Money, Pricing & Model

How do I handle money and invoicing when my customers are abroad but my company is registered in India?

A starting point

Cross-border revenue adds FEMA rules, foreign inward remittance certificates (FIRC), export-of-services GST treatment, and currency conversion into your books, and getting it wrong triggers compliance headaches. Use a business account or a service like Wise/Payoneer that generates proper remittance documentation, invoice in a stable currency, and confirm whether your service exports qualify as zero-rated under GST with a LUT filed. Get your CA involved early here, because the rules are unforgiving and the paperwork proves your money came in legitimately.

Go deeper

Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time.

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📄 Article

✓ Link checked India Free Beginner

Why we picked it This is the clearest plain-language walkthrough of the one thing that trips up Indian founders billing abroad: your foreign revenue is a zero-rated export of services, but only if you tick all five conditions and have a live LUT on file. It spells out the LUT versus pay-and-refund choice and why you keep a FIRC against every invoice, with practical Q&As instead of legalese. Treat it as your starting map, then confirm your exact case with a CA.

GST for Freelancers & Consultants: A Complete Guide for Domestic & Foreign Clients

From TaxGuru by Mohd Muaz Malik Long read (with 23 Q&As)

Services to a foreign client can be a zero-rated export under Section 16 of the IGST Act, so you charge 0% GST, but only when all five conditions are met (foreign recipient, payment in convertible foreign currency, you are not just an intermediary, and so on).
File Form RFD-11 for a Letter of Undertaking (LUT) so you export without paying IGST upfront, and renew it every financial year. No live LUT means IGST becomes payable on that export invoice.
Keep a one-to-one FIRC (Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate) or bank realization advice for each export invoice as proof the money came in as foreign exchange.

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📄 Article

✓ Link checked India Free Intermediate

Why we picked it Getting the money in is a GST question, but the regulatory layer around it is FEMA, and founders usually discover this only when something is already non-compliant. This law-firm primer lays out the FEMA basics an Indian startup with cross-border money needs to know: receiving funds through Authorized Dealer banks, why the FIRC matters, and the reporting that kicks in the moment foreign investment (not just revenue) enters the picture. It is a solid orientation, but FEMA penalties are steep, so use it to know what to ask a professional, not as your final word.

Is Your Startup FEMA Compliant? Key Regulations Every Founder Must Know

From Mondaq by Maheshwari & Co. Advocates & Legal Consultants Medium read

Foreign funds must come in through an Authorized Dealer (AD) bank via normal banking channels, and the FIRC is your proof of that inward remittance for both compliance and export documentation.
The reporting layer (Form FC-GPR for equity allotment, FC-TRS for transfers, and the annual FLA return) applies once you take foreign investment, with tight deadlines like issuing equity within 60 days of receiving the money.
Even an early-stage startup without DPIIT recognition is on the hook for full FEMA compliance, and contraventions can draw penalties up to three times the amount involved, so treat this as day-one hygiene.

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✓ Link checked India Paid Beginner

Why we picked it When your company is in India and your customers are abroad, the practical problem is getting paid in foreign currency through a proper banking channel and getting the remittance paperwork that GST and FEMA both ask for. Wise gives you account details in several currencies and auto-emails an eFIRC for each transfer, which is the documentation you need to prove a zero-rated export. Payoneer is the other real option (better if your money flows through Upwork or marketplaces), so compare both against how your clients actually pay before you commit.

Wise Business: receive international payments in India

From Wise by Wise Product page

You get dedicated receiving account details in currencies like USD, GBP, EUR and SGD, so clients pay you in foreign currency (paying you in INR breaks the export-of-services condition).
Wise auto-generates an eFIRC per transfer, the remittance proof your CA needs for GST zero-rating and FEMA records, whereas some rails make you chase the certificate manually.
India has limits worth checking first: Wise Business supports freelancers and sole proprietors (not Pvt Ltd or LLP) and caps a single invoice around USD 10,000, so confirm your entity type and ticket size fit.

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