GST Registration for Freelancers

Three points trip freelancers up when they add up turnover.

• Exports are included. Section 2(6) of the CGST Act defines aggregate turnover to include exports of goods or services. A developer billing ₹24 lakh only to a US client is over the line, even though no GST would be charged on those invoices.
• It is per PAN, across all India. Fees from a side consultancy, a course you sell, or rent from commercial property (a taxable supply) all add up under the same PAN. Salary is not a supply and is not counted.
• It is the financial year, not the client year. The count runs 1 April to 31 March. Registration is due within 30 days of the day you cross ₹20 lakh, so watch the running total from about ₹15 lakh, not at year-end.

Some activities need registration regardless of turnover, for example where you are required to pay tax under reverse charge on services you receive, or to deduct tax at source under GST (Section 24 of the CGST Act). Paying foreign suppliers for services used in your work can raise the reverse charge question, so we check it as part of the threshold review.

The LUT is filed on the GST portal in Form GST RFD-11 for a financial year, with two witnesses, signed by EVC for a proprietor. There is no fee and no approval wait; the ARN is generated on submission. It is not retrospective, so file it before the first export invoice of the year. Any registered person can use an LUT unless prosecuted for tax evasion above ₹2.5 crore.

An export invoice is a normal tax invoice with a few extra points:

• Your name, GSTIN, a consecutive invoice number and date
• Client's name and full address outside India, including the country
• Description of the service and its SAC code
• Value in the invoice currency, with the rupee value at the exchange rate used
• IGST shown as nil, with the declaration: "Supply meant for export under Letter of Undertaking without payment of integrated tax", and your LUT ARN
• Issued within 30 days of completing the service

Proof of realisation is what makes condition four stand up in a refund or an audit. Keep the bank's Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC), e-FIRA or bank advice for each receipt and match it to the invoice. Payment platforms credit you through partner banks in India, which can issue a remittance advice or FIRA; download it regularly rather than at year-end. Your bank will ask for a purpose code on inward remittances; in the RBI's list, codes such as P0802 (software implementation and consultancy), P1006 (business and management consultancy and public relations) and P1007 (advertising and market research) are typical, but confirm the current code with your bank.

Payment must be received within one year of the invoice, or such further time as the Commissioner allows, under the LUT conditions. Bank charges and exchange differences are normal; what matters is that the receipt traces back to the invoice.

• Indian brand deals. A paid post, reel or video for an Indian brand is a supply of advertising or promotional services, taxable generally at 18% once you are registered. The brand can take credit of that GST if it is registered, so most will ask for your GSTIN.
• Foreign brand deals. A campaign for a brand outside India, contracted and paid from abroad in foreign exchange, can qualify as an export if the five conditions hold. If an Indian agency signs you and pays you in rupees, your supply is to the Indian agency and is domestic.
• Platform income. Ad revenue shares, creator funds and similar payouts received from a foreign platform entity (for example, the platform's overseas company) in convertible foreign exchange are an export of services: zero-rated, billed or declared under your LUT with no IGST. The Section 2(6) conditions still apply, so your payee contract should be with the overseas entity and payment should arrive in foreign exchange. Where an Indian entity is your counterparty, the supply is domestic.
• Barter and free products. Posting in return for products is a supply for non-monetary consideration. GST is on the value of your service, determined under Rule 27 of the CGST Rules (open market value, or the money value of the goods received plus any cash). Below the ₹20 lakh threshold, the value of barter still counts towards turnover.
• Income-tax TDS on benefits. A business giving you products or other benefits worth more than ₹20,000 in a year deducts TDS at 10% of their value. This was Section 194R of the 1961 Act and, from 1 April 2026, sits in Section 393(1) (Table Sl. No. 8(iv)) of the Income-tax Act, 2025. CBDT Circular 12/2022 clarified that a product returned to the brand after use is not a benefit for this purpose.

Creators usually report income as business income rather than as a notified profession. That affects presumptive taxation and is covered under income tax below.

Registration brings a filing calendar that runs whether or not you invoiced anything that month.

A freelancer whose work is all exports under LUT usually has little or no tax to pay, so QRMP keeps the workload to four GSTR-1 and four GSTR-3B a year. If you have Indian business clients who want credit monthly, use IFF for their invoices. Late returns attract late fees even when there is no tax, so a nil return still has to go in. Our GST return filing service covers this.

Composition (the 6% scheme for service providers) is not available to someone making inter-state supplies, which includes exports, so most freelancers with foreign clients are on the regular scheme.

• Presumptive taxation for professionals (old Section 44ADA, now in Section 58 of the Income-tax Act, 2025) treats 50% of receipts as income, up to ₹50 lakh of receipts, or ₹75 lakh where cash receipts are within 5%. It applies only to notified professions, which include technical consultancy, so many IT and engineering consultants qualify.
• Creators, influencers and many other freelancers generally have business income, so the business scheme (old Section 44AD, also in Section 58) or regular books apply instead.
• Advance tax is due in instalments if your tax for the year is ₹10,000 or more; presumptive taxpayers pay it in one instalment by 15 March.
• TDS credits from Indian clients appear in Form 26AS, which is Form 168 from tax year 2026-27, and in the Annual Information Statement.
• Foreign tax withheld by a client abroad can be claimed as foreign tax credit under the relevant tax treaty, by filing the Form 44 (Form 67 under the old Rules) before the return.

GST turnover and the receipts in your ITR should reconcile. Our ITR filing for freelancers and freelancer bookkeeping services keep the two in step.

A freelance developer bills a US company $1,500 a month (about ₹1.27 lakh at ₹85 per dollar) and an Indian startup ₹60,000 a month. By the end of October her running turnover is about ₹13.1 lakh, and on this pace she will cross ₹20 lakh in February. She registers in November rather than waiting, files the LUT the same week and from then on raises the US invoices with nil IGST under the LUT and the Indian invoices with 18% IGST or CGST+SGST depending on the client's state.

She opts for QRMP. Her quarterly GSTR-3B shows the domestic tax, against which she sets off the credit on a new laptop and her co-working rent; the rest is paid in cash. Her income tax is separate: as a software consultant she checks whether presumptive taxation under Section 58 suits her, and pays advance tax.

Illustrative. Exchange rates, place of supply and tax depend on your contracts and facts.