INDIAN Authors - USA(iTin) Tax Discussion Only

Looks like everyone entering PAN . So I will also do that.

But a clear reply and confirmation from an envato staff will end any bit of confusion and every author from India will be 200% sure about it. :slight_smile:

Is there any way to request a staff reply?

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i have already submitted form with PAN as foreign tax id even before this thread started. Then i got worried after reading first few posts of this thread. fortunately we can resubmit the info and we still have some time.

i m waiting what others enter.

How many of your submitted PAN?

Me 1 :smiley:

Staff NATMAN has clearly stated that we should enquire our local tax consultant so an official reply is not going to happen.
I got reply for my email within 24 hrs from incometax dept, but advising me this

Dear Sir/Madam,

Please call at 18001801961, 1961, 0124-2438000 or mail to ask@incometax.gov.in
http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Pages/Tax-helpline.aspx

I already called their helpline, I dont think they have any idea about this. So next I am mailing ask@incometax.gov.in

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Still no clarity but have to make some progress so I’m going with a PAN number… either way you have to pay 15% TAX right? or is there any other form you can fill and pay 0% TAX ?

not by remaining in india. for that you need to move to country which has such tax treaty.

Me too submitted PAN as foreign tax id

So everyone filling PAN as foreign tax id. Suppose indian government can’t track your record for Envato so how we claim this deduction in our country? is that envato provide any documents for proof so we can show to our government & claim this deduction, I have consulting with a CA and he said they should provide a proof of our tax deduction then we can get back our money by indian government otherwise not :frowning:

Quoting from Help Center article

At the end of each financial year we’ll send to you and the IRS the appropriate IRS Form 1042 so that you can accurately report your income to your local tax authorities and claim any credits for the taxes withheld and remitted to the IRS.

We will get something called as Foreign Tax credit. So suppose you have to pay extra income tax, you can show this as deductions but looks like if your total earnings is less than the current taxable income of Rs. 2,50,000 per year you are not going to get a refund but its worth trying.

There going to be a confusion while filing tax in the future. Until now what we withdraw simply declared as income and then we make deductions. In the future, we will have to report the complex deductions made before the money credited to our local bank: [80% of List price] - [30 to 10% Author Fee deduction] - [US Withholding Tax applied to 80% of Listing price]

Anyway, hope things will be tolerable!

Guys, any idea about how to get a refund on the expenses. Because the Tax is paid for the item price, so we need to deduct Envato Author Fees, Hosting & Domain Charges, Rent, etc…

How do we do that? Do we need to submit to IRS or India? Got any solution for that?

~Surjith

Any new update about getting a ITIN, PAN or TIN in India? Because my country is a restricted country, and I should move to India before 1st Jan 2016.

Where are you from? @JafarDesigns

In India, we have PAN card, that you should apply and will get with in 10-15 days. We are using that for Foreign Tax ID number.

@surjithctly, When it comes to deductions, nothing changes while filing income tax in India - it will be same as what we did in the past.

With the addition of withholding tax, we can’t simply report our withdrawal amount as gross income. We should declare the 80% cost of items sold as gross income (which is higher than what we withdraw), then report the US withholding tax as deduction, then report the author fee as deduction. Being virtual deductions (without real transactions) we may have tough time convincing the tax authorities if they can’t grasp these things. The marketplace statement page reflects these things well but if someone looks deeply to the item page and looks purchase price of items, there are possibilities of confusion.

@VF1 I’m thinking how they are able to reduce the Tax we paid in US.
Envato Fees is deductable only for US sales right? I’m not sure how do we calculate that :frowning:

Do India, receive any $$ from the IRS each year? Any idea? I feel stupid about paying tax to a country which I didn’t even see.

@surjithctly, There is nothing to blame for losing the 15% of income since that’s the way the treaty between US and India arranged for Royalties. Call ourselves as little bit unlucky.

Note that every country including India has such withholding taxes applied for international transactions. So those with treaty benefits are lucky.

@surjithctly, I am from Afghanistan. By the way, Does the Indian Ministry of Finance give PAN to foreigners? Are the tax percentage same for foreigners and Indian authors?

I’m not sure about that. You should speak with the concerned department.

@JafarDesigns PAN is only for Indian Citizens, Corporates and firms… You can use your countries tax ID number… its the same number you use to pay Income tax.

I hope this will help

Thanks
Niraj

@JafarDesigns

US Royalty Withholding Tax rate

India: 15%
Pakistan: 0%

then why you’re moving to India, why not Pakistan ? :blush:

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PAN can be got by for foreign persons who wants to invest in India. Thats why PAN cant be used as proof of Indian Citizenship. LOL