<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nQ1. Does a foreign SaaS company with no office in India need to register for GST?<\/strong> Yes. Under Section 14 of the IGST Act, any foreign entity supplying OIDAR services to non-registered Indian consumers (B2C) must register for GST in India regardless of physical presence or turnover threshold. There is no minimum threshold exemption for foreign OIDAR suppliers in B2C transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\nQ2. What is GSTR-5A and who needs to file it?<\/strong> GSTR-5A is a monthly GST return specifically designed for overseas non-resident OIDAR service providers. It must be filed by the 20th of the following month and includes details of all taxable B2C digital service supplies made to Indian recipients, along with IGST payment. Non-filing attracts late fees and interest penalties.<\/p>\n\n\n\nQ3. If my Indian customers are GST-registered businesses, do I still need to charge GST?<\/strong> Not directly. For B2B transactions where the Indian recipient is a registered GST taxpayer, the reverse charge mechanism (RCM) shifts the tax liability to the Indian recipient. However, you should verify GSTIN validity and maintain records. You may still need GST registration if any portion of your Indian revenue is B2C in nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\nQ4. What is the GST rate on SaaS and digital services in India?<\/strong> Most SaaS, cloud computing, software subscriptions, and digital services supplied electronically are classified under SAC 9983 and taxed at 18% IGST for B2C supplies. Some specific categories may attract different rates \u2014 consulting your GST advisor for SAC code classification specific to your product is strongly recommended.<\/p>\n\n\n\nQ5. Can a foreign company claim input tax credit (ITC) on GST paid in India?<\/strong> A foreign entity registered only as an OIDAR supplier cannot generally claim ITC on Indian procurement. However, if the foreign company establishes an Indian subsidiary or branch office as a GST-registered taxpayer, that Indian entity can claim ITC on eligible business expenses, which significantly improves tax efficiency for companies with meaningful Indian operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If your foreign-owned e-commerce platform or SaaS company is selling digital products or services to Indian users, GST for foreign-owned e-commerce and SaaS companies in India is no longer optional \u2014 it is a legal obligation you cannot afford to ignore in 2026. India’s Goods and Services Tax framework has matured significantly since its 2017 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/startupsolicitors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/startupsolicitors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/startupsolicitors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/startupsolicitors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/startupsolicitors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9142"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/startupsolicitors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9144,"href":"https:\/\/startupsolicitors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9142\/revisions\/9144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/startupsolicitors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/startupsolicitors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/startupsolicitors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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