PayPal, Wise or Payoneer: What GST and FIRC Mean for Indian Freelancers Getting Paid by US Clients

Platforms named in the question are shown alongside the 2 highest payouts among the platforms this site covers, ranked by the INR received on a $5,000 invoice. Fees were checked on 30 Sept 2026.

The FEMA (Manner of Receipt and Payment) Regulations 2023 decide how a US client may pay: for countries outside the Asian Clearing Union, trade receipts may be in Indian rupees or any foreign currency, so USD is allowed. The United States is not among the ACU members named in RBI's earlier 2016 Manner of Receipt regulations. From 1 October 2026 the FEMA Export and Import Regulations 2026 set the EDF, realisation and EDPMS rules, and A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 20 supersedes the Master Direction on Export. Money routed through a cross-border payment aggregator also falls under the RBI Master Direction on Payment Aggregators.

Each row applies the platform's published fee, FX markup and 18% GST on the fee to the XE mid-market rate for 3 Nov 2026. Platforms without full published pricing are not included.

For example, on a $2,000 invoice Skydo pays about ₹1,87,281 and PayPal about ₹1,74,106 at today's reference rate, a difference of ₹13,175.

Each US payment involves an export invoice and an EDF entry, and a FIRC or bank inward remittance record serves as proof of receipt. An LUT applies if you are GST-registered and export without paying IGST. Services to a US client count as an export of services when the five conditions in IGST Act s.2(6) are met, including payment in convertible foreign exchange (or INR where RBI permits). For most services the place of supply is the recipient's location (IGST s.13(2)). An export of services is a zero-rated supply under IGST s.16. On the US side, a client or platform may ask you for Form W-8BEN, which you give to the payer and do not send to the IRS.

The main change is that the FEMA Export and Import Regulations 2026 replaced the 2015 regulations on 1 October 2026. RBI also asked banks to credit inward cross-border payments faster from October 2026, and the Income-tax Act, 2025 took effect on 1 April 2026.

• New regulations: From 1 October 2026, Circular No. 20 supersedes the Master Direction on Export of Goods and Services and the circulars in its Annex, including the circular on certification of SOFTEX forms. Software exports are now declared in the EDF.
• Realisation: A 22 September 2026 amendment set the period at nine months, or twelve months for INR invoices, replacing the fifteen and eighteen months in the January text before it took effect.
• EDPMS closure: Invoices up to ₹10 lakh can be closed in EDPMS on the exporter's declaration, one by one or in a quarterly bulk declaration (Reg 4(2)).
• Faster credit: An RBI circular of 9 April 2026 asks banks to try to credit inward payments received in forex market hours on the same business day. It takes effect six months after the circular date, in October 2026.
• Income tax: The Income-tax Act, 2025 repealed the 1961 Act from 1 April 2026 and uses the term 'tax year'. Earlier years stay under the old Act.

Every rule is linked to its official source below with the date it was checked. Platform figures come from each platform's own pages; the full method is on the methodology page.

1. Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026, Notification No. FEMA 23(R)/2026-RB (amended up to 22 September 2026), Regulations 2(1)(f), 3(2), 4(2), 5(1) and 18(2) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
2. RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 20, RBI/2025-26/194: Export and Import of Goods and Services (16 January 2026), Paras 4 and 7; Annex A item 9 (Certification of SOFTEX Forms) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
3. Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026, Notification No. FEMA 23(R)/(1)/2026-RB (22 September 2026), Paras 1 and 2 (amendment to regulation 5) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
4. Foreign Exchange Management (Manner of Receipt and Payment) Regulations, 2023, Notification No. FEMA 14(R)/2023-RB, Regulation 3(2) and 3(2)(I)(a)(iii) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
5. Foreign Exchange Management (Manner of Receipt and Payment) Regulations, 2016, FEMA 14(R)/2016-RB (superseded by the 2023 regulations; cited only for its list of ACU members), Regulation 3(1)(A), Members of the Asian Clearing Union (checked 6 Oct 2026)
6. RBI Master Direction on Regulation of Payment Aggregator (PA), RBI/DPSS/2025-26/141 (15 September 2025), Paragraph 11(d) and 11(h) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
7. RBI circular RBI/2026-27/08: Guidelines to facilitate faster cross-border inward payments (9 April 2026), Paras 3 and 4 (checked 6 Oct 2026)
8. RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 84 (2012), FETERS purpose codes for receipts, Receipt codes P0802, P1006, P1007 (descriptions quoted verbatim) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
9. Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 2 (CBIC tax information portal), Section 2(6) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
10. Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 13 (CBIC tax information portal), Section 13(2) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
11. Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 16: Zero rated supply (CBIC tax information portal), Section 16(1) and 16(3) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
12. Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 7: Inter-State supply (CBIC tax information portal), Section 7(5)(a) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
13. Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 2 (CBIC tax information portal), Section 2(6), aggregate turnover (checked 6 Oct 2026)
14. Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 22: Persons liable for registration (CBIC tax information portal), Section 22(1) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
15. Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 24: Compulsory registration in certain cases (CBIC tax information portal), Section 24(i) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
16. Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, Rule 96A (CBIC tax information portal), Rule 96A(1) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
17. Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, Rule 89: Application for refund (CBIC tax information portal), Rule 89(2)(c) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
18. CBIC Circular No. 8/8/2017-GST: Clarification on issues related to furnishing of Bond/Letter of Undertaking (4 October 2017), Para 2(b), validity of LUT (checked 6 Oct 2026)
19. GST Portal user guide: Furnishing of Letter of Undertaking (Form GST RFD-11), Filing steps (checked 6 Oct 2026)
20. DGFT Self-Certified eBRC Generation Guidelines, Version 1.0 (10 November 2023), Rules 1 and 2 (checked 6 Oct 2026)
21. DGFT FAQs on Self-Generation of eBRC, Version 1.0 (March 2024), Q1 and Q2 (checked 6 Oct 2026)
22. Income Tax Department: Objective and scope of the new Act (Income-tax Act, 2025), FAQs 2, 7, 8 and 9 on repeal of the 1961 Act on 01.04.2026 and the term 'tax year' (checked 6 Oct 2026)
23. IRS: Instructions for Form W-8BEN, Purpose of Form; Who Must Provide Form W-8BEN; Giving Form W-8BEN to the withholding agent (checked 6 Oct 2026)
24. Skydo homepage (pricing and fee calculator), Know what you pay; calculator showing GST 18% of transaction fee (checked 6 Oct 2026)
25. Razorpay MoneySaver Export Account (International Bank Transfers) pricing, Standard Plan: 0% FX markup, 1% fee, FlashLinks 2%, GST applicable, flat fee of INR 1,000 on transactions below INR 1,00,000, setup and AMC INR 0 (checked 6 Oct 2026)
26. Wise India: Fees for receiving money (Business), Conversion fee depends on the currency; eFIRC for every transfer; GST 18% of (conversion fee + eFIRC fee); calculator (checked 6 Oct 2026)
27. PayPal India Merchant Fees, Receiving international transactions; Currency Conversions (3.0% converting balance and payments received; 4.00% all other cases); Withdrawals Out of PayPal; Dispute Fees; Other Fees (Last Updated 28 March 2024) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
28. Payoneer India home (checked 6 Oct 2026)