Freelance invoice format

Do you charge GST?

Registration turns on your aggregate turnover and on what and where you supply. Broadly, service providers register above a turnover threshold, and some situations require registration regardless of turnover — inter-state supply of certain kinds, and supply through some platforms among them.

• Registered: issue a tax invoice, show your GSTIN, charge CGST and SGST or IGST according to the place of supply.
• Not registered: issue an ordinary invoice with no tax line and no GSTIN. Do not show either.

TDS: why you receive less than you invoiced

An Indian business paying a professional fee generally deducts tax at source and remits it against your PAN. You invoice the full amount; they pay the net; the deduction is credited to you and shows up in your Form 26AS, where it offsets your own tax.

The practical consequences for your invoice are small but worth getting right:

• Put your PAN on the invoice. Without it the deduction is made at a higher rate.
• Invoice the gross amount. Do not deduct TDS yourself — that is the payer's job, and doing it for them makes the amounts irreconcilable.
• Expect the receipt to be short by the deducted amount, and reconcile against 26AS rather than against your bank statement.

Invoicing an overseas client

Export of services is a specific status under GST with its own conditions, and meeting them is what makes the supply zero-rated rather than merely untaxed. The conditions concern where the supplier and recipient are, where the service is used, and that payment is received in convertible foreign exchange.

• Invoice in the client's currency. The generator supports USD, EUR, GBP, AED, CAD, AUD, SGD and JPY alongside INR, with the right digit grouping for each.
• Include your bank's SWIFT code, not just the IFSC — an overseas transfer needs it.
• Keep the FIRC or equivalent your bank issues on receipt. It is what evidences that payment came in as foreign exchange.
• State the nature of the service clearly. Vague descriptions cause questions at the receiving bank, not at your end.

Getting paid, specifically

Freelancers get paid late for structural reasons rather than personal ones — you are usually a small line in someone else's payment run, and anything that makes your invoice harder to process pushes it to the next one.

1. 01Agree the rate, the scope and the payment terms in writing before starting. A short email is enough.
2. 02Ask whether a purchase order is needed. If it is, you will not be paid without the number on the invoice.
3. 03Invoice the day the work is delivered, not at the end of the month.
4. 04Put a real due date on it, not “Net 15”.
5. 05Send it to your contact and to accounts payable in the same email.
6. 06Follow up on the due date itself, referencing the invoice number.