Written by Abishek A, co-founder of Classory. Classory is our product. We have aimed to be fair to every platform mentioned, and we say where others are cheaper or stronger.
This post is general information, not tax advice. It states no GST rate, registration threshold, exemption or place-of-supply rule, because all of those depend on facts specific to your business and a wrong one is expensive. What it gives you instead is the full list of questions that decide your position, and a checklist you can paste into an email to a chartered accountant today. The official sources are cbic.gov.in and gst.gov.in; your answers should come from a CA, in writing.
TL;DR
- This post deliberately answers none of the tax questions it raises. The answers turn on your turnover, what you supply, your registration status and where your buyers are.
- Nine questions decide your position: classification, exemption, registration, invoice fields, platform versus your own remittance, refunds, records, business buyers and overseas students.
- What a platform charges you and what you charge your students are two separate tax events. Confusing them is the most common modelling error creators make.
- Who the seller of record is may change several answers at once. On a marketplace the platform runs the checkout; selling direct usually puts the transaction in your name.
- The numbered checklist below is written to be pasted into an email to your accountant, with blanks for your turnover, states and buyer types. Settle your position before you publish a price.
Why this post does not give you a rate
Because a rate on its own is useless and a wrong rate is expensive. Treatment turns on what is supplied, by whom, to whom and where, using legal definitions that do not match everyday language. An independent educator selling a recorded course, a coaching institute running live batches and an institution issuing a recognised qualification are not obviously the same thing under tax law, even though all three feel like "teaching".
The treatment of online course sales by an independent educator is exactly the kind of question to put to a CA, checked against the current notifications at cbic.gov.in.
The nine questions that decide your GST position
| # | Question | Why it changes the answer | Who answers it |
|---|
| 1 | Am I supplying a service or goods? | The classification drives the rate and the place-of-supply rule. | CA |
| 2 | Is my offering exempt? | Education-related exemptions are defined narrowly, not by activity. | CA |
| 3 | Do I need to register? | Registration depends on turnover and on the type of supply. | CA |
| 4 | What must my invoice show? | An invoice missing required fields can be rejected by a business buyer. | CA |
| 5 | What does my platform collect vs what do I remit? | Two separate tax events. Confusing them causes under- or over-payment. | CA + platform docs |
| 6 | How are refunds handled? | Tax already accounted for on a refunded sale has to be dealt with. | CA |
| 7 | What records must I keep, and for how long? | Determines what you need your platform to export. | CA |
| 8 | Is my buyer a business or an individual? | Changes what the buyer needs from your invoice. | CA |
| 9 | Is my student outside India? | Cross-border supplies follow different rules. | CA |
Assumptions
- This table lists questions, not answers. No rate, threshold, exemption or place-of-supply rule is stated as fact anywhere in this post.
- "Who answers it" means who is qualified to answer, not who you might ask first.
- Official sources: cbic.gov.in and gst.gov.in.
Questions 1 to 3 decide whether you have an obligation. Questions 4 to 9 decide how you operate once you do.
Questions 1 to 3: do you have an obligation at all?
Classification. A recorded video course, a live online class, a downloadable PDF workbook and a printed book posted to a student are not automatically the same category, and a bundle of all four may be treated differently again. Ask your CA how single and bundled offerings are classified, and get each product classified in writing and dated.
Exemption. Do not assume that "it is education, so it is exempt". Whether any education exemption applies to independent course creators, private coaching institutes or online-only providers is a question for your CA, checked against the current exemption notifications at cbic.gov.in. This is where educators most often go wrong, usually in the expensive direction. If someone tells you courses are exempt, ask them to name the notification.
Registration. Registration is not automatic and not optional at your discretion. Ask your CA for the current registration threshold for services, whether any compulsory-registration rule applies to online course sales regardless of turnover, and the date you would have to act on if you crossed the threshold mid-year.
Questions 4 and 5: invoices, and who collects what
The invoice. Every paid sale needs a document the buyer can use and you can defend. Ask your CA for a field-by-field template, then check your platform can generate it automatically at purchase; this is where creators find their tooling is short. Confirm rather than assume whether invoices must carry your registration number, the buyer's details, a unique sequential number, a description of what was sold, the taxable value, tax shown separately and a place of supply.
The platform's bill versus yours. These are two different transactions and people routinely model them as one. What you pay a platform is that platform selling a service to you. Classory, for example, lists every plan price on classory.app/pricing as "+18% GST", so tax is charged on top of the listed price rather than included in it (checked 26 September 2026). Check how any other platform treats GST on its own plan fees on its published pricing page.
What your students pay you is a separate supply. A platform charging you GST on its subscription tells you nothing about what you owe on your course sales.
Marketplace vs direct: who is the seller of record?
This is the structural question most creators never ask, and it can change several of the nine answers at once. Take both situations to your CA.
Situation A: a marketplace is the seller. On a marketplace like Udemy, the platform runs the checkout, controls the final price the learner pays, and pays you a share of a calculated Net Amount rather than passing through the student's payment: 97% of Net Amount on instructor coupon or referral sales and 37% when the sale happens without one (Udemy Support, checked 24 September 2026).
Questions to confirm, not assume:
- Who is treated as making the supply to the student: the marketplace or me?
- What is the supply I am making, and to whom: the student, or the marketplace?
- Does marketplace income count towards my turnover, and if so, which figure: the student's payment or my share?
- What document should the marketplace give me, and what should I be issuing, to whom?
- Does any of this change when the student is outside India?
Situation B: you sell direct and become the seller of record. On your own site with your own gateway account, the money typically lands with you and the customer is yours. Udemy vs your own website covers the commercial side of that move.
Questions to confirm, not assume:
- Am I the supplier of record when payments come through my own gateway account?
- Does the answer change if the platform collects the money and remits it to me instead?
- Is my platform subscription an input cost with any bearing on what I remit?
- Do I need to capture the buyer's state at checkout, and what if a buyer gives the wrong one?
- What changes on the day I move from marketplace-only to selling direct, and must I do anything before the first direct sale?
That last one matters most. Moving to your own checkout changes how the transaction is structured, not just which software you use. Ask before the switch, not in your first filing after it.
Questions 6 and 7: refunds and records
Refunds. If you have charged tax on a sale and then refund it, the tax already accounted for has to be dealt with. Ask your CA how full and partial refunds are treated. The half you can settle today: does your refund policy promise the full amount the student paid, or the amount net of tax? Write that in before your first refund.
Records. Ask your CA for the list and the retention period, then check your platform can export all of it. Demand these as a spreadsheet export, not a dashboard you can only look at:
- every transaction with date, amount, buyer name and buyer state
- invoice numbers in a continuous sequence, with no gaps
- refunds and partial refunds linked to the original sale
- coupon and discount records, so the taxable value is traceable
- the platform's own fees charged to you, with its tax documents
If a platform cannot export these, your CA will rebuild them from bank statements at your cost.
Questions 8 and 9: business buyers and overseas students
A business buyer. A company buying your course for its staff generally needs something different from an individual buying it for themselves. Ask your CA what a business buyer requires on your invoice and what changes in your own reporting. Act on this now: your checkout needs a field for a business buyer's registration number and legal name, and your invoice must print it.
A student outside India. Selling to a student in Dubai is not the same transaction as selling to one in Chennai. Ask your CA about the place-of-supply and export-of-services treatment for online courses sold to buyers outside India. Check the commercial constraint first: can your platform and gateway take the payment at all?
How tax interacts with your pricing
Settle your position before you publish a price, because moving a public price later costs trust. Decide whether you will advertise "₹4,999" or "₹4,999 + GST": Indian consumer buyers generally expect an all-in number, business buyers expect tax shown separately. Keep commission, gateway charges and tax as separate lines rather than one blended percentage; course platform transaction fees explained works through the fee side.
The checklist to email your accountant
Fill in the blanks, paste the rest into an email, and ask for written answers.
My situation: I sell online courses. My annual course revenue is approximately ₹__________ and I expect ₹__________ over the next twelve months. I am based in __________ (state). My buyers are in __________ (states), and __________ (do / do not) include buyers outside India. My buyers are __________ (individuals / businesses / both). I sell through __________ (my own website / a marketplace / both). I __________ (do / do not) already hold a GST registration.
- How should each of my products be classified: recorded course, live batch, downloadable material, bundled programme?
- Does any exemption apply to me? If not, what treatment applies to each product?
- Do I need to register now? If not, what is the trigger, and by what date would I need to act if I crossed it mid-year?
- Please give me an invoice template with every mandatory field for my situation.
- Am I the supplier of record if payments come through my own gateway account? Does the answer change if the platform collects on my behalf?
- If I sell through a marketplace that runs the checkout and pays me a revenue share, who is treated as supplying the student, and what counts towards my turnover?
- What changes on the day I move from marketplace-only selling to my own checkout, and what must I do before the first direct sale?
- How do I treat tax on a full refund and on a partial refund?
- What records must I keep, in what form, and for how long?
- What must I capture at checkout from a business buyer versus an individual?
- If I sell to a student outside India, what changes?
- Should I advertise prices inclusive or exclusive of tax, given who my buyers are?
- What is my filing calendar, what do you need from me each period, and is there anything about selling through an online platform specifically that I should know?
Ask for the answers in writing and dated.
FAQ
Do I have to pay GST on online course sales in India?
That depends on how your offering is classified, whether any exemption applies, and whether you must register. Those answers turn on facts specific to your business and none can be settled from a blog post. Confirm your position with a chartered accountant and against the official guidance at cbic.gov.in and gst.gov.in.
What GST rate applies to an online course?
This post deliberately does not state a rate. Treatment depends on what you supply, who you supply it to and where they are, and printing a number without those facts would be misleading. Ask your CA to classify each product you sell and confirm the treatment for each one in writing, with a date.
Does my course platform pay GST on my behalf?
Do not assume so. What you pay the platform and what your students pay you are two separate tax events. Classory, for example, lists its plan prices as "+18% GST", meaning tax is charged on top of its own subscription, which says nothing about your obligations. Ask your CA who the supplier of record is in your setup.
Does it matter whether I sell on a marketplace or my own site?
It may change several answers at once, so treat it as a question rather than a detail. On a marketplace the platform runs the checkout and pays you a share; selling direct usually puts the transaction in your own name. Ask your CA who is treated as supplying the student in each case.
Do I need GST registration to sell courses through a platform?
Selling through a platform does not by itself decide your registration position. Turnover, the nature of your supplies and your buyers' locations do, and some situations may require registration regardless of turnover. Ask your CA whether you must register now and, if not, what would trigger it.
Continue reading
Sources
- Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs: https://www.cbic.gov.in/ (the official source; nothing quoted from it)
- Goods and Services Tax portal: https://www.gst.gov.in/ (the official source for registration and filing)
- Classory, plan prices listed as "+18% GST": https://classory.app/pricing/ (checked 26 September 2026). A fact about Classory's own billing, not about tax law or your obligations.
- Udemy, instructor revenue share, 97% of Net Amount on coupon or referral sales and 37% otherwise: https://support.udemy.com/hc/en-us/articles/229605008 (checked 24 September 2026). Cited for how a marketplace transaction is structured, not its tax treatment.
- No GST rate, threshold, exemption, place-of-supply rule or refund treatment is stated as fact in this post. Every such point is a question for a CA.
This post is general information, not tax advice. It is a list of the right questions, not a set of answers. Take the checklist above to a chartered accountant, get the answers in writing, and revisit them whenever your turnover, product mix or buyer base changes.
