Do you charge GST on services exported from India?

A supply of services to a client outside India is generally treated as an export, and exports are zero-rated for GST. You do not add GST to the invoice.

Zero-rated is not the same as exempt. That distinction is the whole article: zero-rated supplies let you reclaim the GST you paid on your own costs, and exempt supplies do not.

This is general information about how these rules commonly work, not tax advice for your business. Rules change and your circumstances may differ — confirm anything here with your accountant before acting on it.

Broadly, all of the following need to hold:

• You are in India and your client is outside India
• The place of supply is outside India
• You are paid in convertible foreign exchange (or INR where permitted)
• You and the client are not merely establishments of the same legal person

The last one catches people working for their own overseas company. If that is your situation, it is worth a conversation with an accountant rather than a guess.

Letter of Undertaking (LUT). You file an LUT and then invoice without charging IGST. Nothing leaves your bank account.

Pay IGST and claim a refund. You charge IGST, pay it, and reclaim it later.

For a freelancer the LUT route is almost always correct. The second route means lending the government 18% of your revenue and waiting for it back — on a ₹4,00,000 invoice that is ₹72,000 of your working capital, gone for however long the refund takes.

An LUT is filed annually and is free.

An invoice your accountant will accept carries:

• Your GSTIN
• The client's full name and address, showing they are outside India
• A statement along the lines of: "Supply meant for export of services under LUT without payment of IGST"
• Your LUT reference number
• The currency you billed in and, ideally, the exchange rate at issue

That statement is the line most freelancers leave off, and it is the one that causes questions later.

Yes. Zero-rated is not the same as nothing to report. Exports still appear on your returns, and mismatches between what you reported and what your bank received are a common source of notices.

This is the strongest argument for recording the exchange rate on each invoice at the time you issue it, rather than reconstructing it later from memory.