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Every post here is source-checked before it publishes — law changes, Council decisions, and explainers for independent professionals. Subscribe via RSS.
18 September 2026
Foreign client checklist: LUT, invoice endorsement, FIRC and the one-year rule
Working with foreign clients brings in foreign exchange, but it also hooks you into strict tax and trade rules. To keep your freelance income clean and legal under the Income-tax A
15 September 2026
The 57th GST Council moved to 7 October. Here's what freelancers can rely on today.
The Council meeting expected on 12 September was rescheduled for the BRICS summit. Nothing changed — and that's the point: the registration threshold, the export exemption, the LUT process and the 3-day Rule 14A registration are all settled. What's on the October agenda, and what isn't.
4 September 2026
Freelancers get one advance-tax date, not four. Use it.
Section 408(2) of the new Act lets presumptive filers pay the whole year's advance tax in a single 15 March instalment — no June/September/December juggling. How it works, what missing it costs, and the ₹10,000 floor.
4 September 2026
The 5% cash test: one UPI habit that changes your tax limit by a crore
Keep cash receipts within 5% and your presumptive limits jump — ₹50L→₹75L for professions, ₹2cr→₹3cr for business. How the test works, what counts as cash, and the one payment that can cost you the higher limit.
4 September 2026
ITR-4 now allows two house properties — most articles haven't caught up
CBDT Notification 45/2026 quietly changed an old rule: owning a second house no longer throws you out of the simple ITR-4. Here's what changed, why, and who still gets pushed to ITR-3.
4 September 2026
W-8BEN for Indian creators: the five screens where people go wrong
Google asks every AdSense publisher for US tax info. Fill the W-8BEN right and your withholding is 0–15%; fill it wrong and up to 24% vanishes. A screen-by-screen walkthrough of the exact mistakes to avoid.
4 September 2026
The ₹12 lakh zero-tax math, freelancer edition
Everyone knows salary up to ₹12 lakh is now tax-free. Fewer know what the same rebate does when it meets presumptive taxation — a business-track freelancer can bill far more than ₹12 lakh and still owe nothing.
2 September 2026
Income-tax Act 2025: what actually changed for freelancers (and what didn't)
The new Act is in force since 1 April 2026. Here are the five changes a freelancer actually feels — and the surprisingly long list of things that stayed exactly the same.