15% service tax by Domain.com / Netfirms.com etc.,

[RapidNames.com]

Important Information About Your Domain.com Account

In accordance with a new Indian law that took effect on December 1, 2016, all electronically supplied products and services sold by non-Indian companies will be impacted by a new 15% service tax. In compliance with this law, Domain.com will be applying this tax to all products and services sold to Indian customers. You will see this charge reflected in your next billing statement.

If you are exempt from the Indian Service Tax, it's important that you provide us with your registration number so we can reflect your exemption on your account. Log in now to update your account information.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at 866-317-4678. Thank you for entrusting your web hosting needs to Domain.com.

Sincerely,

The Domain.com Team

Let's move to Namesilo, Namecheap & Epik

 

[Kuffy]

Politicians get greedy, and messup their countries. It's time we got rid of politicians, and appointed people with an appreciation of business and world trade. Britain screwed up when it had the chance to become the global authority for online casinos. They tried to screw an extra couple of percent, and they lost the lot.

 

[anantj]

This sucks. I received the same e-mail. This will basically invalidate most of their discount coupon codes. Bye bye Domain.com/Netfirms and the ilk

/cc @usernamex, @luantt

 

[ntjedge]

In accordance with a new Indian law that took effect on December 1, 2016, all electronically supplied products and services sold by non-Indian companies will be impacted by a new 15% service tax. In compliance with this law, Domain.com will be applying this tax to all products and services sold to Indian customers. You will see this charge reflected in your next billing statement.

If you are exempt from the Indian Service Tax, it's important that you provide us with your registration number so we can reflect your exemption on your account. Log in now to update your account information.

This is absurd and plain illegal.

As of July 1, 2017 there is nothing called service tax in India. Service tax & VAT/Sales Tax has been abolished and replaced by a common GST law. So if you have received this email now, Domain.com and their ilk need to hire a new CA/accounting/Legal team.

Coming to GST, the tax percentage is 18% for domains, hosting, cloud services and other online services and can only be charged by companies which are registered under the Act in India. So unless domain.com or it's representative office is present in India and has a valid GST number, they cannot charge any kind of tax from Indian customers.

Now 18% tax on the face of it looks huge but its not. This tax can claimed as a input credit every month on your sales if you are GST registered. Even individuals can get a GST registration.

Hope that helps. If you still have an account there, have a word with their customer service regarding this. And also point them to the fact that the need to be up to date with laws in the countries they are operating in.

I am surprised, them being a EIG company, they aren't aware of this. Their other child brands like HostGator, Bigrock n resellerclub have migrated properly onto the new tax rate and are registered under GST.

 

[luantt]

My domains are at MyDomain and Netfirms, I haven't got any email like yours. But at the moment there is no any code working for renewals, guess that I must move them to NameSilo or somewhere else.

 

[anantj]

My domains are at MyDomain and Netfirms, I haven't got any email like yours. But at the moment there is no any code working for renewals, guess that I must move them to NameSilo or somewhere else.

I'm guessing you're not based out of India? That's probably why

 

[luantt]

BigRock now add tax for customers outside India also. I have no idea about it,

I'm guessing you're not based out of India? That's probably why

yes, I'm not Indian.
But BigRock used to add tax for only Indian based customer, now I have to pay tax too. Cannot understand why.
Hope Domain.com and other sisters won't

 

[anantj]

BigRock now add tax for customers outside India also. I have no idea about it,
yes, I'm not Indian.
But BigRock used to add tax for only Indian based customer, now I have to pay tax o. Cannot understand why.
Hope Domain.com and other sisters won't

That's very odd. BigRock should not be doing this. But then BigRock is based out of India so that could complicate matters. Domain.com and others are not based out of India so I'm fairly sure they'll not apply an additional tax. Just like how EU based registrars don't charge me VAT for purchases from them

 

[ntjedge]

I cannot speak for other countries, however, I believe no country's laws allow charging tax over cross border transactions - except maybe countries within EU. - Please correct me if I am wrong.

For India, this is the situation for sale of online services:

Scenario 1: Business in India & GST registered
- Charge 18% tax on domestic sales
- Don't charge any tax on International sales (it is considered 'export of services' and exports are exempted from taxes.)

Scenario 2: Business in India & GST Registered
- Don't charge tax on ANY sales.

Things to note:

"Business in India"
The company should be a registered company (any format) or a subsidiary/representative office of any international company operating in India

"GST Registered"
The business/individual should be registered under the GST Law in India - This is a central registration governed through each state. The registration is simple and straightforward. There is no "applied" or "pending" statuses in GST application. Either you have a GST registration (and therefore a GST number) or you don't!

Hope that helps.

 

[ntjedge]

BigRock now add tax for customers outside India also. I have no idea about it,

But BigRock used to add tax for only Indian based customer, now I have to pay tax too. Cannot understand why.

I am guessing BigRock is operating as two entities - BigRock.com & BigRock.in though it seems to be a single company. BigRock.in is based out of Mumbai, India so they have to charge a tax on all domestic sales. They CANNOT charge taxes on international sales. This is crystal clear. If they are charging tax on international sales then they are grossly violating the rules here.

Now, I believe BigRock.com is based out of the US. I am not sure about the taxation part in the US but I am guessing they cannot charge tax on international sales.

 

[godolphin]

@ntjedge

I heard that even if a GST reg'd business in India buys a domain from say example Uniregistry.com they have to pay 18% GST under the REVERSE CHARGE MECHANISM and then claim it back under the INPUT TAX CREDIT as is being done with purchases on GoDaddy India.

Is it right?

On a personal note, tax awareness of type of taxes in India, how they are to be dealt with are a big learning curve. On top of it, they keep changing the rules. Hence, Indian investors / exporters of services need to keep learning and reading about 'taxes' all the time

 

[godolphin]

@ramkumaritrvs even if you shift registrars that don't charge straight up 18% GST you will have to deposit that amount under the REVERSE CHARGE MECHANISM of GST and then claim it back as Input Tax Credit. Please consult a Chartered Accountant in this matter.

Tax compliance nowadays takes lot of time

 

[alcy]

Important Information About Your Domain.com Account

In accordance with a new Indian law that took effect on December 1, 2016, all electronically supplied products and services sold by non-Indian companies will be impacted by a new 15% service tax. In compliance with this law, Domain.com will be applying this tax to all products and services sold to Indian customers. You will see this charge reflected in your next billing statement.

If you are exempt from the Indian Service Tax, it's important that you provide us with your registration number so we can reflect your exemption on your account. Log in now to update your account information.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at 866-317-4678. Thank you for entrusting your web hosting needs to Domain.com.

Sincerely,

The Domain.com Team

Let's move to Namesilo, Namecheap & Epik

ty
but your title should probably mention its for india only. so non indians do not enter. ty.

 

[luantt]

I am guessing BigRock is operating as two entities - BigRock.com & BigRock.in though it seems to be a single company. BigRock.in is based out of Mumbai, India so they have to charge a tax on all domestic sales. They CANNOT charge taxes on international sales. This is crystal clear. If they are charging tax on international sales then they are grossly violating the rules here.

Now, I believe BigRock.com is based out of the US. I am not sure about the taxation part in the US but I am guessing they cannot charge tax on international sales.

Yah, i purchased at BigRock.in, have no idea why me and all of users from my country had to pay tax
I asked the support girl and she also so said no tax for out of India customers but we couldn't remove the tax at check out.

 

[ntjedge]

Yah, i purchased at BigRock.in, have no idea why me and all of users from my country had to pay tax
I asked the support girl and she also so said no tax for out of India customers but we couldn't remove the tax at check out.

Yea their checkout system way too buggy. Coupons don't apply, tax calculations go haywire, sometimes privacy protection get auto-added without an option remove... Have personally come across these so I have stopped using them.