Your accountant has asked whether the store is “charging GST properly”, and you are not sure how to answer. The checkout shows a tax line on some orders and not others, the invoice your customer receives does not show your GSTIN, and the prices on your product pages might or might not already include tax. Nothing has blown up yet, but you would rather sort it now than at return-filing time.
This post walks through Shopify GST setup in India from the store owner’s side: what to decide with your accountant first, which settings in Shopify control tax, how to test them and what records to keep. This is general information, not tax advice. GST rules depend on your registration, your products and where you sell, so confirm every decision below with a qualified chartered accountant or tax professional.
Decide these with your accountant before touching settings
Shopify can only apply the rules you give it. Before configuring anything, get clear written answers to these questions:
- Are you registered for GST, and under which scheme? Your registration type affects whether and how you charge tax on sales. Ask your accountant whether your online sales change anything about your registration.
- What rate applies to each product? Different goods can fall under different rates, and the classification depends on the product. Your accountant can tell you the correct HSN code and rate for each product line.
- Will your listed prices include tax or exclude it? Consumer prices in India are usually shown inclusive of tax, but confirm what applies to your products and your invoices.
- Is tax charged on shipping? Ask how delivery charges should be treated.
- What must appear on your invoices? Typically your GSTIN, an invoice number series, the place of supply and the tax breakdown. Get the list from your accountant, not from a template.
Write the answers down. They become the specification for everything that follows, and they are what you show a developer or app support team if something looks wrong.
Shopify GST setup for India, setting by setting
Shopify renames and moves admin labels from time to time, so read the steps below as the things to find, not as exact button names. Shopify’s help centre at help.shopify.com has the current instructions for each setting.
1. Your store’s address and region settings
Tax calculation starts from where you are and where you ship. Check that the store address in your settings is your registered business address, and that India is set up as a market or shipping region where you sell.
2. Tax settings for India
In the tax section of your settings, find India and review what Shopify will collect. Make sure the setup matches what your accountant told you. Then check how the store handles orders shipped within your own state compared with orders shipped to another state, since the tax shown can differ between the two. Do not assume; test it, as described below.
3. Prices including or excluding tax
There is a store-level setting for whether your prices include tax. If your product prices are tax-inclusive, turn it on so Shopify works out the tax portion inside the price rather than adding it on top. Getting this wrong is a common reason a customer sees a total higher than the product page suggested.
4. Product-level tax settings
Each product, and each variant, has an option for whether tax is charged on it. Check this on every product. A product imported by CSV or created by an app can have it set differently from the rest of your catalogue. If some products need a different rate from your default, Shopify’s tax overrides, which can apply to a collection, are the place to handle that. Confirm with your accountant that the result is correct before relying on it.
5. Shipping charges
There is a setting for whether tax is charged on shipping rates. Set it according to your accountant’s answer to question four above.
6. Your GSTIN and business details
Add your GSTIN and legal business name wherever your invoices and notifications draw business details from. Standard Shopify order confirmation emails are not the same thing as a GST tax invoice. Many Indian stores add an invoice template or app for that, which is the next section.
Taxes on a Shopify store in India: getting invoices right
Your customers, and your accountant, need proper invoices. On Shopify, there are two common routes:
- Shopify’s Order Printer app with a template edited to include your GSTIN, invoice number, place of supply, HSN codes and tax breakdown. This works if someone is comfortable editing the template.
- A dedicated GST invoice app built for Indian sellers, which usually handles numbering, tax splits and HSN codes with less template work. These are often paid, and fit the “solves a real problem” test we describe in our post on which paid apps a new store needs.
Whichever you use, check a sample invoice against your accountant’s list of required fields, and check that invoice numbers run in an unbroken series. If you are comparing platforms, our note on GST invoices on a WooCommerce store shows how the same job works there.
Test the setup with four orders
Once settings are in place, place test orders and compare the results with what your accountant expects. At minimum:
- An order shipped within your own state.
- An order shipped to a different state.
- An order mixing products that carry different rates, if you have them.
- An order with a discount code and a shipping charge.
For each, record the product price, the tax shown at checkout, the total, and what appears on the invoice. Send these to your accountant and ask them to confirm. This one exercise catches many setup mistakes before a single real customer sees them.
Records to keep each month
- Order exports from the Shopify admin, including tax amounts.
- Tax reports from Shopify’s reports section, where your plan includes them.
- Your invoice register from your invoice app or template, with invoice numbers in order.
- Refunds and cancellations, with their credit notes if your accountant needs them.
- Gateway settlement reports, which show the fees and the GST charged on those fees.
- Your own Shopify and app bills, since your accountant will want to see how tax is shown on business expenses. The full set of recurring bills is listed in our post on the monthly cost of running a Shopify store.
Hand these over on a fixed date each month rather than in a rush before filing.
Questions store owners often ask
Does Shopify file my GST returns?
No. Shopify calculates and shows tax on orders according to your settings, and its reports help you gather figures. Filing returns is your responsibility, normally handled by your accountant using your records.
Should my GSTIN appear on the storefront?
Many Indian stores show it in the footer or on the contact page alongside the legal business name, and gateways often look for business details during review. Ask your accountant what is required for your business.
What if I sell on marketplaces as well?
Marketplace sales follow the marketplace’s own processes, and your accountant will want those reports alongside the Shopify ones. Keep the two sets of records separate so nothing is counted twice.
Can I fix past orders if the setup was wrong?
Changing settings affects new orders, not old ones. If earlier orders carried the wrong tax, tell your accountant straight away and follow their advice on corrections. Do not edit or delete historical orders to make reports look right.
Mistakes that cause trouble later
- Using one rate for everything because it was simpler. If your products fall under different rates, a single setting will be wrong for some of them.
- Leaving the “prices include tax” setting at its default without checking it matches your product prices.
- Bulk imports that reset tax options on products. Spot-check after every import.
- Treating order emails as tax invoices. Confirm with your accountant what document your customers need.
- Changing settings mid-month without telling your accountant. Note the date of any tax setting change.
Where this fits in the build
Tax configuration is a setup task that is easy to rush during a store launch. When you look at quotes and the overall shopify store development cost, check whether GST settings, invoice templates and test orders are actually included, or left for you to sort out after launch.
Where we fit
As part of our Shopify development service, we can configure tax settings and invoices to your accountant’s instructions and run test orders for them to check. We do not decide tax treatment ourselves. That stays with your accountant, and this post is general information, not tax advice. Bring their written answers to the five questions above, and the rest of the setup becomes straightforward.
