How to get your FIRC certificate Online
FIRC Certificate—a document every Indian freelancer and exporter should know about. Yet, with evolving regulations, it’s become a bit of a mystery for many. In this blog, we’ll demystify the FIRC Certificate, explaining what it is, who issues it, and, most importantly, how you can obtain your FIRC Certificate online quickly and easily.
What is FIRC Certificate?
FIRC certificate, or its full form Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate, is an important document issued by banks to exporters as proof of receiving foreign currency payments. Prior to 2016, AD Category I Banks were authorized to issue FIRCs to exporters for every cross-border payment received. FIRC certificate was crucial for exporters to serve as proof of foreign transfers. It was also a crucial document for both goods and service exporters to claim their tax exemption and GST refund.
However, as per RBI guidelines since 2016, banks only issue FIRCs for specific financial transactions like inward remittances from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investment (FII). For export collections, banks now provide a Foreign Inward Remittance Advice (FIRA) instead.
Although FIRA is often still referred to as FIRC, the two serve slightly different purposes. The key difference is that FIRCs are now limited to transactions related to foreign investment, meaning FDI and FII transactions, while FIRA is what exporters need for all other international payments.
For clarity, we'll use the term FIRC certificate moving forward, but it refers to FIRA throughout.
What is FIRC Certificate Format?
This is a sample FIRC certificate. All crucial remittance details have been masked for security purposes. Now let’s break the content of an FIRC Certificate down:
- Name and details of the sender/remitter bank i.e. your client’s bank
- Name and address of the sender, i.e., your client’s details
- Name of the person/org receiving the payment i.e your details
- Transaction number
- The Foreign exchange rate applied to your transaction
- Amount paid in foreign currency
- The amount received in INR/ Indian rupees
- Purpose code stating the purpose of the remittance (e.g., P0802 if your business is a Software Consulting service.
Who issues FIRC certificate?
According to FEMA and RBI regulations, only AD Category I banks are authorized to issue FIRA or FIRC certificates. To obtain one, you must submit a request form with the required details to the bank handling your foreign payment. Once the request is processed, the bank will issue the FIRA or FIRC certificate to the beneficiary i.e. your account. We’ll cover the detailed process in the next section.
FIRC Certificate from Bank: How to Get it?
As discussed, to obtain your FIRC document from the bank, you'll need to submit a request form with the following details:
- Name of the recipient
- Name and address of the payee
- Transaction reference number
- Transfer amount
- Purpose of remittance
- Date of transfer
- Account number
These are the standard details required, though some banks may ask for additional information based on the transaction. Once submitted, the bank will process your request, and most banks charge a fee between INR 200-800 for issuing the FIRC certificate.
The entire process typically takes 7-15 days, and you may need to follow up with your bank to expedite it.
FIRC Certificate Download: How to Do it Online?
Today, beyond traditional banks, several online platforms like Skydo, Wise, and Payoneer provide exporters with fast and secure options for receiving international payments in India. Some of these platforms also offer FIRC Certificates to streamline compliance for exporters.
While some platforms may refer to these digital FIRAs as eFIRC, electronic FIRC digital FIRC, or simply FIRC, it's important to understand that they are essentially digital FIRAs, regardless of the name. Now, let’s explore how you can receive your digital FIRA from these platforms:
How to get your PayPal FIRC Certificate ?
Since 2021, PayPal has started issuing digital FIRA to businesses receiving international payments in India as proof of payment receipt. The platform doesn’t issue individual FIRA for every transaction, instead, it issues monthly digital FIRA, and all international transactions of the previous month are referenced in that one FIRC certificate. You can access this FIRC certificate by the 15th of the subsequent month. For example, your monthly FIRC certificate for July will be available to you by 15th of August.
Once the FIRC certificate is available, PayPal will notify you of the same via email. Here’s how you can download it:
- Login to your PayPal Business account
- Navigate to "Reports" and click on it
- From there, click on "Statements"
- Then proceed to click on "Foreign Inward Remittance Advice (FIRA)"
- Select the month and download your monthly FIRA
Note that PayPal doesn't charge any additional fee for issuing FIRC certificate.
How to get your FIRC Certificate from Payoneer?
Payoneer is another widely used platform for Indian businesses to receive international payments. To simplify compliance, Payoneer provides users with free digital FIRC Certificates for all their international transfers.
Here’s how you can download your FIRC Certificate from Payoneer
- Login to your Payoneer account
- Navigate to Activity >> Reports & Statements
- Click on Digital FIRC
- You will be able to view and download all of your FIRC certificates from this tab.
How to get Wise FIRC Certificate?
Wise is a leading platform for businesses and individuals to receive foreign payments, supporting both B2B and P2P transfers. For business payments in India, Wise provides a digital FIRA via email for each transaction.
However, Wise charges an additional fee for issuing the digital FIRC certificate, which varies depending on the currency. For instance, if you receive a payment in GBP, the fee is 1.91 GBP, while for USD transactions, the fee is 2.50 USD.
Get Your Free FIRC Certificate from Skydo instantly
At Skydo, our goal is to simplify the international payments process, allowing you to focus on growing your business. That’s why we provide digital FIRC Certificates for every transaction, completely free of charge.
When transacting through Skydo, it automatically generates FIRC certificate for all international payments when they reach your bank account. You will also be notified of the same via email. The document details will be according to the information mentioned in the invoices and payment receipt details. You can easily go to the Skydo dashboard and download FIRA receipts for all or specific transactions, at no extra cost!
Here’s how you can download your FIRC Certificate from Skydo:
- Login to your Skydo account
- Navigate to your dashboard
- Click on invoices
- Select the invoice for which you want the FIRC certificate. Make sure that it is a settled invoice
- Upon selecting the invoice, you will be able to download the FIRC Certificate for that invoice seamlessly!
With Skydo, enjoy hassle free and compliant international payments, delivered promptly and without any hidden fees. Switch to Skydo and experience the difference.
What is a FIRC certificate?
FIRC, or its full form Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate, is an important document issued by banks to exporters as proof of receiving foreign currency payments. Prior to 2016, AD Category I Banks were authorized to issue FIRCs to exporters for every cross-border payment received. This certificate was crucial for exporters to serve as proof of foreign transfers. It was also a crucial document for both goods and service exporters to claim their tax exemption and GST refund.
However, as per RBI guidelines since 2016, banks only issue FIRCs for specific financial transactions like inward remittances from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investment (FII). For export collections, banks now provide a Foreign Inward Remittance Advice (FIRA) instead.
How to get a FIRC certificate online?
Who issues FIRC?
