SAC code for hoarding and outdoor advertising: 998366, 998362 or 998361

This guide describes common practice. Classification depends on your contracts and facts, and rates change — confirm the SAC and rate with your chartered accountant before you rely on them.

The short answer

Advertising sits in group 99836 of the services classification, under heading 9983 (other professional, technical and business services). The codes that matter to an outdoor media company are:

SAC	Description	Usual GST rate
998361	Advertising services	18%
998362	Purchase or sale of advertising space or time, on commission	18%
998363	Sale of advertising space in print media (except on commission)	5%
998364	Sale of TV and radio advertising time	18%
998365	Sale of Internet advertising space	18%
998366	Sale of other advertising space or time (except on commission)	18%

Hoardings, unipoles, gantries, bus shelters, building wraps and transit media are “other” advertising space. So a hoarding owner selling display outright uses 998366. The Telangana appellate advance ruling in Time Education Kolkata (2022) describes 998366 as covering non-print space such as billboards, buildings and vehicles.

The descriptions come from the scheme of classification of services annexed to the GST rate notifications. Check the current text on the CBIC tax information portal — third-party SAC lists are often abbreviated or wrong.

The 5% rate for print media space (998363) does not apply to outdoor. If someone quotes 5% for hoardings, they are reading the wrong line.

Which code fits which supply

The question to ask is: what are you actually selling, and on whose account?

You own or lease the site and sell the display

You hold the site — owned, or leased from a landlord or municipal body — and sell display for a period to a client or an agency at your own price. You carry the risk if the site goes unsold.

This is a sale of advertising space on your own account: 998366, 18%.

The same applies to an agency that buys space from site owners and resells it to its client at its own price, as a principal. It is buying and selling space, not earning a commission. Its sale is usually 998366 as well.

You act as an agent, on commission

You place the client’s ad on someone else’s site, the site owner bills (or is paid for) the space, and you earn a commission or a fixed fee for arranging it. You never own the space.

This is 998362, 18% — and the taxable value is your commission, not the whole media value. Whether you are a principal or an agent depends on the contracts: who the client pays, who the site owner bills, and who carries the risk. Write it down; it is the first thing an officer will ask.

Creative, planning and campaign services

Designing the artwork, media planning, site selection studies and campaign management — billed as services in their own right — are generally 998361, advertising services, at 18%.

If you sell space and design together as one package, the classification can shift. In the Telangana case above, print space sold with artwork was held to be 998361, not a sale of space. If you regularly bundle creative with display, ask your accountant how to bill it.

Printing, mounting and removal billed separately

Most outdoor invoices carry printing (flex or vinyl), mounting and removal next to display. Two common approaches:

• One composite supply. If printing and mounting are only done so the display can run, they are often treated as part of a composite supply where display is the principal supply. The whole invoice then follows the display code, 998366, at 18%.
• Separate supplies. If you also sell printing on its own — to clients who are not buying display from you — your accountant may want printing classified under printing services and mounting under its own code.

Both routes usually land at 18%, so the tax is the same. What changes is the SAC in your GSTR-1 HSN summary and the code on the invoice. Pick one approach with your accountant and apply it every month.

Rent you pay for the site or land

When you lease a wall, roof or plot from a landlord, the landlord is supplying you a renting service, not advertising. That is a different heading altogether (renting of non-residential property), usually at 18%.

If the landlord is unregistered and you are registered, you generally pay that GST yourself under reverse charge. This applies to renting of commercial property from 10 October 2024 under Notification 09/2024-Central Tax (Rate) — see Taxmann and ClearTax. Municipal licence fees for hoarding sites follow their own rules; ask your accountant.

The reverse also holds: if you let a bare site or structure to another media company, which then sells the display itself, your supply may be seen as renting rather than advertising space. Get advice before you code it.

How many digits

The SAC has to appear on the invoice and in GSTR-1. Businesses with aggregate turnover above ₹5 crore in the previous year generally need the full six digits (998366). Below that, four digits (9983) are generally enough on B2B invoices. Using six digits regardless avoids mistakes when you cross the threshold.

Sample invoice lines

A hoarding owner in Maharashtra billing a client in Karnataka for one site, one month:

#	Description	SAC	Taxable value (₹)	IGST 18% (₹)
1	Display — Site PUN-014, 40×20 ft, 1–31 Oct 2026	998366	1,20,000	21,600
2	Printing — flex, 800 sq ft	998366	8,000	1,440
3	Mounting	998366	4,000	720
	Total		1,32,000	23,760

Here printing and mounting are treated as part of a composite supply with display. If your accountant treats them as separate supplies, lines 2 and 3 carry their own codes — the rate in this example stays at 18%.

An agency on commission arranging the same site would bill the client only its fee:

#	Description	SAC	Taxable value (₹)	IGST 18% (₹)
1	Commission for arranging display, Site PUN-014, Oct 2026	998362	18,000	3,240

The site owner would then bill the client for the space directly.

Common mistakes

• Using 998366 for commission income. If you are an agent, your supply is 998362, and it is valued at the commission.
• Using 998362 when you resell as principal. If you buy space and resell it at your own price, you are not on commission, whatever the trade calls it.
• Quoting 5% because “advertising space is 5%”. That rate is for print media space (998363), not outdoor.
• Different codes for the same thing month to month. It makes the GSTR-1 HSN summary inconsistent and invites questions. Agree a mapping once.
• Forgetting reverse charge on site rent. Rent from unregistered landlords for commercial property is a common miss.
• Copying codes from a third-party list. Check the description against the CBIC classification, not a blog’s shorthand.

A simple mapping to agree with your accountant

Line on your invoice	Suggested starting point
Display on owned or leased sites	998366
Printing, mounting, removal for a display you also sell	Same as display, if treated as composite
Printing sold on its own	Ask your accountant
Commission for arranging someone else’s space	998362
Creative, design, media planning billed separately	998361
Rent you pay a landlord	Renting of property; check reverse charge

Write the agreed mapping down and use it for every invoice. Consistency matters more than which defensible choice you made.