Can I claim input tax credit on ad spend, shipping and software, and how does GST work on COD?
The short answer
Yes, the 18% GST on Meta/Google ads, courier bills, packaging, Shopify/SaaS subscriptions and gateway fees is input tax credit you offset against the GST you collect on sales, as long as you have a GSTIN and the vendor invoice carries it (foreign platforms like Meta may need reverse-charge handling, flag this to your CA). Recovering that 18% is the single biggest reason most brands register voluntarily. On COD, remember GST falls due at the point of invoice/sale, not when the cash is finally remitted by the courier, so you owe the tax before the money lands, plan cash flow accordingly.
A quick summary to orient you. The real value is below: the resources worth your time, from people who've actually done it, not us.
Here are the resources
Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time. India-specific ones carry a badge.
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Why we picked it
For a D2C brand, ad spend is often the biggest cost, this explains the 18% GST on advertising and how to claim it back as input credit, the maths that materially changes your CAC.
Why we picked it
The single best plain-English overview for a D2C founder, it ties together registration, place of supply, invoicing, returns and TCS in one read without drowning you in sections of the Act.
Why we picked it
A dense, practitioner-written FAQ covering commission handling, invoice generation, ITC and TCS matching, the kind of detail a marketplace seller runs into in month two.
