Getting Paid by Foreign Clients: The Complete Guide for Indian Freelancers
Working with clients outside India? This playbook walks you through the complete workflow — from landing your first international client, receiving payments through Wise, Skydo or your bank, maintaining FIRC/FIRA documentation, understanding GST and LUT, and finally filing your income tax. Everything organised as one connected workflow instead of scattered articles.
Who is this for?
If you earn from clients outside India, this guide applies regardless of your profession.
Jump to your stage
The complete workflow
Every foreign-client engagement flows through these seven stages. Each stage links to the deepest resource we have today; missing stages are marked Coming Soon and will fill in over the next weeks.
Why trust Decompiled.tax?
A short note on how this playbook is built — and its limits.
Built around real freelancer questions
Practical workflows instead of legal jargon
Continuously updated as regulations evolve
Designed to help you understand — not replace professional advice
Choose your payment platform
Detailed comparisons for each platform are landing over the coming weeks. Until then, the FIRC guide covers how to obtain documentation from Wise, PayPal and Indian banks.
Documentation
The paperwork that proves foreign money entered India through authorised channels.
GST
Foreign-client revenue is usually zero-rated as export of services — but registration, LUT and the ₹20 lakh threshold still apply.
Export of Services Under GST
The five conditions that decide whether your transaction is actually an export.
OpenGST Registration for Freelancers
When registration is mandatory, when it isn't, and the step-by-step process.
OpenLUT Filing Guide
Export without charging IGST — the annual LUT filing walkthrough.
OpenThe ₹20 Lakh GST Myth
Why the threshold is more nuanced than every WhatsApp group tells you.
OpenGST on Foreign Clients
Should you charge GST to a US client? Usually not — here's why, and the exceptions.
OpenIncome Tax
Presumptive schemes, advance tax and ITR filing for freelancers earning from abroad.
Free tools & resources
GST Decision Assistant
A guided assessment that shows whether GST is likely to apply to your setup.
OpenExport Invoice Builder
Generate a compliant export invoice with GST-safe defaults.
OpenFree Compliance Checklist
A one-page checklist covering GST, FIRC, LUT and invoicing.
OpenSurvival Guide
The complete book — GST, LUT, FIRC/FIRA, 44ADA, invoicing and record-keeping.
OpenWhat's coming next?
This playbook is a growing knowledge base. Here's where it stands today.
Frequently asked questions
Most freelancers use a foreign-inward platform such as Wise, Skydo, Payoneer or PayPal, or accept SWIFT transfers directly into an Indian bank account. Whichever route you pick, the money must land through an authorised channel so that FIRC or FIRA documentation can be produced later. Platform choice affects fees, settlement speed, and how easy documentation is to obtain — but not tax treatment.
Read more:FIRC guideSurvival Guide
Continue Your Journey
Related Guides
Freelancer Compliance Guide
GST, payments, documentation, income tax — end-to-end for Indian freelancers.
OpenDocumentation Guide
The exact document library, folder structure and templates to keep.
OpenThe Complete Guide to Receiving Payments
The full payment workflow — platforms, purpose codes, FIRA, FIRC and post-payment documentation.
OpenRelated Tools
Download the Freelancer Compliance Checklist
A single-page checklist covering every step from invoice to income tax. Free.
// Ready to go deeper?
The Indian Freelancer's Survival Guide
The full playbook — GST, LUT, FIRC, documentation, income tax, and everything in between — in one downloadable ebook.
Record keeping is the last mile
A dedicated record-keeping guide is on the way. Until then, the Survival Guide covers the folder structure and invoice-to-FIRC mapping that experienced freelancers use.
Open the Survival Guide