What Was the SOFTEX Form, and What Replaced It on 1 October 2026?

The SOFTEX form changed to the Export Declaration Form (EDF) on 1 October 2026, under the FEMA (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026. The SOFTEX form was the declaration Indian software exporters made to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), through Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) or the SEZ authority, for software sold to overseas clients in non-physical form.

For invoices raised from 1 October 2026 you file the EDF with your Authorised Dealer (AD) bank or STPI, while SEZ units file with the Development Commissioner. The deadline is 30 days from the end of the month in which the invoice was raised. The duty to declare every export, and to realise the payment, has not changed.

The RBI has not yet published a separate rule for invoices raised before 1 October 2026. A reasonable reading of the saving clause in the 2026 regulations keeps them under the older SOFTEX rules, so confirm the position in writing with your bank or STPI before you file one of those invoices on the old route.

SOFTEX stood for Software Export Declaration. A software exporter filed it after invoicing an overseas client, and STPI or the SEZ authority passed it on to the RBI.

Because software left the country as data rather than a physical shipment, it never passed through a customs port and never produced a shipping bill. SOFTEX was the substitute record that told the RBI an export had happened and foreign exchange was due against it.

It recorded the export value the RBI expected you to realise and let your bank match the incoming payment to the invoice, feeding the country's export-monitoring system. The word SOFTEX does not appear in the 2026 regulations; software is now a service and goes on the EDF.

The EDF replaced the SOFTEX form on 1 October 2026, and several things moved, chiefly the form itself, who can certify it, how often you file and the window to bring the money in. The underlying duty is unchanged, so you still declare every export and realise every payment.

One shift matters most. The AD bank is now a specified authority for Domestic Tariff Area units alongside STPI, so you can have the EDF certified by your bank as well as through STPI. Each bank sets its own process and publishes it on its site.

What to do with SOFTEX invoices raised before 1 October 2026

If you raised an invoice on or before 30 September 2026 but have not yet filed, you are in the one gap the rules do not address head-on. The RBI has not yet published a transition circular or an EDF FAQ, so there is no official instruction either way.

What the text does support is a reasonable reading. The 2026 regulations supersede the old ones "except in respect of things done or omitted to be done before such supersession", and the EDF is keyed to the month the invoice was raised.

Because this rests on a reading and not a published rule, ask your AD bank or STPI centre, or the SEZ authority if you are an SEZ unit, in writing:

• Which form they expect for your pre-October invoices: the answer decides whether the entry lands in EDPMS through the SOFTEX route or the EDF, so it drives everything downstream.
• Whether STPI is still accepting SOFTEX, and until when: so you know the channel is open before you prepare the paperwork, instead of finding out after the deadline.
• The late-filing route, if the 30-day SOFTEX clock has already run out: under the old rules, that meant having the delay condoned by the regional RBI office before submitting the form to STPI.

Keep their written answer with the filing, so the position is on record if the entry is ever queried.

Yes, the SOFTEX form was mandatory for software exports, with no minimum-value exemption after 2013, when the old USD 25,000 waiver was withdrawn. Declaring your exports is still mandatory today; only the form changed. From 1 October 2026 every exporter of services, software included, files the EDF instead.

Software versus other services still decides two things, even under one form:

• Where it goes: a software exporter in the Domestic Tariff Area files with an AD bank or STPI; other service exporters file with the AD bank only, and SEZ units file with the Development Commissioner in both cases.
• The payment-receipt option: a non-software service exporter may file the EDF on or before the date they receive payment; a software exporter cannot, and files within 30 days of month-end.

SOFTEX covered software not exported as goods and excluded services that used IT as a tool, known as ITeS. Under the EDF that split no longer decides which form you use, because ITeS is a service and goes on the EDF too.

A small-value route also exists. Where a service invoice is up to ₹10 lakh, the EDPMS entry can be closed on your own declaration. Your bank can confirm whether the EDF itself is still expected for that invoice.

The SOFTEX form was due 30 days from the invoice, or from the last invoice of the month for a monthly batch. A reasonable reading of the 2026 saving clause keeps that old clock for invoices up to 30 September 2026.

For invoices from 1 October 2026, the EDF is due within 30 days from the end of the month in which the invoice was raised, so an October invoice is due by 30 November 2026. Your AD bank can extend that on a reasoned request. The worked due dates, late filing and penalties sit in the SOFTEX filing guide.

Under SOFTEX, size and legal form did not matter. Companies, LLPs, SaaS providers, proprietorships and independent developers who exported software in non-physical form all filed it, and a proprietor or freelancer could register with STPI as a Non-STP unit to do so.

For businesses, the EDF position is clear. A company, LLP, partnership or proprietorship that exports software or other services files the EDF for every invoice raised from 1 October 2026, whatever the invoice value, with the ₹10 lakh small-value route above as the only relief on the EDPMS side.

For individuals, it is less settled. At the RBI's press conference on 7 October 2026, the Governor said individuals, "whether for imports or for exports, irrespective of the amount, are not required to be reported", and gave tutoring or "some small software" as examples. The Deputy Governor added that the reporting does not cover "contracts of a personal nature". Those are spoken remarks, not a notification.

The regulation text itself carries no individual carve-out, and "personal nature" and sole-proprietor status are left undefined. The RBI has promised a clarifying FAQ that it has not yet published. Until it does, a freelancer billing overseas clients should ask their AD bank whether an EDF is expected, rather than assume either way.

SOFTEX is retired for new invoices. Under the old route you generated a SOFTEX number, then filed the form with STPI or the SEZ authority, which certified it and passed it to your AD bank. That route now matters only for invoices raised up to 30 September 2026, and only where your bank or STPI confirms it is still open.

Invoices raised from 1 October 2026 go on the EDF, filed with your AD bank or STPI in the Domestic Tariff Area, or with the Development Commissioner for an SEZ unit. The SOFTEX filing guide walks through each step.

The SOFTEX form needed the export invoice, the client contract, your registrations and your bank details. The value, currency and description had to match across the invoice, the form and the bank credit, because the bank reconciled all three.

• The export invoice: raised on the foreign client, with the value and currency on it.
• The client contract: a master service agreement, statement of work or purchase order describing the software.
• Your registrations: Importer Exporter Code (IEC), PAN and GST details, plus your Non-STP, STP or SEZ reference.
• STPI extras: a covering letter, the signed form and a datacom or internet bill showing the work went offshore.

The purpose code is easy to get wrong. P0802 covered software implementation and consultancy receipts that sat outside SOFTEX. Off-site software exports, the ones SOFTEX actually covered, were reported under P0807. You can read what sits under P0802 to see the difference.

Under the EDF, your bank assigns the purpose code that fits the receipt; ask it which supporting documents it wants with the EDF.

A SOFTEX number was the control reference the RBI allotted for a software export before the declaration was filed. You could not file without one. You generated it online on the RBI's own site, for each transaction, by entering your exporter details and the type of export, with no fee to generate it.

Large exporters, with turnover of at least ₹1,000 crore or at least 600 forms a year, were allotted a block of numbers once a year instead.

For a September invoice still on the old route, ask STPI whether a SOFTEX number is still needed. An EDF for an invoice raised from 1 October goes to your AD bank or STPI, or the Development Commissioner for an SEZ unit, and the bank records it in EDPMS, the database where every export declaration is matched to its inward payment.

Exporting software or services is a zero-rated supply under GST, which is why compliance that looks like pure RBI paperwork also protects your refund.

Since 1 October 2023 you make a zero-rated supply under a bond or Letter of Undertaking (LUT) without paying IGST, then claim a refund of unused input tax credit. Paying IGST and claiming it back later is now open only to the classes of supplier the government notifies.

For the refund itself, CGST Rule 89 asks for your export invoices and the matching Bank Realisation Certificate (BRC) or Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC). It never asked for SOFTEX and does not ask for an EDF. Those are the RBI-side export record; the BRC or FIRC is what the GST officer checks.

The filing itself, SOFTEX or EDF, is done by you, your CA or your STPI consultant. What Xflow handles is the payment behind it: collecting the money, converting it and giving you the eFIRA.

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• Inside the regulatory perimeter: Xflow Payments India Private Limited holds final Payment Aggregator - Cross Border (PA-CB) authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India as of February 2026, which is the fully approved stage past in-principle, and is ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certified.
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