CGST Rule 28 — Value of supply between distinct or related persons, other than through an agent
Official sources
Use the official source for the controlling wording, footnotes, effective date and amendment history.
Source review date: 2026-07-28. Historical-period questions require the version applicable to the transaction date.
Finin2min Summary - Rule in 2 Minutes
For supplies between distinct or related persons (not through an agent) — e.g., inter-branch or related-party transactions — value is the open market value, or the value of like goods/services, or the cost/residual method, in that order; for full-ITC-eligible recipients, the invoice value is deemed acceptable.
official statutory reference
Paragraph-wise decode
Value is: (a) open market value; (b) if unavailable, the value of like kind and quality supply; (c) if that too is unavailable, value under Rule 30 or 31; provided that where the recipient is eligible for full input tax credit, the value declared in the invoice is deemed to be the open market value.
Section-Rule-Form-Notification bridge
The mapping is a legal concordance, not a round-robin related-link list. It is limited to instruments listed in this repository.
Practical example
A head office providing services to its own branch in another State can value the supply at the invoice price it charges, provided the branch is eligible to take full ITC on it.
Professional alert
Do not assume every later amendment has the same effective date; each amending notification must be checked separately.
Implementation checklist
- Fix the transaction, taxable period and jurisdiction.
- Read every subsection, proviso, explanation and omission marker.
- Open the mapped Rule, form, notification and circular.
- Test State/UT variation and portal version.
- Preserve evidence, approvals, working papers and acknowledgements.
- Record the conclusion, assumptions, source date and reviewer.
Evidence and retention checklist
- Contract, purchase order, invoice or underlying transaction document.
- Registration, return, ledger, challan and portal acknowledgement.
- Official Act/Rule/notification version used and effective date.
- Internal tax position paper, computation and management approval.
- Correspondence, notices, replies, orders and appeal papers where applicable.
Practical Q&A
- What does rule 28 regulate?
- It regulates rule 28 - Value of supply between distinct or related persons, other than through an agent. Read the exact text, conditions, exceptions and transaction date together.
- Which subordinate law should be checked?
- No direct CGST Rule has been listed in this repository. Notifications, circulars, forms and the corresponding SGST/UTGST layer may also apply.
- What evidence should be retained?
- Preserve the contract or transaction record, invoice or form, portal acknowledgement, payment/ledger evidence, correspondence, legal working and the official source version used.
- Can portal behaviour override the statute?
- No. Portal functionality is operational evidence; legal entitlement and liability remain controlled by the Act, Rules, notifications and binding decisions.
Repository module professional rule control
Why Rule 28 matters
Value of supply between distinct or related persons, other than through an agent should be read with its enabling CGST Act provision, prescribed forms, amendment notification, transaction date and the live portal workflow. The operative-text block already released on this page remains the legal core; Repository module adds application controls without altering that block.
Rule → Form → evidence bridge
- Confirm the Rule version that was operative on the relevant date.
- Check every proviso, explanation, inserted/omitted sub-rule and commencement notification.
- Use the current prescribed form/portal utility rather than a saved legacy template.
- Preserve the Rule source, filing/approval evidence, computation and decision-maker trail.
Finin2min decision path
- Trigger: What transaction, registration event, return, credit, valuation, refund, appeal or enforcement event activates this Rule?
- Date: Which Rule version and amendment notification applied on that date?
- Conditions: Have every mandatory condition and exception been tested?
- Form/portal: Is the prescribed form or electronic workflow the correct current version?
- Evidence: Can the conclusion be reconstructed from books, invoices, portal records and official sources?
Practical cases
Non-cash consideration
Identify open-market value or the specific valuation method before using residual methods.
Related/distinct persons
Test the special valuation rule, recipient ITC eligibility and documentation.
Rate/valuation change
Freeze transaction date, classification and tax rate separately from taxable value.
Accounting, ERP and portal controls
- Do not let an ERP default or portal auto-population override the legal Rule.
- Map the Rule trigger to the correct tax period and retain before/after reconciliation where values change.
- Archive ARN, acknowledgements, generated PDFs, payment/ledger records, notices and orders where applicable.
Notice and litigation risk
- Separate a portal mismatch from a statutory breach; they are not automatically the same issue.
- Identify whether a circular/instruction is clarificatory or whether an amendment changed the Rule itself.
- Apply judicial hierarchy: Supreme Court → jurisdictional High Court → other High Courts → GSTAT; AAR/AAAR is not universal precedent.
Common mistakes
- Using today's Rule for an older transaction without an effective-date test.
- Reading a form instruction as if it overrides the Act or Rule.
- Ignoring State/UT procedural overlays where the Rule requires a local notification or officer action.
- Treating a source-gated local reproduction as cleared statutory text.
Finin2min Q&A
- What does CGST Rule 28 deal with?
- Value of supply between distinct or related persons, other than through an agent. Start with the operative Rule version and then test the connected Act provision, forms and amendments.
- Which GST form is connected to Rule 28?
- No single prescribed form is the primary trigger. The Rule and live portal workflow control.
- Can I rely only on the GST portal?
- No. Portal functionality is execution infrastructure; legal eligibility and consequences come from the Act, Rules and valid instruments.
- What should I keep on file?
- The official Rule version used, amendment/effective-date evidence, underlying transaction records, computation, portal submission and resulting acknowledgement/order.