GST for an ecommerce website: what your store must show and do

GST for an ecommerce website comes down to two questions: does your online store need GST registration, and once it has one, does the site show and calculate the tax correctly? The rule that catches most new sellers is about where customers are, not how big the business is. If you ship goods to a customer in another state, you need registration from that first order, whatever your turnover.

This guide is for businesses selling on their own website, Instagram or WhatsApp. Whether a rule applies to you, and at which rate, is a question for your CA.

Do you need GST registration to sell on your own website?

Not automatically. CBIC's plain-English guide to GST registration notes that tax collected at source (TCS) doesn't apply when you sell your own products on your own site, so the normal turnover threshold applies. Selling across state lines overrides it: anyone supplying goods to another state must register irrespective of turnover, with relaxations for services and notified handicraft goods.

Section 32 of the CGST Act bars a business that isn't registered from collecting any amount as tax, so an unregistered store must not add GST at checkout or print a tax split on its bills. A business on the composition scheme can't make inter-state supplies of goods and issues a bill of supply without tax, so its checkout has to refuse out-of-state addresses.

Since 1 November 2025, applicants whose tax on sales to GST-registered businesses stays under a monthly limit can opt for Rule 14A, under which the portal grants registration within three working days of applying, once Aadhaar authentication succeeds. Many sellers register voluntarily anyway, because only a registered business can use the GST on its packaging, courier, advertising and gateway bills as input tax credit.

What should product pages and prices show?

Show consumer prices inclusive of GST, the way Indian shoppers expect. For pre-packaged goods the MRP already includes all taxes, and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules ask for a single total at checkout with a break-up of delivery charges and tax. The guide to what an ecommerce website costs lists the other product-page details Indian rules ask for.

Each product in the admin needs its own HSN code and GST rate, because one cart can easily hold items at different rates. How many HSN digits your invoices carry depends on your turnover, so ask your CA whether you need four or six.

When the new GST rates took effect on 22 September 2025, stores with a single rate typed into a theme or plugin setting needed a developer, while stores with rates stored per product could update them in the admin. Check that past orders keep the rate they were invoiced at instead of being recalculated.

What should the checkout ask for?

For consumer orders, the delivery state on the invoice decides the tax: CGST and SGST when it is your own state, IGST when it isn't. That is the IGST Act's rule for goods sold to unregistered buyers since October 2023, and CBIC's Circular 209/03/2024 confirms that the delivery address counts when an online order's billing address is elsewhere. An invoice with no buyer address defaults to your own state, so make the delivery state a required drop-down checked against the pin code, not a free-text box where "Maharastra" slips through.

Add an optional "Buying for a business?" step that asks for the company's name and GSTIN. Rule 46 requires a registered buyer's GSTIN on the invoice, and the buyer can only claim the tax as credit if you report the sale against that GSTIN in your return. A GSTIN has 15 characters, starting with the two-digit state code (27 for Maharashtra) followed by the PAN, so a format check catches most typos.

Business orders sent to someone else are the tricky case. When a company asks you to deliver Diwali gifts to its staff or dealers, the IGST Act generally treats the company's own principal place of business as the place of supply, not each delivery address. Keep the GSTIN, billing address and delivery address as separate fields, and agree with your CA how such orders are taxed.

What should a GST invoice from your website include?

A registered seller issues the tax invoice for goods at or before dispatch, and Rule 46 of the CGST Rules lists what it must carry. A good store fills it in automatically:

• Your name, address and GSTIN.
• A consecutive number of up to 16 characters, unique for the financial year (separate series for the website and the shop counter are allowed).
• The date, and the buyer's name, address and GSTIN if they are registered. Larger consumer orders need the buyer's name, delivery address and state as well, so print them on every invoice.
• HSN code, description, quantity and the taxable value after any discount.
• The rate and amount of CGST and SGST, or IGST, and the place of supply with the state's name for inter-state orders.

Once your turnover crosses the e-invoicing limit, invoices to registered businesses must also be reported to the government's invoice registration portal and carry its QR code. How each platform produces these invoices is covered in the Shopify, WooCommerce and custom store comparison.

Which store settings get GST wrong most often?

Delivery, cash-on-delivery and packing charges

Delivery, COD and packing fees you charge the customer are part of the sale, taxed at the goods' rate rather than the rate on your courier's bill. CBIC's note on composite and mixed supplies uses this very case: goods packed and transported with insurance are one composite supply, with the goods as the principal supply. The courier's GST is a separate purchase you claim as credit. On mixed-rate carts, agree how to split delivery charges with your CA, then set the store to match.

Festive hampers and combo packs

A hamper of sweets, dry fruits and aerated drinks sold for one price is a mixed supply, taxed at the highest rate of any item in it, so one fizzy drink can set the rate for the whole box. The same note gives almost exactly that example. Set each hamper up as its own product at the right rate, or sell the items separately.

Coupons and discounts

A discount recorded on the invoice at the time of sale reduces the taxable value under Section 15 of the CGST Act, so GST is worked out on the price after the coupon. Check that checkout coupons appear on the invoice; cashback and discounts given after the sale follow different rules, so ask your CA.

Returns, cancellations and RTO

Because the invoice exists from dispatch, a returned item or a cash-on-delivery parcel that comes back undelivered is usually reversed with a credit note against the original invoice, not by deleting the order. Credit notes must be declared by 30 November after the end of the financial year (or the annual return date, if earlier), so the store should raise them alongside the refund, in their own numbered series.

Checklist: GST settings for your ecommerce website

• Decide before launch whether you deliver within your state only or register and sell across India.
• Store an HSN code and GST rate on every product, and keep past invoices at the rate they were issued with.
• Make the delivery state a required drop-down and add an optional GSTIN field.
• Tax delivery, COD and packing charges at the goods' rate; set hampers up as their own products.
• Show coupons on the invoice, and number invoices and credit notes in series unique to each financial year.
• Add your GSTIN to every account that bills the store, such as the gateway, courier, ad accounts and hosting; the Razorpay guide shows where to add your GSTIN in Razorpay.
• Give your CA a monthly export by state, rate and HSN, with business and consumer sales separated, plus credit notes.

FAQs

Do I have to show my GSTIN on my website?

GST law asks for your GSTIN on every tax invoice and on the name board at the entrance of each place of business (Rule 18), not on the website as such. A footer line with your legal name and GSTIN is still worth adding, because business buyers can then check your registration for free on the GST portal's Search Taxpayer page.

Can I sell on Instagram or WhatsApp without GST registration?

The channel doesn't change the rules, so they match a website's. Selling goods within your own state while turnover stays under the threshold needs no registration, but the first parcel to a buyer in another state does. Taking payment by UPI or a payment link changes nothing either, because a gateway's sign-up rules are separate from whether your business must register.

Is there a separate GST rate for online sales?

No. The rate follows the product's HSN code, exactly as it would over a shop counter, and selling online adds no tax of its own. Marketplaces deduct TCS from your payouts, which you then use against your own GST, but orders on your own website carry no TCS at all.

Does the new marketplace registration route cover my own website?

No. Rule 14B, in force since 1 November 2026, lets a small seller registered in its home state take a registration in another state using a marketplace's warehouse as its place of business. The government's FAQ says that registration can only be used for goods sold through the marketplace, so orders on your own website still need a regular registration.

Planning a store, or unsure about the tax settings on the one you have? Our ecommerce development service builds WooCommerce and Laravel stores with GST-ready invoices in the format your CA asks for. Tell us what you sell and where you ship, and after a short call we'll send a fixed written quote you can show your CA first.