GST for Freelancers

Once your aggregate turnover crosses ₹20 lakh — ₹10 lakh if your place of business is in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland or Tripura, which are the only four special-category States for section 22 purposes. Aggregate turnover under section 2(6) is measured per PAN, on an all-India basis, and it includes exports and exempt supplies, so overseas income counts toward the limit. Below that, you generally do not have to register — voluntary registration under section 25(3) is available and is a real commitment, because it brings the full return obligation with it, nil periods included.

No, and this is the most common piece of wrong advice freelancers are given. Section 24(i) does require registration from anyone making an inter-State taxable supply regardless of turnover — but Notification 10/2017-Integrated Tax exempts persons making inter-State supplies of taxable services whose aggregate turnover, computed on an all-India basis, does not exceed ₹20 lakh (₹10 lakh for special-category States) from obtaining registration. It has been amended once, by Notification 03/2019-Integrated Tax with effect from 1 February 2019, and that amendment changed only which States get the ₹10 lakh figure. So a designer in Bengaluru billing clients in Mumbai and Delhi at ₹12 lakh a year is not required to register on that ground. One important limit: the exemption is written for services. If you also sell goods interstate, it does not cover you, and section 24(i) applies to that supply on its own terms.

It can, and the analysis is different from the interstate one. Section 24(ix) requires registration from persons supplying goods or services through an electronic commerce operator who is required to collect tax at source under section 52, regardless of turnover. Whether a given platform is such an operator — and whether it is collecting TCS against your PAN — is a question of fact about that platform, not something that can be answered generically, and it differs between Indian marketplaces and foreign ones. Note too that Notification 34/2023-Central Tax, which waives registration for small sellers through an ECO, is written for supplies of goods and does not help a service provider. We look at how the specific platform actually treats you rather than giving you a rule of thumb — see GST for e-commerce sellers for the goods side.

Export of services is zero-rated. You can bill without IGST by filing an LUT, or pay IGST and claim a refund. We set this up correctly to protect your cash flow.

A Letter of Undertaking lets exporters supply without paying IGST upfront. It's filed annually. We file and renew it for you.

Many business clients prefer or require a GST invoice so they can claim input tax credit. If that's costing you work, voluntary registration can make sense even below the threshold.

Usually GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B (monthly or quarterly under QRMP). For typical freelancer volumes this is light-touch, and we handle it.

Yes, a home office is acceptable with the right address proof and NOC. We guide you on what's needed.

For B2B clients who claim ITC, GST is usually credit-neutral. For B2C clients it adds to the price. We help you position it correctly.

You generally don't need to register unless a specific trigger applies. We'll tell you honestly rather than sign you up unnecessarily.

Platform and export-of-service rules can both apply, and they pull in different directions, so the answer depends on facts about the platform rather than on a general rule. The two questions we work through: is the platform an electronic commerce operator required to collect tax at source under section 52, which would bring section 24(ix) into play regardless of turnover; and is your work an export of services, which is zero-rated but still counts toward your ₹20 lakh aggregate turnover under section 2(6). We assess your specific setup and tell you which of those actually bites.

Yes. Section 2(6) defines aggregate turnover to include exports of goods or services as well as exempt supplies and inter-State supplies, computed per PAN on an all-India basis. Zero-rated is not the same as outside the count — it means the supply is taxable at a nil effective rate with credit preserved, not that it is invisible to the threshold. A developer earning ₹25 lakh entirely from US clients is over the limit and liable to register, even though no GST will ultimately be collected on that work. Once registered, an LUT is what lets you bill those clients without charging IGST and then reclaiming it.

Tell us your services, clients and rough annual income — we'll confirm applicability and register you only if needed.