Wise, Payoneer or PayPal: What GST and Withholding Tax Mean for Freelancers Getting Paid from Australia

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 an Australian client may pay: for countries outside the Asian Clearing Union, trade receipts may be in Indian rupees or any foreign currency, so AUD is allowed. Australia 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. Australian GST and withholding rules sit alongside these and are set by the Australian Taxation Office, which treats consultancy and website design sold from abroad as imported services.

Each row applies the platform's published fee, FX markup and 18% GST on the fee to the XE mid-market rate for 4 Nov 2026. Platforms without full published pricing are not included.

For example, on a $2,000 invoice Skydo pays about ₹1,87,529 and PayPal about ₹1,74,336 at today's reference rate, a difference of ₹13,193.

Each Australian payment involves an export invoice, an EDF entry and a FIRC or bank inward remittance record, plus an LUT if you are GST-registered in India. On the Indian side, services to an Australian client count as an export of services when the five conditions in IGST Act s.2(6) are met, and an export of services is zero-rated under IGST s.16. On the Australian side, the ATO says a GST-registered Australian business that gives its ABN and states it is registered should not be charged GST, and it pays any GST itself under the reverse charge. A non-resident must register for Australian GST only if its GST turnover from sales connected with Australia reaches A$75,000, and sales to GST-registered businesses are left out of that turnover.

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 SOFTEX circulars. 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.
• EDPMS closure: Invoices up to ₹10 lakh can be closed in EDPMS on the exporter's 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.
• 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), Supersession of Master Direction on Export and SOFTEX circulars (checked 6 Oct 2026)
3. Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026, FEMA 23(R)/(1)/2026-RB (22 September 2026), Para 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)(I)(a)(iii) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
5. Foreign Exchange Management (Manner of Receipt and Payment) Regulations, 2016, FEMA 14(R)/2016-RB (superseded; cited for its list of ACU members), Regulation 3(1)(A) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
6. RBI Master Direction on Regulation of Payment Aggregator (PA), RBI/DPSS/2025-26/141, 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. Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 2 (CBIC), Section 2(6) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
9. Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 13 (CBIC), Section 13(2) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
10. Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 16: Zero rated supply (CBIC), Section 16(1) and 16(3) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
11. Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, Rule 96A (CBIC), Rule 96A(1) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
12. Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, Rule 89: Application for refund (CBIC), Rule 89(2)(c) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
13. CBIC Circular No. 8/8/2017-GST: Furnishing of Bond/Letter of Undertaking (4 October 2017), Validity of LUT (checked 6 Oct 2026)
14. GST Portal user guide: Furnishing of Letter of Undertaking (Form GST RFD-11), Filing steps (checked 6 Oct 2026)
15. DGFT Self-Certified eBRC Generation Guidelines, Version 1.0, Generation from inward remittance messages (checked 6 Oct 2026)
16. RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 84: Compilation of R-Returns, reporting under FETERS (29 February 2012), Revised purpose codes (checked 6 Oct 2026)
17. Income Tax Department: Objective and scope of the new Act (Income-tax Act, 2025), FAQs 2, 7 and 9 (checked 6 Oct 2026)
18. Income Tax Department: Form 67 FAQ, Q1, Q2 and Q6 (checked 6 Oct 2026)
19. Australian Taxation Office: How Australian GST works (non-resident businesses), GST rate, registration threshold, GST turnover, identifying GST-registered business customers (checked 6 Oct 2026)
20. Australian Taxation Office: GST on imported services and digital products, How this applies; examples of imported services (checked 6 Oct 2026)
21. Australian Taxation Office: How to charge GST on imported services, digital products and low value imported goods, When not to charge GST (checked 6 Oct 2026)
22. Australian Taxation Office: GST and Australian businesses, imported services, digital products and low value imported goods, About the law; whether GST applies; reverse charge (checked 6 Oct 2026)
23. Australian Taxation Office: Payments you need to withhold from, Withholding by employers; other payments that may need tax withheld (checked 6 Oct 2026)
24. Australian Taxation Office: Withholding if ABN is not provided, Payments over $75 excluding GST (checked 6 Oct 2026)
25. Australian Taxation Office: Statement by a supplier not quoting an ABN, Who can complete the form; 47% withholding (checked 6 Oct 2026)
26. Australian Treasury: Income tax treaties (India DTA signed 25 July 1991; amending protocol signed 16 December 2011), India row (checked 6 Oct 2026)
27. Skydo homepage (pricing and fee calculator), Know what you pay; calculator showing GST 18% of transaction fee (checked 6 Oct 2026)
28. 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)
29. 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)
30. 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)
31. Payoneer India home (checked 6 Oct 2026)