SAC Code

What Is a SAC Code?

A SAC code is the six-digit number that classifies a service for GST. SAC stands for Service Accounting Code, and every one of them opens with 99, the chapter set aside for services. The code tells the tax system what you sold, which is why it goes on the invoice and into the summary you file in GSTR-1.

These codes are not invented by the trade. They come from the GST Council’s own scheme of classification of services, which runs from chapter 99 down to a single entry for each service.

How a six-digit SAC code narrows 99 9963 99633 996331 Chapter Heading Group Service code All services Accommodation, food, beverage Food and drink serving Restaurants, cafes, takeaway The code says what the service is. It does not always say what rate it carries.

Common SAC Codes and What They Cover

Five codes that turn up on invoices across very different trades:

Match the entry to the service, not to the trade you think you belong to. A restaurant owner who sublets a spare shop is billing 997212 on that line, whatever the signboard outside says.

For anything not on this list, the SAC Code Finder will place it, and the GST rate finder and HSN/SAC directory carries the rate sitting against it.

SAC Code vs HSN Code

Both live in the same GST scheme and both sit on the invoice. The split is the easy part: goods take an HSN code and services take a SAC.

SAC Code Example

A thali house in Nadiad runs two counters under one GSTIN. Both serve the same food, both bill 996331, and the tax on an identical Rs.2,480 bill is not the same.

Note: this is an invented example for illustration only. The codes are real entries from the GST Council scheme; confirm your own rate before billing.

The code did not change. The premises did.

Why One Service Can Be Taxed at 5% or 18%

Restaurant service is 5% with no input tax credit outside what GST calls specified premises, and 18% with credit inside them.

Since 1 April 2025 the test is no longer the room tariff on the board. Premises count as specified on either of two grounds:

• The value of accommodation actually supplied there in the preceding financial year ran above Rs.7,500 per unit per day.
• The supplier filed a declaration between 1 January and 31 March, opting in for the year ahead.

Plenty of guidance online still quotes the old declared-tariff wording, so check the basis rather than the number.

Rates move too. The changes of 22 September 2025 left restaurant service where it was but moved hotel accommodation, so the two travel independently, and a rate you have confirmed for one of them tells you nothing at all about the other. GST on restaurants is worth a read each year, and storing the code once in your item master leaves the rate as the only thing you ever revisit.

See the Rate on Every Service Bill

A SAC earns its keep once it sits in the item record rather than in somebody’s memory.

For restaurants, Petpooja POSS bills straight from that record and reports day-end sales off it, so the rate each counter charged is visible the same evening.

For retail businesses, Petpooja Invoice works out the GST on every invoice it generates and keeps GST reports for compliance and auditing.

If two of your outlets sit on different rates, that is worth spotting the same week rather than at filing. Have a look at what your own day-end report would show.

Frequently Asked Questions