VAT / Tax ID for publishers in INDIA

[avideveloper]

Hello, can anyone tell us what exactly is required to be entered in the 'VAT /Tax ID' field by publishers in INDIA. The field says 'TIN number in India' is it the VAT TIN number?

In such a case we will have to file a VAT return to the state government and also deposit the VAT collected but Ovi won't be forwarding the VAT collected to us, so does that means we will have to deposit VAT to our tax authorities from our revenue share?

Are there any publishers from INDIA??

Best Regards,
Avi

[vinothg]

That is a good question. I never thought about it because i haven't recieved my payment still. But i feel the tax deducted at source (OVI) is country specific VAT. so the amount we recieve should be treated as profit and VAT must be paid in India.

[jimgilmour1]

That is a good question. I never thought about it because i haven't recieved my payment still. But i feel the tax deducted at source (OVI) is country specific VAT. so the amount we recieve should be treated as profit and VAT must be paid in India.

Firstly I dont know about tax in INDIA, but know that Nokia is bound by law to pay VAT on everything it sells to Finnish Tax authorities.

This in Europe and USA is called the "withholding tax" and Mobile phones and computer software come under this category as in past the "missing trader" problem has occurred,where the final payee of VAT has "disappeared".

Therefore in UK/Europe/US its down to supplier of goods (you) to recover the VAT from tax authorities if you are not responsible for paying VAT.

In U.K. this would be (as of 01 may 2010) better to pay the 17.5% VAT tax rather than than the 22.5% income tax, plus the resulting paperwork.

You should receive by email a statement of payment to your bank account from Nokia and this should say tax paid, the % rate, and the amount paid.

The important point is that tax is paid up front at the rate in place for that purchasers (mobile users) country


Thanks,
Jim

[petrib]

AFAIK, India has some specific rules for e-commerce of digital content, where, e.g., content should be served from/through servers residing in India.

There are also issues for the merchant on record, where the revenue should stay/remain in India (an Indian subsidiary or joint-venture company).

In the case of Nokia, and an Indian content provider/developer, the payment is presumably made locally (by Nokia India, and not Nokia Corp., which is incorporated in Finland).

If the content provider/developer is not based in India, then Nokia still has to leave that specific revenue in India, but pay the content provider/developer off money collected in some other country.

That results in interesting accounting and revenue share/taxation calculations in an already complicated value chain, I'm sure.