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Upwork Charging GST for Australian Freelancers and Agencies

lenaellis
Community Member

Recently, Australia introduced a new law applying their Goods and Services Tax (GST) to international sales of services and digital products provided to Australian consumers. This change means that non-Australian businesses (like Upwork) will be required to collect GST on our sales to Australian users starting July 1, 2017.

 

As a result, we’re asking freelancers and agencies in Australia to do the following:

  1. Provide their Australian Business Number (ABN)
  2. Acknowledge they’re registered for GST

 

To provide your ABN number and acknowledge that you are registered for GST, go to Settings > Tax Information, or click here.

 

Users who provide their ABN and GST info to Upwork will not be charged GST by Upwork.

 

 

If you’re an Australian freelancer or agency and you’re not registered for GST or do not have an ABN, Upwork is required to charge the 10% GST on applicable Upwork fees (e.g. Upwork service fees, membership fees, and purchases of additional Connects) and report it to the Australian Taxation Office. These freelancers and agencies will see this GST charge as a separate amount on their Transaction History page and invoices from Upwork to you.

 

Here’s an example of how it would work:

 

Your contract amount

$100.00

Upwork service fee (20% x $100)

-$20.00

GST on the service fee (10% x $20)

-$2.00

Take home earnings after fees and GST

$78.00

 

 

For more information on applying for an ABN, see here

For more information on registering for GST, see here

For more information on our GST policy, please see the help article here.

 

If you have questions, let us know.

40 Comments
VladimirG
Community Manager

Hi Kshama,

 

1) I raised the request prior to posting a message on the community and only got your attention once I posted here.

 

You're partially correct, that you've submitted a request yesterday without me asking for it. However, we did communicate yesterday.

 

2) What is "soon"? Can I get a date? I updated my details on 19th June 2017 - the SAME day I received an email from Upwork to update my details. I have waited for 25 days already!

 

I escalated your case with our team earlier and you will get a response from our team today, probably in the next couple of hours. The error was discovered recently and we are still working on refunding the GST fee to affected users.

 

3) I am not sure what is taking you so long to "review" my ABN and GST details as all you need to do is visit http://abr.business.gov.au/ and type my ABN number and click "search". This shows my name, my ABN and GST registration details.

 

Unfortunately, and error was discovered recently, please check my reply above.

 

Can anyone else in the community please help the Upwork team out here to verify my details as they are struggling to visit this website http://abr.business.gov.au/ since the last 25 days. Please click on the website and enter my ABN 66143749417 and you should see all my registration details. Anyone who has internet can visit this website, please do the same and copy paste the details you see here to help Upwork verify it.

 

This would really help me get the wrongly charged GST amount back! Thank you.

 

Please see my responses above, we apologize for the frustration and will share an update with you through your support ticket. Thank you for your understanding.

 


 

kshama_w
Community Member

Hi Community members,

 

Just thought will post the "resolution" I received from Upwork today.

 

1) Though I updated my ABN + GST details on Upwork on 19th June '17 I received an emal from Upwork stating the GST charged to me on 12th will not be reversed as there was a delay from their end to approve this. It does not matter if I have updated the details on time, if they have missed approving this it will still be considered my fault.

 

2) Though my ABN and GST was finally approved on the 14th July 2017 (today) I am still being billed for GST on the 19th July 2017 and this future GST has also not been reversed.

 

Regard,

Kay

AveryO
Community Manager

Hi Kshama, 


I would just like to clarify that, as per the response of your Customer Support Agent, the issue has already been escalated to the appropriate department and has not been resolved.

 

The customer support agent mentioned that you will not be issued a refund IF you updated your details after 1-July. But since, you were able to update you details two weeks ahead of the deadline, she escalated both points you have raised here so that it can be loooked into.

kshama_w
Community Member

Hi Avery,

 

Just so you know my case 19154517 was closed without resolution. There was a call scheduled to resolve my case with me today but when I asked what was the input needed from me to resolve this I was told they do not need any input! So basically the team has all the information to reverse my wrongly charged GST but they do nothing, then they close my case as "solved" as it was going out of SLA and schedule a call with me so it looks like the case is pending with me even when there was no input needed from me.

 

My GST issue has still not been addressed and I am not sure why this has been pending for 7 days now.

 

No one has even acknowledged that there is an issue with my account.

 

This was my first experience raising a ticket for an issue on Upwork and it has been a nightmare!

 

Regards,

Kay

VladimirG
Community Manager

Hi Kshama,

 

Please note that your original ticket is still open and the subsequent tickets were closed and merged into the original one, in order to keep all the messages in one place. I'll ask our team to follow up on your open ticket with an update. Thank you for your patience.

elleojg
Community Member

Do Freelancers need to charge their clients GST if they earn over $75000 if their clients are based in Aus?

 

And if so, how would Upwork do this regarding invoices, etc?

AveryO
Community Manager

Hi Joelle, 

 

GST will be assessed on fees for services provided by us, not on fees you charge your clients for services you provide your clients. These will be assessed on freelancers and agencies who live in Australia. GST will be applied to applicable Upwork fees, including the Upwork service fee, premium Upwork memberships, and purchases of Connects. This tax will be collected by Upwork and remitted to the Australian Taxation Office, unless you provide a valid ABN number and acknowledge that you're registered for GST.

Your GST is shown on invoices from Upwork to you, which can be found in your Reports > Transaction HistoryThe invoices between you and your clients will not change.

 

For more information on applying for an ABN, see here

For more information on registering for GST, see here

For more information on our GST policy, please see the help article here.

vincpa
Community Member

I need a little help on this one.

 

Up until now, Upwork sends clients the invoice, collects the money for me and deposits it into my account.

 

How can I then collect GST from them after the fact? Or is GST something I need to deduct from my net earnings?

VladimirG
Community Manager

Hi Vince,

 

Please consult a local tax advisor regarding reporting your earnings and note that the announcement here is related to the GST being applied on the services Upwork provides to you as a freelancer.

juliemcallan
Community Member

I have an Australian ABN however I am not registered for GST. The Upwork website doesn't allow me to put my ABN in without being registered for GST. However I don't earn over $75,000/year. I'm not sure how to proceed with applying for some jobs via Upwork unless I say I don't have an ABN but I do. Please advise.