Jewellery Shop Billing: 3% GST, Making Charges and Old Gold

A jewellery bill carries more value per line than almost any other retail bill in India, so small mistakes cost real money. The tax rate looks simple, 3% on gold and silver jewellery, but making charges, old gold exchange, high-value cash sales and buyer details all have rules of their own. This guide explains how to make a correct jewellery bill under GST, and what jewellery billing software should do for you.

GST on Jewellery: The Rates

These special rates were not changed by the September 2025 revision.

How Are Making Charges Taxed?

When you sell a finished piece of jewellery, the making charge is part of the price of that piece. It is not a separate service. So the whole value, metal plus making, is taxed at 3%, even when your bill shows the making charge on its own line.

The position is different when a karigar or job worker only does the work on gold that belongs to someone else. That is a job-work service, taxed under the services schedule at its own rate. If you take orders where the customer supplies the gold, get your CA to confirm how to bill them.

Worked example

A customer buys a 22-carat chain weighing 10.000 g. Assume your rate that day is ₹9,000 per gram and the making charge is ₹800 per gram.

• Metal value: 10 g × ₹9,000 = ₹90,000
• Making charges: 10 g × ₹800 = ₹8,000
• Taxable value: ₹98,000
• GST at 3%: ₹2,940 (CGST 1.5% ₹1,470 + SGST 1.5% ₹1,470)
• Invoice total: ₹1,00,940

Old Gold Exchange

Many customers pay partly with old jewellery. Treat it as two transactions: you buy the old gold from the customer, and you sell the new piece. GST is charged on the full value of the new piece. You do not get to charge GST only on the difference. Record the old gold separately, with its weight, purity and the value you gave, and adjust that value against the bill as a payment. Ask your CA how to account for old gold bought from unregistered individuals in your books.

Buyer Details, Cash Limits and PAN

• Buyer details: for a sale of ₹50,000 or more to an unregistered customer, the GST invoice must carry the customer's name, address and state.
• Cash limit: under Section 269ST of the Income Tax Act, you cannot accept ₹2 lakh or more in cash from one person for one transaction. Take the balance by UPI, card or bank transfer.
• PAN: income-tax rules require the buyer's PAN for a sale of goods above ₹2 lakh.
• Hallmark: mention the purity and the HUID of hallmarked pieces in the item description. Customers increasingly check it.

What Jewellery Billing Software Should Do

1. Sell by weight to three decimals (10.000 g) at a rate you can change every morning.
2. Show making charges as a separate line, also at 3%.
3. Record split payments: cash, UPI, card and old gold adjustment.
4. Capture the customer's name, phone, address and PAN on high-value bills.
5. Print a clean A4 invoice with your GSTIN, HSN 7113 and the tax split.
6. Track dues for customers who pay in instalments, with reminders.

Using Billux for a Jewellery Counter

Billux is general retail billing software rather than a specialist jewellery ERP, and it is worth being clear about the difference. It does not pull the daily gold rate or manage karigar issue and receipt. What it does well for a small jewellery shop:

• Items sold by the gram, with quantities to three decimals and a per-gram price you update daily.
• A "Making charges" line item at 3%, so the bill shows metal and making separately.
• An HSN helper that suggests 3% for 7113 and 7108.
• Split payments on one bill, customer details on the invoice, dues tracking and WhatsApp bills.
• A4 tax invoices with the CGST/SGST split, and GSTR-1/3B reports for your CA.

See the full feature list and pricing (Standard ₹2,500 a year). If you also sell sarees or garments, our guide to GST on clothes covers that side, and our GST invoice format guide lists every field your bill needs.

Jewellery Bill Format: What to Print

On top of the standard GST invoice fields, a clear jewellery bill shows:

• Item description with metal and purity, for example "22K (916) gold chain"
• Gross weight, stone weight and net weight, with the stone value on its own line if charged separately
• Rate per gram used on the day, and the metal value
• Making charges, per gram or as a flat amount
• HUID for hallmarked pieces
• Taxable value, CGST 1.5% and SGST 1.5% (or IGST 3% for an out-of-state customer)
• Old gold adjustment shown as a payment, with weight and purity
• Payment split: cash, card, UPI, bank transfer

A customer comparing two jewellers' quotes will trust the one whose bill they can read line by line. A clear format is also a sales tool. Billux's retail counter prints this on A4 with your logo and GSTIN.

Updating the rate every morning

Gold and silver rates move daily, and a bill made on yesterday's rate is a loss or an argument. Make updating the per-gram price of your gold and silver items the first job each morning, before the first customer, and display the same rate on the board in the shop. If the rate on the counter, the board and the bill always match, customers stop haggling over it. Keep the day's rate in the item description on high-value bills, so a later query can be answered from the bill itself.

The Bottom Line

In a jewellery shop the tax rate is the easy part. Making charges go into the 3% value, old gold is a separate purchase, and cash and PAN limits apply to the whole sale. Get those right on every bill and your books will hold up to any question.