Ask HN: Payments are fixed for freelancers in India. Why not compliance?

5 navemics 2 8/22/2025, 4:01:26 PM
I’ve been talking to a lot of freelancers, contractors, and creators in India who earn from abroad.

One pattern keeps showing up: → Getting paid has become almost frictionless thanks to tools like Skydo and Infinity. → But the moment compliance enters (GST, TDS, FEMA filings, CA coordination), everything feels stuck in the past.

People told me about juggling spreadsheets, pinging accountants on WhatsApp, and panicking near deadlines. The contrast is striking: the money rails have modernized, but the compliance rails are still manual, fragmented, and stressful.

It made me wonder: → Why did cross-border payments modernize so quickly, but compliance got left behind? → Is it the complexity of regulations, lack of incentives for builders, or just that “tax” isn’t an exciting problem to solve?

Are there examples anywhere (India or elsewhere) where this has been done well?

For transparency: I co-founded taxtap.in ↗ to try solving this for Indian freelancers and contractors. This post isn’t meant as a pitch — I’m more interested in hearing from this community. If you’ve built in fintech, struggled with Indian compliance, or just have thoughts on why this gap exists, I’d love to learn from you.

Comments (2)

mkbkn · 4h ago
I am your potential user. How do I contact you for a 1-on-1 video chat?
navemics · 3h ago
Please book a call here: https://cal.com/taxtap/intro otherwise, feel free to get your personalized free tax plan: http://taxtap.in