Which deadlines apply to a service exporter with no shipments?

GST returns, the annual LUT renewal, TDS deposits and returns, advance tax and the income tax return all apply. Instead of shipping bills you deal with Softex where your export is software or IT-enabled services, plus a FIRA from your bank for every inward remittance you receive.

What does EDPMS closure actually mean?

EDPMS is the RBI system where your export is recorded against a shipping bill or invoice. The entry stays open until your AD bank matches an inward payment to it and closes it. Closure is the bank's confirmation that the export proceeds actually came back to India.

What happens if export proceeds are not realised in nine months?

The entry stays open as an unrealised export bill against your IEC and your AD bank will chase it. Extensions can be sought through the AD bank or RBI, but ask before the period runs out. A pattern of open entries can affect export finance and invite further scrutiny.

Do stablecoin receipts count as export receipts?

It is fact-specific, and depends on how the money arrives and who converts it. The conservative route is converting through a licensed off-ramp or AD bank so the credit lands in your current account as an export receipt with a FIRA attached. Stablecoins held in a company wallet carry none of that paperwork.

What is Softex and who has to file it?

Softex is the declaration for software and IT-enabled service exports, filed through STPI or the SEZ authority, generally within thirty days of the invoice. It applies to software exporters and agencies delivering development, design or support work to overseas clients over a data link.

Is the 1% TDS under section 194S relevant to business receipts?

Section 194S bites on the transfer of a virtual digital asset, not on a plain inward payment for an exported service. It becomes relevant when your business sells or swaps stablecoins. On an Indian exchange the platform usually deducts it; off-exchange, the obligation can sit with the buyer.

When is a tax audit triggered?

When turnover crosses the section 44AB threshold for a business, or gross receipts cross the threshold for a profession. The limits depend on how much of your turnover is received in cash and have been revised more than once, so confirm the current figure with your CA rather than assuming.

India compliance calendar for businesses paid from abroad

The recurring FEMA, EDPMS, GST, TDS and VDA deadlines an Indian business hits when it receives money from abroad, including what stablecoin receipts add on top.

Colour marks the category. Filters apply to the grid, the month list and the event-driven items below.

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This month — fixed dates

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No fixed date — triggered by a transaction

These are the ones that catch exporters out, because nothing on a calendar reminds you. They are not in the .ics download either — we will not invent a date for them.

Dataset last reviewed September 2026 against FY 2026-27. Dates shift when they fall on a weekend or a public holiday, and CBIC and CBDT extend deadlines regularly — verify every date on the GST portal or the income tax portal before you act on it. This is not tax or legal advice. Plaitr is a financial technology company, not a bank, and does not file any of these returns for you.

What changes when the money comes from abroad

A domestic business files GST, deposits TDS, pays advance tax and files a return. An exporter does all of that and then carries a second thread that nobody sends a reminder for: proving to the banking system that every rupee it invoiced abroad actually came back to India. That thread runs from the invoice, through the FIRA your AD bank issues on each inward remittance, to the EDPMS or Softex entry your bank closes once it can match the payment to the export.

None of those have a date in the calendar. They are triggered by a transaction, and the consequence of ignoring them shows up months later, usually when your bank asks why an entry from two quarters ago is still open. That is why they sit in their own section above rather than as pins on a month.

Where stablecoin receipts fit

India taxes income from the transfer of a virtual digital asset at 30% with no set-off of losses, and section 194S puts a 1% deduction on transfers. Both are written around trading a VDA. Neither was drafted with an exporter in mind who invoices a US client for design work and gets offered USDC.

That leaves a genuinely unsettled question, and we are not going to pretend otherwise: whether a stablecoin business receipt is an export receipt or a VDA transaction depends on the facts — how the money arrives, who converts it, and what the AD bank sees on its side. The conservative route is to convert through a licensed off-ramp or an authorised dealer, so the credit lands in the current account as an inward remittance against the invoice, with a FIRA attached and the EDPMS or Softex entry closed on the normal track. A stablecoin sitting in a company wallet has no FIRA behind it and closes nothing.

Take the position with your CA before the first invoice goes out. Reconstructing it at assessment is harder and more expensive than deciding it up front.

How to use this calendar

Filter to the categories you are actually registered for — a service exporter with no shipments can drop the port and shipping bill items, and a business that has never touched a VDA can drop that column entirely. Download the .ics to get the fixed dates into your calendar as yearly recurring reminders, then keep the event-driven list somewhere your finance person sees it when an overseas payment lands.

Treat every date here as the statutory rule rather than a guaranteed date. CBIC and CBDT extend deadlines often enough that your CA, not this page, is the source of truth in the week a deadline falls. Plaitr does not file these returns for you and does not handle your FEMA compliance; we move the money and give you the record of it.

Compiled from the statutory due dates published by CBIC, CBDT and RBI, last reviewed September 2026. Dates move when they fall on a weekend or public holiday, and extensions are issued regularly — always verify on the official portal. This page is information, not tax or legal advice.

Questions

Which deadlines apply to a service exporter with no shipments?: GST returns, the annual LUT renewal, TDS deposits and returns, advance tax and the income tax return all apply. Instead of shipping bills you deal with Softex where your export is software or IT-enabled services, plus a FIRA from your bank for every inward remittance you receive.
What does EDPMS closure actually mean?: EDPMS is the RBI system where your export is recorded against a shipping bill or invoice. The entry stays open until your AD bank matches an inward payment to it and closes it. Closure is the bank's confirmation that the export proceeds actually came back to India.
What happens if export proceeds are not realised in nine months?: The entry stays open as an unrealised export bill against your IEC and your AD bank will chase it. Extensions can be sought through the AD bank or RBI, but ask before the period runs out. A pattern of open entries can affect export finance and invite further scrutiny.
Do stablecoin receipts count as export receipts?: It is fact-specific, and depends on how the money arrives and who converts it. The conservative route is converting through a licensed off-ramp or AD bank so the credit lands in your current account as an export receipt with a FIRA attached. Stablecoins held in a company wallet carry none of that paperwork.
What is Softex and who has to file it?: Softex is the declaration for software and IT-enabled service exports, filed through STPI or the SEZ authority, generally within thirty days of the invoice. It applies to software exporters and agencies delivering development, design or support work to overseas clients over a data link.
Is the 1% TDS under section 194S relevant to business receipts?: Section 194S bites on the transfer of a virtual digital asset, not on a plain inward payment for an exported service. It becomes relevant when your business sells or swaps stablecoins. On an Indian exchange the platform usually deducts it; off-exchange, the obligation can sit with the buyer.
When is a tax audit triggered?: When turnover crosses the section 44AB threshold for a business, or gross receipts cross the threshold for a profession. The limits depend on how much of your turnover is received in cash and have been revised more than once, so confirm the current figure with your CA rather than assuming.

Run the payment, not just the maths

Plaitr runs bank rails and stablecoin rails from one account, so you can pick whichever is cheaper per payment and keep the books reconciled either way.

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