I am a freelance writer. I look for jobs on a foreign website (US based) and earn my income by working on this site.
I charge an hourly rate to my clients and use the billing software provided by the website for billing hours worked to my clients (all based outside India). The clients pay my fee in USD to the website, which holds the funds in a temporary account (again, in USD).
Every month, I withdraw the money from the website into my HDFC account. The website's bank deposits the funds into my account after converting it into INR.
I would like to know:
1. Does my work constitute an "export of services"?
2. Do I need to pay service tax?
3. Would I need to register for service tax and if so, when would I need to do this?
4. Are there any other regulatory requirements I need to follow concerning service tax - whether I pay service tax or not such as filing returns of service tax etc.?
12 November 2014
Hi Anthony, 1) As per place of provision of service - if service recipient is located out side India then it will be export of service
2) For export of services , service tax not applicable.
3) if your gross receipt cross 9 lac then registration required.
4) you need to file six monthly ST 3 return for year.