# GST Compliance for Digital Sales in India

> Rules for GST in India: rates, thresholds, registration, filing expectations, and Dodo Merchant of Record handling.

- **Jurisdiction**: India
- **Tax Type**: GST
- **Standard Rate**: 18%
- **URL**: https://dodopayments.com/tax/gst-india

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## How GST Applies to Digital Goods -- rate, what's taxable, exemptions, B2B rules

India taxes most imported digital services as **OIDAR** at **18% GST**. For non-resident suppliers selling to Indian consumers, GST generally applies from the first rupee because the practical threshold is effectively **nil** for these supplies. Taxable scope typically includes SaaS subscriptions, cloud access, downloadable software, online memberships, digital media, and automated platform services where minimal human intervention is involved. If your checkout sells bundled services, line-level classification matters because support-heavy or consultancy-style services may be analyzed differently from pure OIDAR.

B2C supplies are the core trigger for overseas digital sellers. For B2B, treatment depends on whether the customer is properly identified as a registered business and whether reverse-charge mechanics are available in that fact pattern. In practice, sellers should capture billing country, IP or device location signals, and customer declarations to support place-of-supply decisions. India also has the **equalization levy** regime in parallel for certain non-resident e-commerce models, so legal structuring should confirm you are not missing overlapping obligations.

## Registration Requirements -- threshold, authority, ID format, timeline

Primary administration sits with **CBIC** through the **GST Network (GSTN)** portal. Non-resident OIDAR providers typically register before or at launch of taxable sales because there is no comfortable de minimis buffer for consumer supplies. Registration data must match legal entity records, banking details, and authorized signatory information used in filings.

For domestic entities and many standard taxpayers, the GST identifier is a **15-character GSTIN** (state code + PAN-based core + checksum). Even when your exact route is non-resident OIDAR registration, finance teams still need to understand GSTIN structure because B2B invoicing, buyer validation, and reconciliation often rely on GST-style identifiers across counterparties. A realistic timeline is 2-6 weeks including document collation, portal validation, internal invoice configuration, and test transactions.

## Filing and Compliance -- frequency, authority name, reporting system, retention

GST compliance in India is data-intensive and usually **monthly** for active taxpayers, with returns and tax payments routed through GSTN workflows. OIDAR-focused filings have their own forms and schedules, but the operational discipline is similar: every tax amount declared should trace back to transaction-level evidence and invoice records.

Best-practice controls include maintaining a monthly reconciliation pack (gross sales, taxable base, tax collected, refunds, chargebacks), locking FX conversion policy for INR reporting, and storing evidence for customer location and status decisions. Keep records long enough to satisfy audit windows and internal policy--invoice copies, credit notes, registration proofs, portal acknowledgments, and calculation logs should be retained in one retrievable system. If you revise prior periods, maintain an adjustment register explaining cause, value, and impacted return period.

## How Dodo Payments Handles This

Dodo Payments applies India-ready OIDAR GST logic at checkout and keeps tax evidence tied to each payment event. As Merchant of Record in supported flows, Dodo centralizes invoicing records and compliance exports needed for GST filing operations. This reduces manual stitching across gateway, billing, and tax systems.

## Related Pages

**Section:** [All Tax Guides](https://dodopayments.com/tax)
**See also:** [India](https://dodopayments.com/payments-in/india) | [INR](https://dodopayments.com/currency/inr)

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