OIDAR GST in India: A Guide for Australian Companies (2026)

Already compliant with Australia's own Netflix Tax?

Good instinct to have — the numbers for India are still different. See Section 2.

Executive summary

Australia was one of the earliest movers on taxing foreign digital services — your own "Netflix Tax" predates India's OIDAR framework by six years. That head start is genuinely useful, provided the specific numbers aren't carried over unchanged.

What you need to know

Australia's own "Netflix Tax" — GST on imported services and digital products — took effect 1 July 2017, taxing foreign suppliers on B2C digital sales to Australian consumers. The architecture is close to OIDAR's.
Australia's threshold is A$75,000 in annual turnover to Australian consumers. India's OIDAR has no threshold at all.
Australia's GST rate is 10%; India's OIDAR rate is 18%.
Australia files quarterly; India's GSTR-5A is monthly.
Australia's Electronic Distribution Platform (EDP) deeming rule is a close parallel to India's intermediary/deemed-supplier test.
Don't confuse this with Australia's separate "Google Tax" (the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law) — a different measure entirely, covered in Section 5.

The concept you already know: your own Netflix Tax

If your company already complies with Australia's own digital-GST rules, you're starting from familiar ground.

The parallel

Since 1 July 2017, Australia has applied GST to "inbound intangible consumer supplies" — digital content, software, apps, and other intangibles supplied by non-resident businesses to Australian consumers. The test for who counts as an "Australian consumer" (an Australian resident who either isn't GST-registered, or is registered but not acquiring the supply for business purposes) is conceptually the same distinction India draws with its NTOR concept — an unregistered or non-business recipient triggers direct liability, while a genuine GST-registered business customer shifts the obligation to reverse charge.

If your company already assesses Australian-consumer status at checkout, captures ABN details to apply reverse charge correctly, and reports quarterly to the ATO, you've already built the operational muscle this exact category of regime requires — India just runs the numbers differently.

A$75,000 vs zero

The most consequential difference, and the one most likely to be carried over incorrectly.

Common mistake

Assuming that because your India revenue is modest — comparable to a level that would sit safely under Australia's A$75,000 threshold — a similar buffer exists in India. It doesn't. OIDAR has no threshold whatsoever; a single Indian customer creates the obligation, regardless of your company's total turnover or the size of your India revenue specifically.

Professional tip

If your internal risk assessment has ever concluded "our India revenue is too small to register," treat that conclusion as suspect specifically — it's very likely applying Australia's own A$75,000 logic to a market that has no equivalent threshold.

Rate and filing cadence

Two further operational differences worth planning around specifically.

Australia's GST rate is 10%. India's OIDAR rate on B2C supplies is 18% — nearly double. If your India pricing or revenue projections were built by extending your Australian GST-inclusive pricing model, that assumption needs independent rebuilding for India's rate.

Australia's non-resident suppliers under the "Netflix Tax" measures file quarterly, with 28 days to file and pay after each period, and — if electing "limited registration entity" status — forgo input tax credits in exchange for simpler compliance. India's GSTR-5A is monthly, due by the 20th of the following month, with mandatory nil returns even in quiet months, and there is no input tax credit mechanism for OIDAR B2C supplies regardless of registration type.

Professional tip

Build your India filing calendar as its own tracked item, separate from your Australian quarterly BAS rhythm — the frequency mismatch is exactly the kind of detail that causes a missed filing when both obligations sit on the same mental calendar.

The EDP deeming parallel

If you operate a platform, Australia's own rules give you a genuine head start on India's equivalent.

Australia's Electronic Distribution Platform rule

Where digital products are supplied to Australian consumers via an Electronic Distribution Platform (EDP), the platform operator — not the underlying supplier — is generally deemed to be the supplier and becomes liable for the GST.

India's approach, detailed in full on our Marketplaces & Advertising guide, uses a specific four-condition test rather than a blanket EDP deeming rule — but the underlying question your Australian compliance function already asks ("are we the platform, or are we the substantive supplier here") is the same discipline that applies to your India assessment.

Not the "Google Tax" either

One more naming distinction worth making explicitly, since Australia's own tax history includes a second, unrelated measure that shares a similar-sounding nickname.

Australia's Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law (the actual "Google Tax")

Separately from the GST "Netflix Tax," Australia introduced the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law — sometimes informally called the "Google Tax" — targeting multinational profit-shifting and artificial avoidance of a taxable presence in Australia. This is a direct-tax integrity measure, entirely unrelated to GST on digital products, and has no bearing on your OIDAR position in India.

Keep these three regimes distinct in your own thinking: Australia's GST "Netflix Tax" (the direct comparison point for this guide), Australia's "Google Tax" / MAAL (an unrelated direct-tax integrity measure), and India's OIDAR (its own, separate framework). None of the three substitute for either of the others.

Checklist

Work through this specifically

Discard the A$75,000 threshold mental model for India — it has none
Rebuild your India pricing/rate model independently — don't scale from Australia's 10% baseline
Reset your compliance calendar for India's monthly GSTR-5A cadence, separate from Australia's quarterly BAS
If you operate a platform, apply India's four-condition intermediary test specifically, using your EDP assessment as a starting reference only
Keep Australia's GST "Netflix Tax," Australia's "Google Tax" (MAAL), and India's OIDAR conceptually distinct
Use our applicability checker to confirm your specific position

Glossary

"Netflix Tax" (Australia)

The informal name for Australia's GST on imported services and digital products, effective 1 July 2017 — the direct structural analogy to India's OIDAR.

Australian consumer

An Australian resident who is either not GST-registered, or registered but not acquiring the supply for business purposes — Australia's equivalent to India's NTOR concept.

EDP

Electronic Distribution Platform — a platform deemed to be the GST supplier for digital products sold through it, Australia's parallel to India's marketplace deeming rules.

"Google Tax" / MAAL

Australia's Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law — a separate direct-tax integrity measure, unrelated to GST or to India's OIDAR.

CA Parmod Bindal, FCA

Founder & Lead OIDAR Specialist, OIDARIndia™

A finance leader with over three decades in taxation, corporate governance, and cross-border advisory. Former Independent Director of Steel Authority of India (SAIL), a Maharatna PSU, and Independent Director of CSL Finance Limited, a listed NBFC. Read full profile →

About this guide & sources: This guide reflects the position as at July 2026, drawing on Australia's GST Act digital-products measures (effective 1 July 2017) and ATO published guidance. It is provided for general information and does not constitute professional advice — Australian GST and Indian OIDAR obligations should each be assessed on their own specific facts.

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