Export compliance for Indian software exporters (2026)

Are you a software exporter?

The RBI regulations define "software" broadly: any computer programme, database, drawing, design, audio or video signals, or other information delivered other than on a physical medium. Developers, DevOps and data engineers, UI/UX and product designers, and most digital work for foreign clients count. Since 1 October 2026 the distinction matters less, because all service exporters who file use the same Export Declaration Form.

For GST it is an export of services only if all five conditions hold: you are in India, your client is outside India, the place of supply is outside India, you are paid in foreign currency (or rupees where RBI permits), and you and the client are not merely establishments of the same person. A separately incorporated foreign company, even one you own, is generally a separate person (Circular 161/17/2021-GST), but check who actually contracts with you. If your contract is with an Indian agency or company, or with a foreign client's Indian subsidiary, your client is in India and the work is not an export. Hiring an Indian subcontractor yourself doesn't by itself change that: what counts is who you supply to.

Your compliance, at a glance

What	When	Who
Export invoice in the agreed currency, with the SAC code	Each engagement or month	Everyone
GST LUT (Form RFD-11)	Before the first export invoice of each financial year	GST-registered
Export Declaration Form (EDF) with your bank	Within 30 days after each month with export invoices	Everyone
Receive the money	Within 9 months of the invoice date (12 if invoiced or settled in rupees)	Everyone
FIRA, e-FIRC or bank advice for each payment, matched to invoices	Each payment	Everyone
GSTR-1 (Table 6A) and GSTR-3B (Table 3.1(b))	Monthly or quarterly	GST-registered
Income tax return; advance tax if tax is ₹10,000 or more (estimate it under 44ADA)	Yearly; advance tax by 15 March under the presumptive scheme	Everyone

1. The export invoice

Invoice in the currency agreed with your client, usually theirs (rupee invoicing is possible only within RBI's framework, with 12 months to be paid). Show the SAC code (998314 for software development, 998313 for IT consulting), the client's name, address and country. Many exporters also show the RBI purpose code their bank will ask for (usually P0802); that's banking information, not a GST requirement. If you are GST-registered and export under an LUT, the invoice carries the statutory endorsement and "Place of supply: Outside India". You don't need the exchange rate on the day you invoice. GST uses the rate for the time of supply, usually the invoice date (CGST Rule 34(2)), and the EDF needs an INR total for which banks may have their own convention. You can record the rate later.

2. GST

GST registration is compulsory once your aggregate turnover crosses ₹20 lakh in a financial year (₹10 lakh in some north-eastern states), and export turnover counts towards it. Once registered, exports are zero-rated: file a Letter of Undertaking and invoice without IGST. A month with export invoices is never a NIL return: report the exports in GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B.

3. The EDF, which replaced SOFTEX

SOFTEX was abolished on 1 October 2026 (what changed). Now service exporters file one Export Declaration Form a month, with the bank where the money usually lands, within 30 days after the month ends. Individuals may not need to: on 7 October 2026 RBI said individuals don't have to report transactions of a personal nature, such as small software work for clients abroad; its FAQ is awaited, so ask your bank (who files). It lists every export invoice of that month. October 2026 invoices are due by 30 Nov 2026. See the complete EDF guide and the form, field by field.

4. Getting paid

The full value must arrive within 9 months of the invoice date. Fees deducted by Wise, Deel, Upwork, PayPal or banks are normal: record the difference and the reason, and for invoices up to ₹10 lakh your bank can accept the lower amount on your declaration. Keep the FIRA or advice for every payment. Paid through a platform? See Upwork, Deel, Wise, PayPal and Payoneer.

Every month, step by step

1. Issue export invoices. Invoice in the currency agreed with your client: usually their currency; rupee invoicing is possible only within RBI's framework. Show the client's name, address and country, and the SAC code (asked for in the EDF, and by CGST Rule 46 on a GST tax invoice). If you are GST-registered and export under an LUT, add the export endorsement.
2. Confirm which AD bank takes your EDF. The EDF goes to an Authorised Dealer bank (in practice an AD Category-I bank), the 'specified authority'. In practice that's usually the bank where your export money is received; for payment-aggregator routes, confirm with your bank or provider. Payments banks can't take an EDF.
3. After the month ends, list that month's invoices. Every export invoice dated in the month, for that bank, becomes a row in Part 2B: client, country, invoice number, date, currency, amount, description and SAC code.
4. Fill Part 1. Your PAN, IEC (if you have one), GSTIN (if registered), name and address, the bank's AD code and branch address, the type of export (Service) and, if a platform pays you, the third-party payer and its relationship to you.
5. Sign the declaration (Part 4). You declare the particulars are true and undertake to realise the money within the RBI period. Sign and date it.
6. Submit it to your bank within 30 days after the month ends. Use the channel your bank asks for, with the documents it wants. Record the date and any reference number the bank gives you.
7. Track payment for 9 months. Match each payment's FIRA or bank advice to its invoice. If money will be late or short, ask your bank for an extension or a reduction before the deadline.

Do it in one place

easylancing is free to start. It issues GST-compliant export invoices, builds each month's EDF from them in the RBI layout, tracks the 9-month deadline, matches FIRAs to invoices, records fees, writes the letters your bank asks for and reminds you before every deadline. It works with any bank and any payment route. Create a free account.