How to invoice US clients from India (2026 guide)

Billing US, European or any overseas client from India sounds like it should be the same as billing a local client. It isn't. You'll bump into GST's zero-rated supply rules, the LUT bond you may not know about, the FIRC certificate your CA will ask for, and currency conversion timing that determines what you actually owe in tax.

This guide is for solo freelancers, studios, agencies and small businesses based in India who bill overseas. It's written in plain English and skips the bits that don't matter to you. If your CA already handles all of this, send them this page — at least your invoices will be properly formatted.

The big picture

Exporting services from India is zero-rated supply under GST. That means you charge 0% GST to your overseas client, but you can still claim back the GST you paid on inputs. Sweet deal — but only if you do the paperwork right.

There are two ways to handle the GST side of an export:

• LUT (Letter of Undertaking) — you file a one-time document, then bill 0% GST forever. Most freelancers and small businesses pick this.
• IGST + refund— you charge IGST on the invoice, then claim it back from the government. Useful if you can't file an LUT, but more cashflow pain.

For 95% of you reading this: file the LUT. It's easier.

Step 1: Make sure you have a GSTIN

If you're billing more than ₹20 lakh per year in services (₹10 lakh in some states), you need a GSTIN. Even below that threshold, many overseas clients prefer suppliers with GST registration — looks more legit, plus you can claim ITC. Get registered at gst.gov.in. It's free and takes about a week.

Step 2: File an LUT for the financial year

Once you have a GSTIN, log in to the GST portal and file Form GST RFD-11 (the LUT). It's valid for one financial year. Do it again every April.

Once filed, you'll get a 16-digit ARN (Application Reference Number) — this goes on every export invoice. We'll come back to this.

Step 3: Pick your billing currency

You can bill in USD, EUR, GBP — anything your client's comfortable with. The most common pattern for Indian freelancers billing US clients is to quote and invoice in USD, then receive payment in INR after conversion.

Important: GST calculations and your books are still in INR. You'll need an exchange rate snapshot for each transaction. The RBI reference rate on the invoice date is the safest choice; some businesses use the rate on payment date instead. Whichever you pick, be consistent.

Step 4: What to put on the invoice

Rule 46 of the CGST Rules says an export invoice must include:

1. Invoice number — unique, sequential, max 16 chars
2. Invoice date
3. Your name + address + GSTIN
4. Customer name + full address (foreign address — no GSTIN required)
5. HSN/SAC code for the services rendered (for consultancy/development, SAC 998314 is common)
6. Description, quantity, rate, taxable value
7. Place of supply — for exports, code 96means "Other Country"
8. Total in INR equivalent + the currency you billed in
9. An export declaration — explicitly stating the supply is meant for export under LUT

The export declaration text is something like:

Step 5: Send the invoice

Email the PDF directly to your client. Many overseas clients prefer invoices attached to email rather than a portal login. Use a clear subject like "Invoice INV-0042 from [Your Company] — due [date]". Include the PDF as attachment and a short message — three lines max.

For US clients especially, add a wire transfer details block in the invoice or email: your bank name, account number, SWIFT/BIC code, IFSC code, and the bank's full address. Without these, the client's bank can't send the wire.

Step 6: Getting paid

Three common ways money comes in:

• Bank wire (SWIFT) — the slowest (3-5 days) but most formal. Your bank gives you an FIRC.
• Wise / Payoneer / similar — much faster, lower fees, but historically harder to get FIRC. Wise has fixed this in India recently — they now issue eFIRC documents.
• Stripe / PayPal — easiest for the client, but fees are higher (3-5%) and FIRC handling is messier.

Step 7: The FIRC

A Foreign Inward Remittance Certificateis your proof that the payment was from outside India. You'll need it when filing GST returns to show the supply was actually exported. Your bank issues one on request — usually 7-14 days after the payment arrives. For Wise/Payoneer, log into their dashboard to download.

Keep every FIRC. Your CA will ask for them at year-end.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting to file the LUT.Without it, you should be charging IGST on the invoice — even though you don't want to. Most freelancers skip both, which is technically non-compliant.
• Charging IGST anyway.Some freelancers add 18% IGST to overseas invoices "just in case." This makes your invoice 18% more expensive to the client for no reason and creates a refund mess for you.
• Missing the export declaration text.Without it, your invoice may be treated as a domestic supply by an auditor — and you'd owe GST you didn't collect.
• No FIRC.Without an FIRC the rupee credit in your bank doesn't legally count as export proceeds.
• Inconsistent exchange rates.Using random rates (Google, the bank's rate, the day before) creates a reconciliation nightmare. Pick one source — usually the RBI reference rate — and stick to it.

What to do every quarter

1. File GSTR-1 with your export invoices listed under "Exports"
2. File GSTR-3B summarizing the period
3. Reconcile FIRCs with invoiced amounts
4. Note any unrealized invoices for follow-up

The hard part is the consistency, not the rules

Exporting services from India isn't hard — it's tedious. The rules are simple enough that you could do it on a spreadsheet. But every quarter the spreadsheet gets messier, FIRCs go missing, exchange rates get fudged, and at year-end your CA spends six hours cleaning up.

Building HootZen, we leaned hard into making this stuff automatic. Place-of-supply code 96, LUT ARN on every invoice, currency snapshots at issue, GST line items split correctly for export — built in.