Is the income earned from abroad is taxable in India
I am an Indian individual, selling online courses on Udemy, a USA based online learning company. I am planning to receive my monthly earnings from Udemy.com (in Dollars) to my Paypal account. The Paypal will convert $ to INR and send the money to my local bank account in INR.
My question is:-
1) Do I need to receive the fund from PayPal to the Current account or Savings account will work?
2) Whether the income earned from Abroad (USA – Udemy) is taxable in India?
3) Whatever money I receive in my Indian Bank account, Do I need to pay tax on it to the Indian Government?
4) I am just an Individual person and working alone from home, then whether it is considered as a business or a freelancing work?
Please answer question wise, one by one.
Thanks & Regards
Respected Sir, I have not received any reply yet?
Please reply Sir, expecting your response?
@david218, You have raised so many questions and all these questions are relevant questions for the younger generation in India earning while working online even if the income is generated from countries abroad and is credited to your PayPal Account. The pointwise reply is as under:
It is your sweet will either to receive or not to receive fund from PayPal to the Current or Saving Account in India. The smart person prefers to transfer the funds when the US Dollar selling price is the highest.
The income earned from Abroad for a Resident in India is Taxable as other income. However, Non-Resident Indians, living abroad and earning abroad have not to pay Tax in India as it will amount to Double Taxation. For example, if a person in India, who is getting a salary in India which is a Taxable in India, goes abroad and earns income abroad, say the USA and pays Federal Tax in the USA, is not supposed to pay Tax on that income. However, if that income is remitted to India and the person earns Interest income on the amount then interest income will be taxable in India.
I think that the income earned by you from Udemy is not subjected to Tax in the country of origin of income and you are a resident Indian. In this situation, you can report this income in your Indian ITR as income from other sources.
It will be treated as Freelancing work as neither you are selling any products nor selling any services in India or abroad which can be subjected to GST (Goods and Services Tax). Moreover, GST is not applicable up to the turnover of Rs.20 Lacs.
I have tried my level best to answer all the points but in case you want to ask a further question please do not hesitate to ask.I am also a leading CIBIL Consultant
Thank you, Ashok Goyal Sir for your reply. IF I am receiving the earned money from USA (udemy.com) via PayPal to my Savings account then I will get 3.5% of annual interest. Better I will open a new current account in the name of Business and be a Sole Proprietor. Then I can save income tax know because I am not earning any interest on my income and moreover it is coming from Abroad.
I am an Individual working alone from home, I create online courses and host on Udemy. The Udemy market my course and give me the total earned money by monthly payment. But, this is my main source of Income. As of now, I am getting around $100 which comes to Rs. 6,000 per month approx. But, If the number of courses increases the sells will also increase. In that case, I may go beyond 2.5 lakh per month and then I need to pay tax as per slab rate. And, it would be around 5% till 5 lakh per annum.
And, according to me, I am not planning to register for GST since my turnover is less than 20 Lakhs. I am selling digital products online (courses) but not in India but to Udemy and USA based company.
But, as you told me that – “I think that the income earned by you from Udemy is not subjected to Tax in the country of origin of income and you are a resident Indian. In this situation, you can report this income in your Indian ITR as income from other sources.”
Please clarify and suggest me Sir.
Yes you are right. Udemy is not deducting any tax. I was getting the entire amount in PayPal. But PayPal used to charge fees for lending money to account and $ to INR conversion fee. The charge was higher.
So I switched to (payoneer.com) this month only, which charges 2% of the total amount received and then the entire amount is sent to my bank account. Please note that there is no way to hold the receiver payment, it is automatically gets transferred to bank account within 24 hours, this is as per the RBI guidelines to such companies. Hence, I cannot hold the money till the value of dollar rises.