I Have Old Stock Bought at 28% GST — Do I Sell It at the New Lower Rate Now?
GSTZone Desk · Updated 2026
Short answer
Yes — you charge the CURRENT, new rate on any sale you make after the rate change takes effect, regardless of what GST rate you originally paid when you purchased or manufactured that stock.
In detail
This confuses a lot of retailers and wholesalers holding inventory through a rate change, but the logic is actually straightforward once you see the rule behind it: Section 14 of the CGST Act determines the applicable rate based on the TIME OF SUPPLY — essentially, when you sell the goods — not based on what rate applied when you originally bought or made them.
So stock that cost you 28% GST when you purchased it before the rate reset, sold after 22 September 2025, gets billed to your customer at whatever the new, current rate is for that item — not the old 28%. The government doesn’t ask you to ‘honour’ the old rate on old stock, and you’re not permitted to either.
This can create a real financial squeeze in the short term — you paid GST at the higher old rate on your purchase, but you’re only charging (and therefore only collecting) GST at the lower new rate on your sale. The mismatch shows up as extra accumulated input tax credit, which functions similarly to an inverted-duty situation until it works its way through your books.
GSTZone tip
If you’re sitting on meaningful old stock through a rate change, run the numbers on the ITC accumulation this creates — it’s not lost money, but it does tie up cash until you can use or claim back that excess credit, and it’s worth planning for rather than being surprised by it later.
Related questions
What if I already issued an invoice at the old rate before the change, but goods are delivered after?+
Section 14 has specific rules for exactly this scenario, based on which two of the three events — supply, invoice, payment — fall on which side of the rate change; the majority of those three events decides the rate that actually applies.
Can I claim a refund for the rate difference on unsold stock?+
There’s no direct ‘refund for rate difference’ mechanism — the relief, if any, comes through the normal ITC and refund provisions (like inverted duty structure refund) working through your accumulated credit over time, not a special one-time rate-change refund.
Want the law itself?
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