GST (Goods and Services Tax) has been introduced in India and is awaited to be implemented. GST is an indirect tax system, a uniform which will subsume other various taxes like VAT, Sales Tax etc. it is still in process as full information is yet to be announced but it sure will have an appreciable impact on bloggers and other affiliated markets in India.
Blogging is an art of writing content on the internet. Almost every internet companies have a blog or learn section on their website to increase their reach and impact on people. When the blog become famous it generates more income from advertisements. Even there are lot of the famous bloggers like Harsh agarwal who’s make money more than a average salary or engineer or doctor in India.
The income from advertisements is treated as service under the Indian tax regime and they have taxed accordingly. Although there was little clarity on the registration for service tax.
Under GST they fall under the Online Information and database access or retrieval services(OIDARS) i.e. the one who provide electronic services like digital content (movies, e-books, music, shows) advertising on the internet, digital data storage, online gaming, data or information retrievable in electronic form, cloud services etc.
The GST Registration is compulsory if you fulfill the given conditions. In those conditions there are 3 conditions which affect the Bloggers which are following:
Apart from this blogger can also earn their income through advertising.but if your blog is earning income through advertisements within their state then they are exempted from the GST Registration if your annual turnover does not exceed Rs 20 Lakh. But if you provide services outside your state then you will have to register for GST even if your turnover is less than Rs 20 Lakh annually.
If any person fails to take GST registration, then he shall be liable for two penalties
When one evades GST registration that is required to register or does not pay taxes or makes short payment, a penalty of 10% of the tax amount of minimum of Rs 10,000 will be levied on them.
Where one commits fraud while filling GST, a penalty of 100% of the tax amount evaded/short deducted etc or a minimum of 10,000 will be levied on him.
There is the export of services in following conditions:
Your place of supply of service is considered outside India if the blog or website serving to a recipient not falling into following conditions:
Once blogger registers for GST it has to comply with following:
If we talk about the Adsense income then ultimately bloggers are providing the advertisement services to Google but it’s a very difficult to track the each earning location wise or charge the gst from advertiser & pay to the government. So you can say GST right now practically possible on the direct sale of advertisement instead of any ad publishing network.
[box]Above article is contributed by Devyash Patel who is Founder at MyOnlineCA which made legal at your fingertips from Register a Company in India to handling legal documentation.[/box]
What is blogging and how it is taxed currently?
Blogging is an art of writing content on the internet. Almost every internet companies have a blog or learn section on their website to increase their reach and impact on people. When the blog become famous it generates more income from advertisements. Even there are lot of the famous bloggers like Harsh agarwal who’s make money more than a average salary or engineer or doctor in India.
The income from advertisements is treated as service under the Indian tax regime and they have taxed accordingly. Although there was little clarity on the registration for service tax.
Under GST they fall under the Online Information and database access or retrieval services(OIDARS) i.e. the one who provide electronic services like digital content (movies, e-books, music, shows) advertising on the internet, digital data storage, online gaming, data or information retrievable in electronic form, cloud services etc.
When is registration compulsory for Bloggers?
The GST Registration is compulsory if you fulfill the given conditions. In those conditions there are 3 conditions which affect the Bloggers which are following:
- Your turnover in a financial year exceeds Rs 20lakhs (Rs 10 lakhs for Special category states).
When the blog earns a turnover exceeding Rs 20 Lakhs or 10 Lakhs for special category states then you have to get yourself register under the GST Regime. - You make inter-state supply of goods and/or services (which is often the case for a blogger)
Even if you are not earning Rs 20 Lakhs or more annually from your blog then also you have to get a GST registration when you supply services out of your state i.e Blog is read and visited by people outside of your state etc and providing advertisement services to advertiser outside your state or any other service like seo consultancy or content writing service etc.
Apart from this blogger can also earn their income through advertising.but if your blog is earning income through advertisements within their state then they are exempted from the GST Registration if your annual turnover does not exceed Rs 20 Lakh. But if you provide services outside your state then you will have to register for GST even if your turnover is less than Rs 20 Lakh annually.
Consequence of not registering GST or committing fraud
If any person fails to take GST registration, then he shall be liable for two penalties
- For No Registration – Up to Rs.25,000
- For no return filing – Rs.100 per return per day.
When one evades GST registration that is required to register or does not pay taxes or makes short payment, a penalty of 10% of the tax amount of minimum of Rs 10,000 will be levied on them.
Where one commits fraud while filling GST, a penalty of 100% of the tax amount evaded/short deducted etc or a minimum of 10,000 will be levied on him.
What is the rate of GST and export of services?
- The GST Rate for bloggers is 18% Rate.
- No tax is payable under GST for export of services.
There is the export of services in following conditions:
- The supplier of service i.e. blogger or website owner is located in India
- The recipient of service is located outside India.
- The payment of service is received in convertible foreign exchange.
- The place of supply of service is outside India.
Your place of supply of service is considered outside India if the blog or website serving to a recipient not falling into following conditions:
- Location of address given by the recipient of service is in India.
- Credit/debit card or any other cards used for payment has been issued in India
- Billing address of recipient of service is in India.
- IP address of device used by recipient of service is in India
- Bank of recipient in which account is used for payment is in India
- Country code of SIM is in India
- Location of fixed land line through which service is received by recipient is in India.
Compliances after GST registration for Bloggers
Once blogger registers for GST it has to comply with following:
- File outward return (sales return) by 10th of the following month
- File inward return (purchase return) by 15th of the following month
- File consolidated return by 20th of the following month.
- Pay all required taxes by 20th of the following month.
- Upload each and every invoice to the government portal.
Complications under the Adsense Income :
If we talk about the Adsense income then ultimately bloggers are providing the advertisement services to Google but it’s a very difficult to track the each earning location wise or charge the gst from advertiser & pay to the government. So you can say GST right now practically possible on the direct sale of advertisement instead of any ad publishing network.
[box]Above article is contributed by Devyash Patel who is Founder at MyOnlineCA which made legal at your fingertips from Register a Company in India to handling legal documentation.[/box]
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