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Indian TDS Tax Withholding on Upwork Earnings

lenaellis
Community Member

Starting October 1st, Upwork will begin withholding Tax Deducted at Source, TDS, from payments to freelancers and agencies located in India as part of a new tax law enforced by the Indian government.

 

As part of our continued efforts to remain compliant with tax laws in India, we are asking that our customers in India provide their Income Tax Identification number in the “Tax Info” section under “Settings”. For purposes of TDS withholding, the Indian government will accept either a Permanent Account Number (PAN) or an Aadhaar number. Please be sure to use the correct format for your PAN or Aadhaar number as defined by the Indian government:


  • PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric entry, i.e., A A A A A # # # # A
    # = Numeric   A = Alphabetic 
  • Aadhaar is a 12-digit numeric entry


For those freelancers and agencies that have provided a PAN or an Aadhaar number:

We are required to withhold 0.75% of all your payments, starting with the first dollar you earn as of October 1, 2020, and forward it to the Indian government. The rate is scheduled to increase to 1% on April 1, 2021.

 

For those freelancers and agencies that have not provided a PAN or an Aadhaar number:

We will be required to withhold 5% of all your Upwork earnings and forward it to the Indian government. You will be able to claim a tax credit or refund from the Indian government should you pay more taxes than required. 



You will need to add a PAN or Aadhaar number in order to keep the withholding tax at .75% of your earnings.  Click here to Add Income Tax Identification.

 

To learn more about Indian TDS, click here

 

Let us know if you have any questions.



 

492 Comments
jkhamesra
Community Member

Hi Joanne,

 

Thanks for reposting this!

 

Seems like we will get TDS certificate from upwork every month and we can claim Tax credit/refund if they cut extra from Indian Gov. Make sense?

 

Thanks Again!

J

k-kundan
Community Member

Nitin in my opinion you are right. The TDS should not be applicable for freelancers. We are earning forign exchanges. The new tax rule is applicable for transations where one pays to foriegn e-commerce companies in Indian rupee which is converted to foreign currency. This is applicable for any purchases eg from amazon.us or google us and similar.

 

Upwork needs to look into it in more detail and take more consultation.

 

Here is more details from bloomberg https://prnt.sc/uhu8o7 

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Nisha, Amit, Bibhas and Harsh,


Thanks for your questions. If a Freelancer is working on a contract under an Agency, the payments go to the Agency's account. So the tax will be withheld on that payment, and remitted in the name (and using the PAN) of the Agency.

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Jyoti,


We've been advised that the reporting is done quarterly. So a statement will be provided to the freelancer every three months with the details of the tax withheld on their behalf.

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Harsh and others,

 

Thanks for your feedback. Upwork fees help to cover the costs of acquiring new clients and providing services like payment protection, customer support, and platform infrastructure. Regarding, the tax announced here, we are required to forward any tax we collect from our users to the Indian government.

nitinsharma91
Community Member

Another question for the Upwork legal team. The government of India has clearly stated that TDS should NOT be deducted if the gross amount doesn't exceed 500,000 INR. I don't see any mention from Upwork regarding this. Kindly clarify how are you going to ensure this?Official clause of Income Tax Department, IndiaOfficial clause of Income Tax Department, India

VladimirG
Community Manager

Hi Nitin,

 

Thanks for your question. To avoid payment and collection difficulties as well as exposures to penalties and interest, Upwork has been advised to withhold tax on all payments to users. You will be able to claim a tax credit or refund from the Indian government should you pay more taxes than required.

nitinsharma91
Community Member

 


Vladimir G wrote:

Hi Nitin,

 

Thanks for your question. To avoid payment and collection difficulties as well as exposures to penalties and interest, Upwork has been advised to withhold tax on all payments to users. You will be able to claim a tax credit or refund from the Indian government should you pay more taxes than required.



Thanks for the clarification, Vladimir. That's fine for now. However in the long run, I wish Upwork can put efforts (consult with tax experts to find a solution where you deduct TDS as per the exemptions provided in the law). 

prachi163
Community Member

Nitin Kumar S wrote:


However in the long run, I wish Upwork can put efforts (consult with tax experts to find a solution where you deduct TDS as per the exemptions provided in the law). 


This cannot happen. There is no way Upwork can figure out what a freelancer's total annual earnings are. Upwork is not the sole source of income for many freelancers.

 

The only solution here is to file for tax returns if your total annual income exempts you from paying income tax. 

nitinsharma91
Community Member

Prachi T wrote:

Nitin Kumar S wrote:


However in the long run, I wish Upwork can put efforts (consult with tax experts to find a solution where you deduct TDS as per the exemptions provided in the law). 


This cannot happen. There is no way Upwork can figure out what a freelancer's total annual earnings are. Upwork is not the sole source of income for many freelancers.

 

The only solution here is to file for tax returns if your total annual income exempts you from paying income tax. 


Then why would the government add this clause?  No deduction under sub-section (1) shall be made from any sum credited or paid or likely to be credited or paid during the previous year to the account of an e-commerce participant, being an individual or Hindu undivided family, where the gross amount of such sale or services or both during the previous year does not exceed five lakh rupees and such e-commerce participant has furnished his Permanent Account Number or Aadhaar number to the e-commerce operator.