Indian TDS Tax Withholding on Upwork Earnings

[lenaellis]

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.

[atn05]

Hi All,

The TDS deducted from my earnings by UpWork has not been reflected in TRACES for me. Is anybody else from India having the same issue?

Thanks!

[nabhassy]

In my case it was correct. Note that TDS is deducted before 1st April 2021 will only be reflected.

[f0d6aa6b]

So I can see there's an update on my Traces for Jan-Mar '21 period... the booking date is shown as 20 Jul '21 (guessing that's when they uploaded the stuff onto traces maybe)

Nothing yet for Oct-Dec '20 span. Can someone confirm if it's been updated for both their quarters?!

[manshul]

As from Nov 2020 Upwork started deducting tax in India, they have deducted tax but the tax amount is not there in Form 26as, and also form 16 is not provided by upwork team. How can we file or an ITR without knowing how much exact amount they have deducted as they deduct the amount in dollars but the currency conversion also varies. Moreover they have not reported the tax deduction to income tax department as its not there in form 26as, in a article they have (here) mentioned that it will reflect until end of April but its still not available and i didn't receieve any forms. Its july end and I need to file an ITR. The last date is september 2021. Please help.

Thanks

Anshul Thakur

[sanganipratik]

Hi Anil, when you say the amounts are correct, how do you cross-check the same? I mean we only get the information of USD amounts on Upwork and INR on TRACES?

[vinod111]

Hello,

We will need to file the ITR for FY 20-21 and for which we need a form 16 from Upwork to know the details about TDS. Are there any updates on when we will receive this?

Please let me know if it's already shared and where to find this on the Upwork website.

Thanks,

Vinod

[nabhassy]

Hi Pratik,

Just convert it to INR. (Around 73 Rs for USD). You cannot get the exact conversion rate.  
Or you can do the reverse and find the exchange rate for each transaction. It will be between Rs 72 and Rs 74

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Pratik S wrote:

Hi Anil, when you say the amounts are correct, how do you cross-check the same? I mean we only get the information of USD amounts on Upwork and INR on TRACES?

---

[VladimirG]

Hi Vinod,

Thank you for contacting Upwork. We truly appreciate your patience, as we recognize how critical it is for you to have necessary tax documents in a timely manner. As a result of COVID-19, there have been significant delays in processing the 16A forms needed, but we are working closely with the India Government to obtain these as soon as possible.

Upwork has submitted taxes on transactions made from January through March 2021 to the government on 15 July 2021. (please visit TRACES). This year has been a challenging transition year for Upwork to address TDS requirements in India. We appreciate your understanding and patience throughout this transition. Please check TDS records on TRACES to confirm that the taxes withheld by Upwork have been properly credited to the account associated with the PAN you provided to us.

You will receive an alert as soon as the documents are processed. Again, we appreciate your patience and understanding.

[natun]

Hi Anil,
I have not been able to see any data on traces, there is no data available, it just opens and shows 'Quarterly statement not filed' and record 0.
Could you please let me know the steps to check, I have provided the correct PAn to upwork though.
And do I need to open an account on traces?
Thank you,

**Edited for Community Guidelines** 

[vishbpatel]

I am able to see the data from Jan -21 to Mar-21 in form 26 as but WHT data from Oct -20 to Dec-20 is missing.

Can you please shade more light on this?