HSN code and GST rate of shipping containers

Container HSN codes and GST rates at a glance

What does HS code 86090000 represent?

Code finders and older invoices show 86090000: that was the single 8-digit line for containers until 30 April 2026. From 1 May 2026, the Finance Act 2026 replaced it with 86090010 for refrigerated containers and 86090090 for all others. The GST rate schedule taxes the whole heading, 8609, so the rate did not change. The heading covers “containers (including containers for the transport of fluids) specially designed and equipped for carriage by one or more modes of transport”, refrigerated containers included: a 20 ft or a 40 ft box, standard or high cube, new or used, takes the same code.

Code finders often return other headings for “container”: 7310 for tanks, drums and boxes of iron or steel of 300 litres or less, 7311 for gas cylinders, 3923 for plastic boxes and crates, 4819 for cartons. None of them is a shipping container, and some trade data sites list the codes of the goods shipped inside a box rather than of the box itself.

GST rate on a container: 18%

Notification 9/2025-Central Tax (Rate), Schedule II, entry 530, sets central tax on heading 8609 at 9%, with 9% SGST on top (UTGST in a union territory): 18% in all, since 22 September 2025. Between states and on imports, Notification 9/2025-Integrated Tax (Rate) charges 18% IGST under the same entry. The rate is the same for a new and a used box; what can change for a used one is the value it is charged on, if the dealer uses the margin scheme. The rate was already 18% in the original schedule of 2017, and we found no change to it in between. The 5% rates that come up in searches apply to transporting a container, not to buying one.

Office container HSN code and GST rate

A container converted into an office, a shop or a home may stay under 8609 or be classified as a prefabricated building, heading 9406. Since 1 January 2022, the customs tariff has a line for “modular building units, of steel”, 9406 20 00, which its chapter note describes as normally presented in the size and shape of a standard shipping container and fitted out inside: the line a converted box most resembles, though we found no Indian ruling or circular that applies it to one. The rate is the same either way: 9406 is also taxed at 18%, under entry 615 of the same notification. A prefab cabin sold as an “office container” is not a shipping container; its likely heading is 9406 too (container or porta cabin). Ask the seller which code goes on the invoice and check that the rate is 18%. The container office page prices a conversion part by part.

Used containers and the margin scheme

A dealer who buys a used container without claiming input tax credit, and resells it as it is or after minor processing that does not change its nature, may pay GST on its margin only: the selling price less the purchase price, under rule 32(5) of the CGST Rules; a negative margin is ignored. The invoice then shows no GST on the full price, and the buyer cannot claim input tax credit on it.

So the same words can hide different taxes: “plus GST” adds 18% to the price, while “GST included” can mean 18% on the full price or GST on the dealer’s margin only. Before comparing quotes:

1. ask each seller whether the price includes GST, adds it, or falls under the margin scheme, and have the answer written on the quote;
2. if your business is registered for GST, ask for a full tax invoice in its name: you can then claim the GST back;
3. if you buy as an individual and cannot claim GST back, a margin-scheme price can work out cheaper: compare the totals.

Of the 54 listings with an exact price in our survey, 49 give no GST status; each is shown on its container page with the status its seller wrote. The container price page gives the rest.

What the invoice should show

The seller’s GSTIN, which you can check with the taxpayer search on the GST portal; the HSN code (8609, or 9406 for a cabin or a converted unit), with 4 digits from a seller whose turnover is up to ₹5 crore and 6 digits above that, and the rate; your name, and your GSTIN if you will claim the credit; the container number, to check against the door on delivery; and, for the trucking, the transporter’s rate and the e-way bill if one goes with it.

GST on renting a container

Renting out a container (SAC 9973) is taxed at the rate for selling one, 18%, under Notification 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate), entry 17 (heading 9973), item (viia): same rate as the goods. The container on rent page covers the rest of a rental: the trips, the deposit and TDS for a business.

GST on transporting a container

• By road, through a goods transport agency (SAC 9965): 5% if the agency takes no input tax credit on its own costs, or 18% if it does (12% before 22 September 2025), under entry 9 of Notification 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) as amended by Notification 15/2025. The condition is on the agency’s credit, not on yours. If the agency has not opted to charge the tax itself, a registered business, company or factory that pays the freight pays the 5% under reverse charge (Notification 13/2017-Central Tax (Rate), entry 1); the agency’s invoice says which applies. The delivered price estimate shows what the trip itself costs.
• By rail, goods in containers, with an operator other than Indian Railways: the same choice since 22 September 2025, 5% without input tax credit or 18% with it, against 12% before.
• An empty container by rail: in November 2025, Gujarat’s Authority for Advance Ruling (GUJ/GAAR/R/2025/54) held that an empty container is itself the goods carried, not goods carried in a container. Its rail transport then comes under the entry for goods by rail, at 5% without input tax credit, rather than the container entry with its 18% option, on our reading. An advance ruling binds only the applicant and its tax officers, but it shows how one authority reads the entries.
• Sea freight on imports is a different question: in May 2022 the Supreme Court struck down the IGST that importers paid under reverse charge on ocean freight for goods bought on CIF terms (Civil Appeal 1390 of 2022), and that entry was omitted from 1 October 2023 (Notification 13/2023-Integrated Tax (Rate)).

E-way bill for moving a container

Goods worth more than ₹50,000, taxes included, travel with an e-way bill (rule 138 of the CGST Rules), generated by the registered supplier or buyer who moves them, or by the transporter; within one state, the limit can be higher, such as ₹1 lakh in Maharashtra and Delhi in the notifications we read, so check your state’s rule. The same rules exempt the transport of empty cargo containers. We found no clarification on whether that covers a used box delivered to its buyer, and a converted unit is unlikely to count as an empty cargo container: ask the seller whether an e-way bill goes with the delivery.

Input tax credit for a business

A registered business that buys a container on a full tax invoice can claim the 18% back as input tax credit, if it uses the box for its business. Section 17(5)(d) of the CGST Act blocks the credit on goods used to build an immovable property on one’s own account. A container that stays movable should be outside that rule, but a fixed structure may not be: in 2019, West Bengal’s Authority for Advance Ruling (40/WBAAR/2018-19) refused the credit on a prefabricated warehouse set on a concrete floor, while in 2024, under the CENVAT credit rules that came before GST, the Supreme Court held telecom towers and prefabricated shelters to be movable goods (2024 INSC 880). For a box set on a foundation as an office or a store, ask your accountant before claiming.

Importing a container: customs duty and IGST

A container imported to stay in India pays basic customs duty of 10% (5% for a reefer), the social welfare surcharge on that duty, and IGST at 18%. A container of durable nature brought in temporarily, against a bond to re-export it within 6 months, pays no duty and no IGST. The importing a container guide gives the detail.