Tax Collected at Source (TCS) for Indian Freelancers

Changes to the Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) in India mean that, from 1 October 2018, online marketplaces with an e-commerce component are responsible for collecting a small portion of the transaction value for services supplied online from India, and remitting it to the government.

The new Tax Collected at Source (TCS) rule is a component of the CGST. It requires Freelancer.com to assume responsibility for collecting 1% deduction from the pre-tax net value of taxable services supplied through the Freelancer.com marketplace by freelancers in India. 

This deduction applies especially to Indian users earning 20 Lakhs (2 million INR) or more annually. If this is you, you need to supply us your GSTIN via the Payment & Financials page. Note that payouts will be unavailable to you until a GSTIN is added to your account.

     1. Click your profile photo thumbnail, and choose Settings on the sidebar.

     2. Click Payment & Financials.

     3. Go to the Tax Information section.

     4. Enter your GST Identification Number.

     5. Click Add GSTIN.

A banner is also displayed across all pages on the site reminding users who have yet to configure their GSTIN for TCS purposes. 

If your annual earning does not go over the threshold, or your service is exempt from tax, you still need to visit the Payment & Financials page to declare why you are exempted from GST. Your payout option will be disabled until your Tax settings is updated.

  1. From the Payment & Financials page, click Are you exempt from GSTIN?.

2. Select a reason for not having GSTIN.

3. Click Save Reason to complete. 

Note: For proper reporting of your tax obligations to your government, we expect that all information in your tax settings is true and correct. (1) For users who initially declared that they are earning below the threshold, but are actually earning beyond the threshold within the platform alone, or (2) for those who declared that their service is exempted from tax before, you will be prompted to add your GST, and your payout option will be disabled until you comply. Furthermore, the option to opt-out from TCS will no longer be available in your Settings page. 

GST Number per State

We have a different registered GST Number for each state in India. You may need our registered GST Number in your state for tax returns and tax refund purposes: