Does TDS apply to what you pay Shopify from an Indian store?

What the Income-tax Act asks of a payment to a foreign company

The Income-tax Act, 2025 came into force on April 1, 2026. Its section 393(2), Table Sl. No. 17, names the deductor as "Any person" and the payee as "Any non-resident (not being a company) or a foreign company", at "Rates in force". The sum it covers is interest or "any other sum chargeable under the provisions of this Act".

Section 195 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 used the same words. The row does not say whether what you pay Shopify is such a sum; that is the judgement your chartered accountant (CA) makes for your business.

This page covers tax on what you pay Shopify. The opposite direction, whether Shopify deducts TDS from your own store's sales, is a separate rule.

The documents Shopify provides for Indian merchants

Shopify's Help Center, under Requesting tax documents from Shopify, lists documents that "may be available upon request". One is written for India:

The same list offers a Fiscal residency certificate, which "confirms Shopify's tax residency status in relation to your country" and "helps prevent double taxation when a tax treaty exists between your country and the country from which Shopify bills you".

To request either one, contact Shopify Support with:

• the type of document you need;
• the year or years you need it for;
• your country of residence;
• whether you need an original, stamped document;
• your mailing address, if a physical document is required.

Processing times vary depending on the document type and the tax authority involved, so ask before your CA needs the file.

None of the Shopify sentences quoted in this section mentions TDS, withholding or a section of the Act. What either certificate changes for a deduction under section 393(2) is for your CA to judge. Give them the certificate together with your Shopify invoices, which you can view and download in Settings > Billing.

What Shopify's pages say about TDS, and who bills you

No Shopify page we read on September 26, 2026 — the Terms of Service, the pricing page, the Help Center billing-tax pages including the India one, and the India GST page — uses the word TDS or names a section of the Income-tax Act.

What the Terms of Service do assign is the tax work itself. Section 5 reads:

The clause names no specific tax, country or section of the Act.

Section 5 also sets how Shopify's own fees are paid: "For the avoidance of doubt, all sums payable by you to Shopify under these Terms of Service will be paid free and clear of any deductions or withholdings whatsoever." It continues: "Other than Taxes charged by Shopify to you and remitted to the appropriate tax authorities on your behalf, any deductions or withholdings that are required by law will be borne by you and paid separately to the relevant taxation authority." Shopify "will be entitled to charge the full amount of Fees" to your payment method "ignoring any such deduction or withholding that may be required".

Section 5 does not say whether a withholding is required by law in your case; that stays your CA's call. Under these Terms, Shopify can charge its fee in full, and any withholding the law requires is yours to bear and pay separately.

Section 13 of the Terms sets who bills you: "You are contracting with the Shopify Contracting Party or Parties below, based on the billing address of your Store." Its table has a row for the United States or Canada, a row for "Asia Pacific (including Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, and Singapore)", and a row for "All other jurisdictions", which names Shopify International Limited, a company incorporated in Ireland.

India is not named in any row. Both the "Asia Pacific" row, which names Shopify Commerce Singapore Pte. Ltd, and the "All other jurisdictions" row, which names Shopify International Limited, list their regions with the word "including", so the table alone does not show which one bills an Indian address. No Shopify page we read on September 26, 2026 — the Terms, the pricing page and the Help Center billing-tax pages — names the billing entity for India.

Section 13 also says Shopify Inc. "may act as the billing agent" for another Shopify Contracting Party, so let your CA confirm the payee from your own invoices.

GST on Shopify's bill is a separate tax

TDS under section 393 is income tax. GST is a different tax, and Shopify documents it on its India billing-tax page: "If your store is located in India, then you're charged GST on your Shopify fees." To be exempted, you provide your GSTIN, and the exemption applies only to invoices issued after you submit it.

How Shopify taxes its own bills, country by country, is covered in whether Shopify charges VAT or GST on its own fees.

The equalisation levy no longer applies

India's equalisation levy charged 2% on the consideration for e-commerce supply or services made or facilitated by an e-commerce operator "on or after 01-04-2020 but before 01-08-2024", per the Income Tax Department. The Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024 set that end: the levy does not apply to consideration for supplies made on or after August 1, 2024.

The 6% levy on online advertisement services is gone too: the department notes that the equalisation levy provisions are "not applicable with effect from 01-04-2025", that is, from April 1, 2025.