The two options
If you're a GST-registered organizer selling paid tickets on SPION, you can turn on GST tracking for an event and pick one of two modes: GST-inclusive or GST-exclusive. Both are about the same thing — charging GST correctly on your own ticket sale — but they answer a different question: does the number you type into the price field already include GST, or not?
This is separate from GST registration itself (covered in our guide to whether you need to register) and separate from the GST SPION charges on its own platform fee. This is specifically about your GST, on your sale, to your attendee.
GST-inclusive, explained
The price you type is the final price — exactly what the buyer pays, nothing added. If you've registered for GST, you're expected to have already built your GST into that number yourself. SPION doesn't add anything on top of it at checkout.
What changes if you turn on GST tracking in inclusive mode and enter a rate: SPION calculates backward from your price to work out how much of it is GST, purely for your own records. That figure shows up on your order export as a real number instead of zero — useful when it's time to file your GST return and you need to know how much GST you actually collected, ticket by ticket.
Leave the rate blank and nothing changes from how pricing has always worked on SPION — the rate is entirely optional in this mode.
GST-exclusive, explained
The price you type is the base price — before GST. At checkout, SPION adds GST on top of it at your chosen rate, and the buyer pays base + GST as their total. This is the mode to use if you think about your pricing as "I need to net ₹X per ticket" and want GST added on top of that, rather than baked in.
Unlike inclusive mode, a rate is required here — SPION can't compute a buyer's total without one.
The same ticket, both ways
Here's the part that actually matters: priced correctly, both modes land on the identical real number. Say your GST rate is 18%.
- Inclusive: you type ₹590. The buyer pays ₹590. SPION works out that ₹500 of that is the base price and ₹90 is GST.
- Exclusive: you type ₹500 as the base. SPION adds 18% on top, so the buyer pays ₹590 — the same ₹500 base and ₹90 GST, just arrived at from the opposite direction.
Neither mode is "more correct" — they're the same math run in opposite directions. Pick whichever matches how you already think about your pricing.
Which one should you pick?
If you already have a round, final price in mind — "tickets are ₹590" — inclusive mode matches that directly: type the number, done. If you think in terms of a base rate you need to clear before tax, exclusive mode does the adding for you and shows buyers the breakdown at checkout.
Most first-time organizers find inclusive mode more natural, since it matches how tickets are typically advertised (one all-in price) — the same convention most consumer ticketing in India already uses.
Setting it up on SPION
This only applies if you're GST-registered with a verified GSTIN — adding a GSTIN in Settings isn't enough on its own, it needs to be verified (a manual check, not instant). Once that's done, open any paid event's Settings tab and you'll see a "Ticket pricing" section with both options. SPION never sets or assumes your GST rate for you, since the correct rate depends on your event's category — you enter whichever rate applies to your own registration and event type.
If you're not GST-registered, there's nothing to do here — pricing works exactly as it always has, and this section stays out of your way.
Track your ticket GST without changing a thing for buyers
Turn on GST-inclusive pricing, set your rate, and your order export starts showing a real GST breakdown — buyers still pay exactly the price you set.
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