Codes for design work
The official SAC list includes specialty design services, covering interior, fashion, industrial and other specialty design, at 998391, and design originals at 998392. Graphic and brand design fits 998391. The services rate notification taxes these, as other professional, technical and business services, at 18%, and the September 2025 changes left this alone. Website builds and app interfaces coded by developers fall under IT design and development, 998314, so a studio doing both should use both codes.
Selling the copyright outright
Transfer of copyright in a design is itself a supply. A designer who sells all rights in a logo for a fixed fee is supplying a design service with an assignment of rights, taxed at 18%. Licensing a design for a period, such as a stock illustration or a font, is a licence of intellectual property, which may fall under a different entry; keep licence sales on separate lines with their own description.
Printing arranged for the client
Designers often arrange brochure or packaging printing. If the designer buys printing from a press in its own name and resells the printed goods, those goods are supplied by the designer at their own goods rate. If the client pays the printer directly, the designer bills only the design fee. Agreeing the model before the job avoids invoicing printed goods under a service code.
Freelancers and threshold
Independent designers with turnover under ₹20 lakh need not register. Income from foreign clients on design marketplaces counts toward that limit. Once registered, domestic invoices carry 18%, and exports can go under LUT without IGST.
Foreign clients
Overseas clients, often found on design platforms, receive an export of services when they are located abroad and pay in foreign exchange. File an LUT at the start of the year and state on each invoice that the supply is for export without payment of IGST. The invoice amount should be the gross the client pays, not the net after platform fees.
Monthly retainers
Many designers work on monthly retainers for social creatives. Invoice on the same date each month, list the deliverables completed, and carry over unused quota only if the contract allows, because tax is already due on each monthly invoice.
TDS on design fees
Indian business clients deduct TDS under section 194J or 194C depending on how they treat the work. Show the gross fee and GST separately so that TDS is calculated on the fee alone.