Central Sales Tax

Central Sales Tax (CST) is a tax on sales of goods levied by the Central Government of India. CST is applicable only in the case of inter-state sales and not on sales made within the state or import/export of sales. Inter-state sale takes place when a sale or purchase involves movement of goods from one state to another. Accordingly, consignments to agents or transfers of goods to branch or other offices are not treated as sale as per the CST Act.

CST is payable in the state where the goods are sold. CST is collected and retained by the state in which the tax is collected. CST is administered by Sales Tax authorities of each state. The Sales in the course of import into or export from India are exempted from CST.

CST (Central Sales Tax) registration is not dependent on amount of turnover. The registration of dealer becomes compulsory once he affects an inter-state sale. The CST Act provides special benefits to the Registered dealers like charging lower or NIL rate of CST on submission of Statutory Forms as prescribed for various types of Interstate Sales.

CST Rate

CST (Central Sales Tax) rate varies with situations. The table below gives the rates under various situations:-

Nature of Goods	Sale to registered dealers on submission of ‘C’ Form	Sales to unregistered dealers
Unconditionally Exempted Goods	Nil	Nil
Other Goods	2% or State Sales Tax (or VAT), whichever is lower	VAT rate of the State from which goods are sold