India Lowers Tax Rate to 18% on 7 Types of Cosmetics

Takehome:

In India, 178 kinds of products will now be subject to a reduced GTS tax rate (28% to 18%). 7 types of cosmetics are included.

No.	Chapter/Heading/Sub-heading/Tariff item	Description
14	3303	Perfumes and toilet waters
15	3304	Beauty or make-up preparations and preparations for the care of the skin (other than medicaments), including sunscreen or sun tan preparations; manicure or pedicure preparations [other than kajal, Kumkum, Bindi, Sindur, Alta]
16	3305	Preparations for use on the hair [other than Hair oil].
17	3306 [other than 3306 10 10, 3306 10 20]	Preparations for oral or dental hygiene, including and powders; yarn used to clean between the teeth (dental floss), in individual retail packages [other than dentifrices in powder or paste from (tooth powder or toothpaste)]
18	3307	Pre-shave, shaving or after-shave preparations, personal deodorants, bath preparations, depilatories and other perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations, not elsewhere specified or included; prepared room deodorisers, whether or not perfumed or having disinfectant properties [other than odoriferous preparations which operate by burning , agarbattis, lobhan, dhoop batti, dhoop, sambhrani]
19	3401 30	Organic surface-active products and preparations for washing the skin, in the form of liquid or cream and put up for retail sale, whether or not containing soap; paper, wadding, felt and nonwovens, impregnated, coated or covered with soap or detergent
20	3402	Organic surface-active agents (other than soap); surface-active preparations, washing preparations (including auxiliary washing preparations) and cleaning preparations, whether or not containing soap, other than those of heading 3401

India uses a tax rate ranking system. 1200 types of commodities and services are classified into 4 tax brackets: 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% (food staples including meat, fish, egg, milk, etc. are exempt from tax).

Annex: examples of products and services for each tax ranking

Tax rate	products	services
5%	Fish fillet, cream, skim milk powder, cottage cheese, frozen vegetable, coffee, tea, spice, kerosene, coal, drug, lifeboat.	Economy class for train or flight.
12%	Frozen meat products, butter, cheese, packed nuts, animal oil, sausage, juice, incense stick, coloring book, picture book, umbrella, sewing machine, cellphone.	Non-air conditioner hotel or accommodation; business class flight.
18%	Cooked wheaten food, corn flakes, pastry or cake, pickles, fruit jam, sauce, soup, ice cream, food pre-mixed flour, mineral water, tissue, envelope, tampon, notebook, steel product, printed circuit, camera, loud speaker, screen.	Hotel or accommodation equipped with conditioner; telecom service.
28%	Chewing gum, non-coco chocolate, chocolate Gezai cake, waffle cake, oil paint, deodorants, shaving cream, aftershave, shampoo, hair dyes, sun screen, wallpaper, tile, water heater, dish-washing machine, weighing machine, washing machine, ATM, vending machine, vacuum machine, shaver, hair-shave device, car, motorbike, personal helicopter	Five-star hotel, films in the cinema.