Looking for expert help with Income tax and GST for glass and mirror shops and glaziers India? The team at Tax Garden, based in Kondapur, Hyderabad, helps Indian SMEs stay compliant. End-to-end filings, notices, and deadline tracking, all in one place.
Key Takeaways
- Float glass, toughened glass, laminated glass, double-glazed units, mirrors and glassware are all 18% GST from 22 September 2025 (Notification 9/2025-CT(R), Schedule II).
- A few glass items are 5%: glass beads, lamp chimneys and globes, glasses for corrective spectacles, and cullet (broken glass scrap).
- Glass fitting in a building is a works contract at 18%. Toughening by an outside plant is job work at 18% too.
- Glass that breaks in your godown means reversing the GST credit you took on it (Section 17(5)(h), CGST Act).
- For income tax, Section 44AD (Section 58 from 1 April 2026) covers turnover up to Rs 2 crore or Rs 3 crore. Builders deduct 1% or 2% TDS on your fitting contracts.
What is the GST rate on glass and mirrors? 18%. Float glass, toughened and laminated safety glass, insulating glass units and glass mirrors (headings 7003 to 7009) are in Schedule II of Notification 9/2025-Central Tax (Rate), at 9% CGST plus 9% SGST, from 22 September 2025. Glass beads, lamp chimneys, spectacle glasses and glass scrap are 5%.
A glass shop rarely just sells glass. You buy float and toughened sheets from a distributor, cut them to size, send some out for toughening, sell mirrors over the counter, and send a fitter to fix shower partitions and office cabins. Each of those steps has its own GST question, and the fitting jobs bring TDS and cash-receipt rules into play on the income tax side. This post covers rates, fitting work, breakage, composition and income tax for FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27) under the Income-tax Act 1961, with the Income-tax Act 2025 sections that apply from 1 April 2026. It's for glass and mirror shop owners, glaziers and the CAs who file for them.
Glass GST rate and HSN code for each item
Almost everything you stock is 18%. The 5% list is short and easy to remember.
Comparison
GST on Glass and Mirrors (from 22 September 2025)
| Item (HSN) | GST | Notification entry |
|---|---|---|
| Cast or rolled glass, incl. figured glass, in sheets (7003) | 18% | 9/2025-CT(R), Sch II, S. No. 243 |
| Float glass and polished glass in sheets (7005) | 18% | 9/2025-CT(R), Sch II, S. No. 245 |
| Glass that is bent, edge-worked, engraved or drilled, not framed (7006) | 18% | 9/2025-CT(R), Sch II, S. No. 246 |
| Toughened or laminated safety glass (7007) | 18% | 9/2025-CT(R), Sch II, S. No. 247 |
| Double-glazed insulating units (7008) | 18% | 9/2025-CT(R), Sch II, S. No. 248 |
| Glass mirrors, framed or not (7009) | 18% | 9/2025-CT(R), Sch II, S. No. 249 |
| Tableware, kitchen and decorative glassware (7013) | 18% | 9/2025-CT(R), Sch II, S. No. 252 |
| Glass blocks, tiles and mosaic (7016) | 18% | 9/2025-CT(R), Sch II, S. No. 255 |
| Cullet, glass waste and scrap (7001) | 5% | 9/2025-CT(R), Sch I, S. No. 406 |
| Glasses for corrective spectacles (7015 10) | 5% | 9/2025-CT(R), Sch I, S. No. 407 |
| Glass beads (7018) | 5% | 9/2025-CT(R), Sch I, S. No. 408 |
| Lamp globes, kerosene lamp founts, glass chimneys (7020) | 5% | 9/2025-CT(R), Sch I, S. No. 409 |
Source: CBIC Notification 9/2025-Central Tax (Rate), dated 17 September 2025, in force 22 September 2025
Inside your State, 18% is billed as 9% CGST plus 9% SGST, and 5% as 2.5% plus 2.5%. A sale to a buyer in another State carries IGST at the same total rate.
Two things follow from the table. Cutting, bevelling or drilling a float glass sheet can move it from 7005 to 7006, but both are 18%, so the rate on your bill doesn't change. And the broken pieces you sell to a scrap dealer are cullet, at 5%, not 18%.
Glass fitting jobs: goods or works contract?
Say a customer buys a 6 ft by 4 ft mirror for Rs 9,000 and you charge Rs 1,000 to fix it on the wall. The mirror is the main thing being sold and the fixing goes with it, so it's a composite supply under Section 2(30) of the CGST Act, taxed at the rate of the principal supply (Section 8(a)). That's 18% on Rs 10,000, so Rs 1,800, and the bill is Rs 11,800.
Larger jobs are different. Supplying and fixing a glass office partition, a shower enclosure or a glass facade into a building is a "works contract" under Section 2(119): a contract for "fitting out, improvement, modification, repair... of any immovable property" where property in goods passes to the customer. Works contracts are services (Schedule II, paragraph 6(a)), taxed at 9% CGST plus 9% SGST under S. No. 3, item (xii) of Notification 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate). Notification 15/2025 changed items (vii), (viii) and (x) of that entry from 22 September 2025, but not item (xii).
So the rate is 18% either way. What changes is everything around the rate:
- Registration limit. A works contract is a service, so the Rs 40 lakh goods-only limit doesn't help you (more on that below).
- Composition. Fitting work counts against the services cap in the composition scheme.
- Your customer's credit. A business that gets glass works fixed into its own building generally can't claim that GST. Section 17(5)(c) blocks credit on works contract services for construction of immovable property, other than plant and machinery. Tell your business customers this before they price the job. You, as the glazier, still claim credit on the glass and fittings you buy, because you use them to supply the works contract.
Example: a hotel company hires you to supply and fix glass shower partitions in 10 rooms for Rs 2,50,000. GST at 18% is Rs 45,000, and the invoice is Rs 2,95,000. Our works contract GST guide covers the rules for bigger construction jobs.
Toughening, breakage and e-way bills
Most shops don't own a toughening furnace. You cut the glass to size, drill the holes, and send it to a toughening plant.
Step-by-Step Guide
Sending Cut Glass for Toughening
Send it under Section 143
If you're registered, you can send the cut glass to the toughening plant without paying tax, as long as it comes back within one year (Section 143(1)(a), CGST Act).
Generate an e-way bill if needed
Within your State, an e-way bill is needed when the consignment value exceeds Rs 50,000 (Rule 138(1), CGST Rules). If the plant is in another State, it's needed whatever the value.
Pay 18% on the toughening charge
The plant bills you for job work at 9% CGST plus 9% SGST, under S. No. 26(iv) of Notification 11/2017-CT(R) as substituted by Notification 15/2025. If you're unregistered, it's item (vii) of the same entry, also 9% plus 9%.
Claim the credit and sell
Claim credit on the toughening charge and sell the toughened glass at 18% as goods, or fix it on site as a works contract at 18%.
Source: CGST Act, Section 143; CGST Rules, Rule 138; Notification 11/2017-CT(R) S. No. 26 as substituted by Notification 15/2025-CT(R)
Breakage. Glass breaks: in the truck, in the godown, on the cutting table. Section 17(5)(h) of the CGST Act blocks input credit on goods "lost, stolen, destroyed, written off". So when a sheet you've already claimed credit on breaks and can't be sold as glass, the credit on it has to go.
Say you bought float glass for Rs 3,00,000 plus Rs 54,000 GST and claimed the full Rs 54,000. Sheets that cost Rs 15,000 crack in the godown. You reverse 18% of Rs 15,000, which is Rs 2,700, in GSTR-3B. If you later sell the broken pieces as cullet, charge 5% on that sale. Keep a breakage register with dates, sizes and photos, because it's the first thing an officer asks for when your stock doesn't match purchases. Offcuts left over from cutting a sheet to size are a different question from a sheet that breaks in storage; this example covers breakage only.
Registration and the composition scheme
When to register. Section 22(1) of the CGST Act sets the limit at Rs 20 lakh of aggregate turnover (Rs 10 lakh in special category States). Notification 10/2019-Central Tax raises it to Rs 40 lakh for persons engaged exclusively in supplying goods, but it leaves out intra-State suppliers in Telangana and a few other States, where the limit stays Rs 20 lakh. And once you take fitting jobs, you're not supplying goods exclusively, so the Rs 40 lakh limit no longer applies anywhere. Our registration limit guide lists the States, and our GST registration service files the application.
Composition. A shop whose aggregate turnover in the previous year was up to Rs 1.5 crore can opt for composition (Notification 14/2019-Central Tax). Traders pay 0.5% CGST plus 0.5% SGST on turnover of taxable supplies, and manufacturers 0.5% plus 0.5% on turnover (Rule 7, CGST Rules), so 1% either way. You can still take fitting work worth up to 10% of last year's turnover or Rs 5 lakh, whichever is higher (Section 10(1), second proviso).
Example: your shop's turnover last year was Rs 90,00,000. The services cap is the higher of Rs 9,00,000 (10%) and Rs 5,00,000, so Rs 9,00,000 of fitting work. If you expect Rs 12,00,000 of fitting jobs, you'd cross it and lose eligibility.
Composition has costs. You can't charge GST on your bill or claim input credit (Section 10(4)), and you can't sell to buyers in other States (Section 10(2)(c)). Builders and interior firms who want credit will prefer a registered regular supplier, though for works fixed into their own buildings Section 17(5)(c) often blocks that credit anyway. If your business is mostly fitting work with turnover up to Rs 50 lakh, Section 10(2A) offers a separate scheme at 3% CGST plus 3% SGST, so 6%. Our composition scheme guide compares the options.
Income tax: 44AD, TDS on fitting jobs and cash receipts
Section 44AD. For FY 2025-26, a resident individual, HUF or partnership firm (not an LLP) can declare 6% of turnover received by bank transfer, UPI or cheque (by the return due date) and 8% of the rest as profit, under Section 44AD of the Income-tax Act 1961. The limit is turnover of Rs 2 crore, or Rs 3 crore if cash receipts are within 5% of turnover. From 1 April 2026 the same scheme is Section 58 of the Income-tax Act 2025, with the same rates and limits.
Example: a proprietor's glass shop has turnover of Rs 1,20,00,000 in FY 2025-26: Rs 1,00,00,000 by bank and UPI and Rs 20,00,000 in cash. Cash is about 17% of turnover, so the limit is Rs 2 crore, and Rs 1.2 crore is within it. Deemed profit is 6% of Rs 1,00,00,000 (Rs 6,00,000) plus 8% of Rs 20,00,000 (Rs 1,60,000), so Rs 7,60,000. If your real margin after breakage, rent and fitters' wages is lower, work out with your CA whether keeping books makes more sense. Our Section 44AD guide covers the five-year lock-in if you later opt out.
TDS on fitting contracts. When a company, firm or other specified payer pays you for carrying out work under a contract, it deducts TDS under Section 194C of the 1961 Act: 1% if you're an individual or HUF, 2% otherwise. It applies once a single payment exceeds Rs 30,000 or the year's total exceeds Rs 1,00,000. From 1 April 2026 the same rule is Section 393(1), Table Sl. No. 6(i), of the Income-tax Act 2025, with the same rates and limits. In the hotel example above, the company deducts 1% of Rs 2,50,000, which is Rs 2,500, if you're a proprietor. Check that the TDS shows in your Form 26AS and claim it in your return. Our Section 194C guide covers the details.
Cash from customers. Section 269ST of the 1961 Act bars receiving Rs 2,00,000 or more in cash from one person in a day, for a single transaction, or for one event or occasion. From 1 April 2026 it's Section 186 of the Income-tax Act 2025. The penalty is equal to the amount received (Section 271DA; Section 451 of the 2025 Act). So if a customer pays Rs 2,40,000 in cash for one partition job, even across two visits, it's a single transaction and the whole Rs 2,40,000 is exposed. Take anything that size by UPI or bank transfer. On the payments side, cash paid for an expense above Rs 10,000 to one person in a day is disallowed (Section 40A(3); Section 36(4) of the 2025 Act). See our cash transaction limits guide.
Common mistakes in glass and mirror shops
- Billing glass beads or lamp chimneys at 18%. They're 5%. Check the 5% list before you set up item codes in your billing software.
- Charging 18% on cullet. Broken glass sold as scrap is 5%.
- Keeping credit on broken glass. Section 17(5)(h) requires reversal. A breakage register makes this a monthly five-minute job.
- Using the Rs 40 lakh limit while doing fitting work. Fitting is a service. The limit is Rs 20 lakh, and in Telangana it's Rs 20 lakh even for pure glass sales.
- Taking big fitting jobs under composition. Above the services cap, you're out of the scheme.
- Not checking TDS credit. Builders deduct 1% or 2% on your contracts. If it isn't in Form 26AS, chase the builder before you file.
How Tax Garden helps glass shops
We start by splitting your sales into counter sales, fitting jobs and scrap, because each one decides your registration limit, your composition eligibility and your rate. If you need a GSTIN, we register you, set up item codes for the 18% and 5% lines, and run your monthly returns through our GST return filing service, including breakage reversals. At year end we reconcile TDS from builders with Form 26AS, test 44AD against your real margin and file your ITR through our ITR filing service. Call or WhatsApp us on 9640290977.
Related reading: GST for aluminium and UPVC window fabricators, who buy your toughened glass, and GST for tiles and sanitaryware shops, which also stock bathroom mirrors.
