Place of Supply - Transportation of Goods including Mail/Courier [Section 12(8) IGST Act]
# Place of Supply: Transportation of Goods (incl. Mail/Courier)
## Rule
Recipient's Status
Place of Supply
Registered
Location of recipient
Unregistered
Place where the goods are handed over for transportation
## Key Concept
For unregistered recipients, the handover point (i.e., where the goods are physically given to the transporter) — NOT the origin city of the transporter, NOT the destination — determines PoS.
## Note on Goods Transported Outside India
Under a separate sub-section (not in this chunk's syllabus scope), if transportation is to a place outside India, PoS is the destination of goods. Within the syllabus scope, focus on the registered-vs-unregistered binary above.
Worked example
### Example 1
Example — GTA service for registered/unregistered recipient
Mr. Ron (Registered in Pune) gets goods transported from Mumbai to Ludhiana via ABC Transporter (Mumbai).
Solution (Ron registered): PoS = Pune (location of recipient).
Variation (Ron unregistered): PoS = Mumbai (where goods were handed over for transportation).
⚠️ Common exam mistakes
Taking destination city as PoS for unregistered recipients — it's the handover (origin) point.
Taking supplier's location as PoS — supplier's location is generally irrelevant to PoS determination.
Forgetting to identify recipient's registration status first.
Bare-Act text Section 12(8) · IGST Act, 2017 · click to expand
Section 12(8), IGST Act: The place of supply of services by way of transportation of goods, including by mail or courier to,— (a) a registered person, shall be the location of such person; (b) a person other than a registered person, shall be the location at which such goods are handed over for their transportation.