Section 13 IGST Act: Place of Supply of Services Where Supplier or Recipient Is Outside India

Section 13(1): Scope

The provision applies to determine the place of supply of services where the supplier or the recipient of services is located outside India.

Section 13(2): Default rule

Except for services covered by the special rules in Section 13, the place of supply is the location of the recipient of services. If the recipient's location is not available in the ordinary course of business, the place of supply is the location of the supplier.

Section 13(3): Services requiring performance

For services in respect of goods that must be physically made available to the supplier, the place of supply is generally where the services are actually performed. Where the service is supplied remotely by electronic means, the relevant rule looks to where the goods are situated at the time of supply.

The special performance rule does not apply to qualifying goods temporarily imported into India for repairs or other treatment or process and exported afterward without being put to any use in India other than the use required for that repair, treatment or process.

For services supplied to an individual that require the physical presence of that individual, or a person acting on the individual's behalf, the place of supply is where the services are actually performed.

Section 13(4): Immovable property

Services supplied directly in relation to immovable property, including specified expert and estate agency services, accommodation, rights to use immovable property, construction coordination, architectural and interior decoration services, have their place of supply where the property is located or intended to be located.

Section 13(5) to 13(7): Events and multiple locations

For admission to or organisation of cultural, artistic, sporting, scientific, educational, entertainment and similar events, and related ancillary services, the place of supply is where the event is actually held. Special rules apply where services covered by Section 13(3), 13(4) or 13(5) are supplied at multiple locations, including locations in India, or in more than one State or Union territory.

Section 13(8): Supplier-location rule

The place of supply is the location of the supplier for: services supplied by a banking company, financial institution or non-banking financial company to account holders; intermediary services; and hiring of means of transport, including yachts but excluding aircraft and vessels, for a period up to one month.

An intermediary is defined in Section 2(13) of the IGST Act broadly as a broker, agent or other person who arranges or facilitates a supply between two or more persons, but it does not include a person supplying the relevant goods, services, or both, or securities on that person's own account.

Section 13(9): Omitted from 1 October 2023

The former special rule for transportation of goods has been omitted. CBIC has clarified that, after the omission, the place of supply for cross-border transportation of goods, including the situations addressed by the clarification, is determined under the default rule in Section 13(2): ordinarily the recipient's location, or the supplier's location where the recipient's location is unavailable in the ordinary course of business.

Section 13(10): Passenger transportation

The place of supply for passenger transportation services is the place where the passenger embarks on the conveyance for a continuous journey.

Section 13(11): Services on board a conveyance

For services supplied on board during a passenger transport operation, including services intended to be wholly or substantially consumed on board, the place of supply is the first scheduled point of departure of the conveyance for that journey.

Section 13(12): OIDAR services

For online information and database access or retrieval services, commonly referred to as OIDAR services, the place of supply is the location of the recipient of services. The statutory explanation contains evidentiary indicators for determining when the recipient is located in the taxable territory.

Section 13(13): Effective use and enjoyment

To prevent double taxation or non-taxation, or to ensure uniform application of place-of-supply rules, the Government may notify specified services or circumstances in which the place of supply is determined by the place of effective use and enjoyment of the service.