GST for freelancers in India: when to register, what to charge and how to invoice

The short answer. You must register for GST once your aggregate turnover in a financial year crosses ₹20 lakh (₹10 lakh if you work from Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland or Tripura). Below that, registration is optional. Most freelance and agency services, including software, design, marketing, consulting, writing and photography, are taxed at 18%: CGST 9% plus SGST 9% for a client in your state, or IGST 18% for a client in another state. Work for clients outside India is zero rated.

Do you need to register?

Registration becomes compulsory when your aggregate turnover in a financial year (April to March) goes above ₹20 lakh. For service providers in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura the limit is ₹10 lakh. Many older articles list eleven "special category" states; for services, the lower limit now applies only in these four.

Aggregate turnover is counted for your whole PAN across India. It includes:

• fees from clients in your state and in other states,
• exports of services, such as work for clients abroad,
• exempt supplies.

It does not include the GST itself. Once you cross the limit, apply within 30 days.

The ₹40 lakh limit you may have read about applies only to businesses that sell goods alone. Freelancers and agencies stay at ₹20 lakh.

Clients in other states

Normally, anyone making a sale from one state to another must register whatever their turnover. Service providers are exempt from this rule: if your all-India turnover is within ₹20 lakh (₹10 lakh in the four states above), billing a client in another state does not on its own force you to register. This comes from Notification 10/2017-Integrated Tax. The exemption covers services only; someone selling goods across state lines has to register.

Clients outside India

An export of services counts as an inter-state supply, so the same exemption applies. Reading the two rules together, a freelancer whose total turnover, exports included, stays within ₹20 lakh does not have to register just because the clients are abroad. This is the view most practitioners take, though no CBIC circular says it in so many words, so check with your CA if you are close to the limit. Many exporters register voluntarily anyway, because foreign clients, platforms and banks often ask for a GSTIN. Our guide to invoicing clients outside India covers the rest.

Other reasons you might have to register

A few situations require registration whatever your turnover, such as acting as an agent supplying on behalf of another taxable person, or being liable to pay tax under reverse charge. Selling services through an e-commerce platform does not remove the ₹20 lakh exemption for service providers.

Should you register before you have to?

Voluntary registration is allowed, and once registered you follow every rule a regular taxpayer does. It suits some freelancers and not others.

It usually helps if:

• Your clients are GST registered businesses. They can claim back the 18% you charge as input tax credit, so GST does not make you more expensive for them.
• You buy a lot of taxable inputs, such as laptops, software or coworking. You can claim the GST on those against the GST you collect.
• Your clients or platforms insist on a GSTIN before paying you.
• You export services and want to claim refunds of GST paid on your costs.

It usually hurts if:

• Most of your clients are individuals or unregistered small businesses. For them, an extra 18% is a real price increase.
• You do not want to file returns. A registered business files returns even in months with no sales.

Since 1 November 2025 there is a faster route for small businesses: under Rule 14A of the CGST Rules, an applicant whose monthly output tax on supplies to registered persons is ₹2.5 lakh or less gets registration electronically within three working days after Aadhaar authentication. A voluntary registration can also be cancelled later.

What rate to charge

The GST rate reform of 22 September 2025 replaced the 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% slabs with two main rates, 5% and 18%, plus 40% for a few luxury and sin goods. The rate on typical freelance and agency services did not change: it is still 18%. The reform changed the rate on some of your costs, not on your fees.

On the invoice you give each service a SAC code (the services version of an HSN code). The common ones:

Content writing has no SAC of its own; 998399 ("other professional, technical and business services") is the code most practitioners use. One exception worth knowing: selling advertising space in print media is taxed at 5%.

Businesses with turnover up to ₹5 crore only have to show the first four digits of the SAC (for example 9983) on invoices, and may leave it off invoices to unregistered customers.

CGST + SGST or IGST?

Which tax you charge depends on two things: where you are registered and the place of supply.

• Same state: charge CGST + SGST, each at half the rate. For 18%, that is 9% + 9%.
• Different states: charge IGST at the full rate, 18%.

The total is the same either way. For most services between businesses in India, the place of supply is the client's registered location, which you can read from the first two digits of their GSTIN. For an unregistered client, it is the address you have on record for them, or your own location if you have none.

Example. A design studio registered in Pune, Maharashtra, bills ₹1,00,000:

On an inter-state invoice you must also print the place of supply with the state name. A few services have their own place of supply rules, such as work tied to a building (architects, interior designers) and organising events, so check those cases separately. The GST calculator shows both splits for any amount.

Once you are registered

• Issue a tax invoice within 30 days of finishing the work, with the fields the law asks for. The GST invoice format guide lists every one.
• Take an advance properly. When a client pays before the work is done, issue a receipt voucher for the advance.
• File returns. GSTR-1 reports your invoices and GSTR-3B summarises the tax you owe. Small taxpayers can file quarterly under the QRMP scheme, while still paying tax monthly.
• Claim input tax credit on business purchases where the supplier has charged you GST and reported the invoice.

The composition scheme rarely fits

Service providers with turnover up to ₹50 lakh in the previous year can opt for a composition scheme under Section 10(2A) and pay 6% of turnover instead of 18% on each invoice. It sounds attractive, but you cannot use it if you bill even one client in another state or export any service, you cannot charge GST to clients or claim input tax credit, and you issue a bill of supply instead of a tax invoice. For most freelancers and agencies, who work with clients across India and abroad, it is not an option.

Where sync.d fits

sync.d works out IGST or CGST + SGST for each invoice from your GSTIN state and the client's place of supply, so you do not have to decide by hand. Invoices in other currencies are treated as exports with no GST lines, and the monthly CSV export splits IGST, CGST and SGST into separate columns for your CA.