Standard GST Rate
0%, 5%, 12%, and 18%
Digital Reporting Requirements / E-invoicing
Yes
Sales Tax on Cross-Border Electronically Supplied Services
Yes
Tax Authority Website
GST Council
The standard GST rate varies in India for taxpayers and currently is applicable at 0%, 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%. There are reduced GST rates such as 3% and 0.25%. Special reduced rates are applicable for composition scheme taxpayers.
Learn more about GST on Digital Services in India
Online Information Database Access and Retrieval (OIDAR) services are defined as services whose delivery is mediated by information technology over the internet or an electronic network and are impossible to ensure in the absence of information technology. Hence, for any service to constitute as OIDAR services, the following essential pre-requites are required to be analyzed:
OIDAR services are subject to the 18% GST rate in India.
An indicative list of taxable OIDAR services in India:
Learn More About GST on Digital Services in India
Marketplace and platform operators are treated as e-commerce operators (ECO) who, directly or indirectly, own, operate or manage an electronic platform which is engaged in facilitating the supply of any goods and/or services.
There are two types of e-commerce business models.
Marketplace-based model: In this model, the suppliers list their products/ services on the platform provided by the ECO and the customer purchases the same from the platform by paying the consideration to the ECO. Here, the ECO acts as a facilitator/ intermediary between the supplier and the customer.
Under this model, an additional responsibility has been cast on the ECO under the GST, requiring it to register and to collect tax at source ('TCS') at the rate of 1% (0.5% CGST + 0.5% SGST or 1% IGST) from the sellers where consideration is to be collected by the ECO. Effective July 10, 2024, the TCS rate was decreased from 1% to 0.5% (comprising 0.25% Central GST and 0.25% State GST) for intra-state taxable supplies facilitated through e-commerce platforms.
Inventory-based model: In this model, suppliers undertake transactions directly with the customers through their own digital or electronic network/ platform. Such suppliers should be covered under the definition of ECO but provisions of mandatory registration should not be applicable to them.
A GST invoice should have the following mandatory details:
The e-invoicing system under GST was implemented on 1st October 2020 for taxpayers with an aggregated turnover exceeding INR 5,000,000,000 (INR 5,000 million). After a few extensions, through Notification No. 10/2023, the Ministry of Finance has reduced the threshold for mandatory e-invoicing to INR 50,000,000 (INR 50 million), effective August 1, 2023. GST-registered individuals with turnover above this limit in any financial year from 2017-18 are required to generate e-invoices (for further details on this, refer to our blog).
Learn more about E-Invoicing in India
The body governing e-invoicing is the GST Council.
* The Government has waived the requirement i) to file an Annual GST Return in Form GSTR-9 for taxpayers with an annual turnover of up to ₹2 crore and ii) to file a reconciliation statement in Form GSTR-9C by taxpayers with an annual turnover of up to ₹5 crore.
India has simplified GST returns for non-resident taxpayers supplying services that qualify for OIDAR (digital services).
In the case of the late filing of GST returns and payments, the Indian Tax Authorities/government enforces the following penalties:
Fonoa does not provide professional tax opinions or tax management advice specific to the facts and circumstances of your business and that your use of the Specification, Site, and In addition, due to rapidly changing tax rates and regulations that require interpretation by your qualified tax professionals, you bear full responsibility to determine the applicability of the output generated by the Specification and Services and to confirm its accuracy. No professional tax opinion and advice. Fonoa does not provide professional tax opinions or tax management advice specific to the facts and circumstances of your business and that your use of the Specification, Site, and In addition, due to rapidly changing tax rates and regulations that require interpretation by your qualified tax professionals, you bear full responsibility to determine the applicability of the output generated by the Specification and Services and to confirm its accuracy.