Selling through an e-commerce marketplace is not the same as selling from your own shop when it comes to GST. The law treats supplies made through e-commerce operators specially, with their own registration rules and a tax-collection mechanism that the platform operates on your behalf. If you sell online, here's how GST applies to you.
Reviewed by CA Harika Chebolu, FCA · Last updated 2026-06-15
Quick answer
Selling through an online marketplace changes your GST obligations — including mandatory registration and tax collected at source by the platform. Here's what sellers need to know.
Sellers supplying through an e-commerce operator generally fall into the compulsory-registration category, meaning the ordinary turnover threshold does not protect them. In practice, if you list taxable goods on a marketplace, you usually need to be registered before you start selling, regardless of how small your sales are. Because there are nuances depending on what you supply and how, confirm your specific position rather than assuming a low turnover keeps you exempt.
E-commerce operators are required to collect a small portion of the value of taxable supplies made through them and remit it to the government as tax collected at source (TCS). This is not an extra cost to you — it is collected against your supplies and credited to you. The amount the platform collects is reported against your GSTIN, so the figures it reports become part of your own GST records and need to be tracked.
The TCS the marketplace collects is reflected in a statement linked to your GSTIN and can be claimed as a credit in your electronic cash ledger. The practical point is that this is your money held against your future tax, not a sunk deduction. To get the benefit, the TCS reported by the operator must match your own records, so reconciling the platform's reported sales and collections against your books each period is essential.
As a registered seller you still issue compliant tax invoices, charge the correct tax on your supplies, and file your own returns — the marketplace's role does not replace yours. Your reported sales should reconcile with what the operator reports against your GSTIN. Mismatches between your figures and the platform's statement are a common trigger for queries, so treating the marketplace report as a record to reconcile, not just accept, keeps you out of trouble.
If you sell across several marketplaces, each reports against your GSTIN and each needs reconciling. Supplying into other states brings its own consequences, since inter-state supply is itself a compulsory-registration trigger and affects how you charge tax. The discipline that keeps online sellers compliant is straightforward: register where required, keep your invoices clean, reconcile every platform's report against your books, and file on time — short-paid tax attracts interest at 18% per annum.
Generally yes — sellers supplying through an e-commerce operator usually fall into the compulsory-registration category, so the ordinary turnover threshold does not exempt you. Confirm your specific position, but in most cases you need to register before you start selling.
It is tax collected at source — a small portion of the value of your taxable supplies that the platform collects and remits, then credits to you. It is not an extra cost; it is your money held against future tax, reflected against your GSTIN.
It appears in a statement linked to your GSTIN and can be claimed as a credit in your cash ledger, provided the operator's figures match your records. Reconcile each platform's reported sales and collections against your own books every period.
Selling online and unsure how marketplace TCS affects you? Write to the firm and we'll reconcile your platform statements, sort your registration and keep your e-commerce GST in order.