Latest GST Guide For Freelancers In India

By Arun Basil Lal — on October 10, 2017 — 10 Comments ↓

Goods and Services Tax or GST has been a hot and confusing topic for freelancers. Here is some clarity.

The original rule was that if you earned even a single rupee from outside the state where you filed your taxes, you had to register for GST and file taxes.

However, last week there has been some updates to this law. The latest update is welcome news for most of the freelancers in India.

When To Get GST Registration

You need GST registration only if your gross total income is greater than 20,00,000/- INR (20 lakhs).

Gross total income = Gross total income from your state + Gross total income from out of state remittances + Gross total income from abroad.

The original rule was that you needed GST registration even if you are earning even one rupee from out of state remittances. However, this has been amended in favour of freelancers and small businesses.

Should You Pay GST For Foreign Income?

Income from abroad is exempt from GST.

However, if your gross total income (which includes income from abroad) is greater than 20 lakh INR, then you need GST registration. But you will be filing GST as zero percentage for the income from abroad.

The catch is that once you have GST registration you have to file GST for all income, both domestic and foreign. Even if it is zero percentage, you will have to do the paper work.

Note: I am not a CA, but this is the info I got from mine and which I cross verified online. Do your research or call your CA if you are in doubt.

Hello, I am Arun Basil Lal. Thank you for reading!

I am a WordPress product developer and creator of Image Attributes Pro. I am passionate about solving problems and travelling the world.

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10 Comments.

1. Anand Subramanain says:

   October 10, 2017 at 22:31

   This is what my CA mentioned as well. I avoided taking up Indian clients because I did not want to end up filing gst every month even when I was not making anything. 20 lakhs limit is good enough. That’s the time to start involving an accountant on retainer. Not when you are starting off! Thanks for writing about this.

   Reply
   • Arun Basil Lal says:

     October 11, 2017 at 22:37

     Glad to hear that Anand 🙂

     Reply
2. Edwin Basil Lal says:

   October 11, 2017 at 13:00

   Thanks a lot for the information. Good work bro.

   Reply
   • Arun Basil Lal says:

     October 11, 2017 at 22:37

     Thanks brother!

     Reply
3. Rahul Kumar says:

   January 10, 2018 at 16:27

   Do I need to register for GST if I work for client other states of India. Please let me know.I wanted to reconfirm.

   Reply
   • Arun Basil Lal says:

     January 10, 2018 at 23:38

     You need GST registration only if your gross total income is greater than 20,00,000/- INR (20 lakhs). Otherwise, no reason to get it 🙂

     Reply
     • Rahul Kumar says:

       January 11, 2018 at 09:01

       Are you sure? because I heard that GST is mandatory for service given to other states. Is it confirmed by CA or through online blogs? Please let me know.

       Thank you

       Reply
       • Arun Basil Lal says:

         January 11, 2018 at 09:07

         Hey Rahul,

         As mentioned in my article, it was confirmed by my CA. I have clients from all over India and I do not have GST registration yet. Originally this was not the case, but it October 2017, they made this change. If you search, you will find articles like this: http://bit.ly/2D16ye9

         Reply
         • Rahul Kumar says:

           January 11, 2018 at 09:31

           Thank you so much brother. You cleared my doubt and confusing which I underwent by other blogs false information about GST.

           Reply
           • Arun Basil Lal says:

             January 11, 2018 at 09:33

             Glad to hear that Rahul. Thanks for saying it.

             Reply