GST on Diwali Gifts 2026: Employees, Clients and Free Samples
Gifts from an employer to an employee up to ₹50,000 in a financial year are not a supply under GST (Schedule I para 2). Gifts to customers and dealers carry no output tax, but Section 17(5)(h) blocks the input tax credit on goods given as gifts or free samples, and food hampers are blocked separately. Buy-one-get-one offers are not gifts, so their credit stays. The 57th GST Council has recommended lifting the block on free samples, but that is not yet law.