Indirect tax advice for businesses whose GST position turns on how a transaction is structured, not on how a return is filed — place of supply, export and zero-rating, refunds, reverse charge, and departmental scrutiny.
Foreign currency receipt is not conclusive. Place of supply under Section 13 of the IGST Act can fall in India even where the client is overseas, and the entire zero-rating benefit turns on it.
Refund rejection is rarely about the merits. It is usually a mismatch between GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, a Letter of Undertaking filed after the first export invoice, or documentation that does not evidence the recipient's location.
The omission of Section 13(8)(b) with effect from 30 March 2026 changed the position for intermediary services in both directions — creating export eligibility for Indian agents, and reverse-charge liability for Indian businesses paying overseas commission.
Departmental scrutiny of service exports has intensified, particularly on whether the Section 2(6) conditions are met. Positions are far cheaper to defend when the contemporaneous record was built correctly.
A structured four-step process that leaves you with a documented position, not just an opinion.
We understand your revenue streams, the countries involved, the contracting structure, and where the current treatment came from.
We test each service line against the statute and current notifications, and identify where the existing treatment is sound, where it is exposed, and where it is simply undocumented.
You receive a written position with the provisions relied upon, so the reasoning is on record and can be handed to an auditor or a departmental officer.
We align invoicing, LUT, returns and documentation with the position taken, and revisit it when the law changes.
Our written advice cites the provision, rule, notification or circular relied upon. Positions that rest on general practice rather than on the bare law do not survive scrutiny.
The firm handles GST return preparation as well as advisory, so the position taken in an opinion is the position reflected in the returns. That alignment is where most disputes are won or lost.
Our valuation practice is substantially cross-border, so foreign currency contracts, group-entity arrangements and overseas recipients are familiar territory rather than an exception.
We serve clients across India from our Ahmedabad and Mumbai offices, with the capability to handle remote engagements nationwide.
No. All five conditions in Section 2(6) of the IGST Act must be satisfied together, and the one that most often fails is that the place of supply must be outside India. That is determined under Section 13 and can fall in India despite a foreign client and foreign currency payment.
Section 13(8)(b) of the IGST Act, which fixed the place of supply of intermediary services at the supplier’s location, was omitted by Section 157 of the Finance Act, 2026. Intermediary services now follow the default rule, so commission from an overseas principal can qualify as an export. The reciprocal effect is that commission paid to a foreign agent now attracts reverse charge in India.
Both. Many engagements begin as a position review and continue as ongoing return preparation, which keeps the filed position consistent with the advice given.
Yes. A review of past periods is often the most useful starting point, particularly where refunds have been claimed or where the treatment predates a change in the law.
Content on this page reflects the GST law as amended up to the Finance Act, 2026 and is general in nature. GST positions are fact-sensitive and should be confirmed for the specific transaction before being acted upon.
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