Digital Taxes in India - Then, Now and Next

12/08/2020 | Completed Event

The tax from digital advertising has been expanded to nearly all online commerce activities in India. It was recently that India announced ‘Equalisation Levy’ in its new avatar as a 2 percent levy on online supply of goods and provision of services by a non-resident e-commerce operator in India, which has taken the technology industry by surprise due to its far outreach. In this context, World Trade Center organised a webinar as titled above with the objective to create awareness on what the levy actually is and how it can impact companies.

Mr. Sandeep Jhunjhunwala, Partner, Nangia Andersen LLP, Bangalore and Mr. Shailesh Kumar, Partner, Nangia & Co LLP, Noida were the lead speakers.

The levy brings complex questions and ambiguities on its scope and applicability. The webinar covered the digital economy in general and how this levy evolved since it was introduced a few years back. Mr. Sahailesh compared the EQL 1.0 vs 2.0 and the thrust latter provides for e-commerce players.There was also a brief on how this is taxed globally.Mr.Sandeep took up case studies and explained the other nuances of the law including the opposition arguments posed by the US.

The programme conducted in association with NASSCOM had participants from online marketplaces, travel aggregators, market research platforms, subscription-based platforms, including social media, cloud services, search engines, dating, and matrimonial services, streaming and online gaming, music, movies, books, international tours and travel, hospitality, online card payment networks, cross border money transfer service providers, e-wallets and payment banks.There was also opportunity for participants to clarify their queries. Dr. Bose Nair, Vice President,World Trade Center and Mr. Sujith Unni, Regional Head-NASSCOM also spoke.