HSN Codes and GST Rates for Mobile Phone and Accessories Shops: Handsets, Chargers, Power Banks, Earphones and Screen Guards

A mobile shop bill looks simple from the counter, but it is one of the trickiest ones to code correctly. A single customer can walk out with a handset, a tempered glass, a back cover, a 65W charger and a neckband, and those five items sit in five different HSN chapters. Get them wrong in your item master and the error repeats on every bill and in every GSTR-1 you file.

This guide lists the codes a mobile phone and accessories shop actually uses day to day, in the order they appear on a typical bill.

Handsets and feature phones

Almost everything you sell as a "phone" lives in Chapter 85, heading 8517, which covers telephone sets and apparatus for transmission of voice or data.

• Smartphones: 8517 13 00
• Other mobile phones for cellular networks (feature phones, keypad phones): 8517 14 00
• Landline and cordless phones: 8517 11 00 / 8517 18 00
• Parts of phones (display assemblies, motherboards, back panels, flex cables): 8517 79 00

All of the above are taxed at 18%. The one point worth remembering is that mobile phones moved from 12% to 18% with effect from 1 April 2020, so any old item master copied from a pre-2020 file is likely still carrying 12% on handsets. Check that field before your next bill run.

The accessory wall, item by item

Accessories are where most of the misclassification happens, because shop owners group them by where they sit on the shelf rather than by what they are made of or what they do. The table below is the quick lookup for the most common lines.

Three notes on that table:

1. Power banks used to be 28%. They were cut to 18% in July 2018 when lithium-ion batteries were rationalised. Some old masters still carry 28%, which means you have been overcharging customers and will not match on reconciliation.
2. Screen guards depend on material. A plastic self-adhesive film is 3919. A toughened glass guard is often billed under 3919 as well because it is sold as an adhesive protective sheet, though some suppliers use 7007 or 7020. Follow your own purchase invoice: if your supplier bills you under one code and you sell under another, your inward and outward HSN summaries will disagree.
3. Smartwatches are genuinely ambiguous. A watch that makes calls or carries a SIM behaves like a communication device and sits in 8517. A simple step and heart-rate band with no calling is closer to 9102. Pick one per SKU, write it into the item master, and stay consistent.

Since the whole accessory range sits at 18% in practice, the rate column is rarely your problem. The HSN column is, because GSTR-1 Table 12 summarises your sales by HSN and not by rate.

Repairs, screen replacement and recharges are not HSN

This is the single biggest mistake in mobile shop billing. If you replace a display, you are selling goods (8517 79 00) plus a service. If you charge separately for labour, screen fitting, software flashing or data transfer, that line takes a SAC code under heading 9987 (maintenance and repair services), not an HSN code. Mobile recharge and prepaid voucher commission are services too.

If your software only has one "HSN" field, confirm it accepts SAC values in the same column. Our post on HSN vs SAC on a shop invoice walks through how to split a mixed repair bill correctly.

How many digits you need to print

The digit length is set by your aggregate annual turnover in the previous financial year, not by what you sell:

• Up to 5 crore: 4 digits, mandatory on B2B invoices, optional on B2C invoices
• Above 5 crore: 6 digits on all invoices, B2B and B2C
• 8 digits: only for specified exports and a few notified goods

For a shop under 5 crore, that means 8517 is enough on the handset line and 8518 on the earphone line. Storing the full 8-digit code anyway costs you nothing and saves a data cleanup if you cross the threshold later, since billing software can truncate down but cannot invent the missing digits.

Setting this up once in your billing software

1. Create one item group per shelf category: handsets, chargers, audio, cases and guards, storage, wearables.
2. Put the HSN and the rate on the group, then let new SKUs inherit it, so a new model added on a busy Saturday cannot be saved blank.
3. Verify each code against your purchase invoice from the distributor before you trust it.
4. Run an HSN-wise sales summary at month end and look for a blank or "0000" row. That row is where your GSTR-1 will fail.
5. Confirm anything unusual on the official list using our HSN code finder tool.

Rates and code descriptions do change with each GST Council meeting, so treat this as a working reference and re-verify before a filing deadline rather than assuming a code you set two years ago is still right.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the HSN code for a mobile phone?

A smartphone is 8517 13 00 and a feature phone for cellular networks is 8517 14 00, both taxed at 18% GST. If your turnover is under 5 crore you only need to print the first 4 digits, which is 8517 for both.

Is the GST rate on mobile phones 12% or 18%?

It is 18%. The rate was 12% until 31 March 2020 and moved to 18% from 1 April 2020. If your item master still shows 12% on handsets, it was most likely set up before that change and needs correcting.

Can I bill a charger sold with a phone under the phone's HSN code?

If the charger is inside the sealed retail box and not priced separately, it is part of the handset supply and goes under 8517. If you sell a charger as its own line item, it is a separate supply under 8504 40, even when the customer buys it along with the phone.

What HSN code applies to mobile screen guards and back covers?

Plastic screen guards and adhesive protective films are generally 3919 90, plastic and silicone back covers are 3926 90, and leather or PU flip covers fall under 4202. All are at 18%, so the rate stays the same, but the code on your GSTR-1 HSN summary should match what your supplier used on the purchase side.

Do I need to show HSN codes on B2C bills in a mobile shop?

Below 5 crore turnover, HSN is mandatory only on B2B invoices and optional on B2C counter bills. Above 5 crore, you need 6 digits on every invoice including walk-in sales, so it is simpler to let your software print it on all bills regardless.