supply. CBIC Circular 178/10/2022-GST says cancellation charges for hotel accommodation are taxed at the rate that applies to the accommodation itself. A one-night retention on a cancelled ₹4,800 room is therefore taxed at 5%:

Small hotels, lodges and homestays

• Not registered: a hotel below the registration threshold (₹20 lakh of turnover in most states, ₹10 lakh in some special category states) charges no GST and issues a plain bill or cash memo with no tax lines.
• Composition scheme: composition is open to restaurants, not to accommodation, except for small service suppliers under the separate 6% scheme for turnover up to ₹50 lakh. A hotel under that scheme issues a bill of supply, collects no GST and the guest gets no credit.
• Hostels and paying guest accommodation: residential accommodation of up to ₹20,000 per person per month, supplied for at least 90 continuous days, is exempt; that is not hotel accommodation and is billed without GST.
• Lodges and guest houses that are registered follow the same 5% / 18% rule as hotels.

Mistakes to avoid on a hotel bill

• Charging IGST to an out-of-state guest. Accommodation is always taxed where the property is.
• Testing the rate on the published tariff. Use the value actually charged per room per night, including extra beds, after discounts.
• Using 12%. The 12% slab for rooms ended on 21 September 2025.
• Offering 18% with credit on a ₹6,000 room. The 5% rate is mandatory for rooms up to ₹7,500.
• One line for room and food. Unless the food is part of the tariff, it is a separate supply that may carry a different rate, and the guest's company has to separate it to claim the room credit.
• Charging 18% on spa services. Beauty and physical well-being services are 5% without credit since 22 September 2025.
• No GSTIN for a business guest. Without it the bill is B2C and the company cannot claim anything.
• Ignoring the deposit. GST on an advance is due when it is received; the final bill must adjust it, not charge it again.

Hotel bill vs restaurant bill vs travel agent bill

Key terms

Folio

The running account of a guest's charges during a stay, closed into the bill at check-out.

Value of supply per unit per day

The amount actually charged for one room for one night, used to decide between 5% and 18%.

Specified premises

A hotel that sold any room above ₹7,500 a day in the previous financial year, or declared itself one; its restaurants charge 18% with credit.

Place of supply

The state whose GST applies; for accommodation, the state where the property is.

SAC 996311

Services accounting code for room or unit accommodation in hotels and similar establishments.

Receipt voucher

The GST document a supplier issues when it receives an advance, showing the tax on it.

Questions people ask