Skip to main content

Calculation of Tax on Foreign Exchange Conversion


The implementation of GST (Goods And Service Tax) on July 1, 2017 has revised the tax structure of transactions on several goods and services, including forex services in India. The revised rates for forex services come as a welcome move as the taxes often lie between 0.05% to 0.18% of the total forex transaction. When partaking in any kind of foreign exchange services like currency exchange, money transfer, or buying a forex card, one is only expected to pay the GST; and as per the directive from the Government of India, one is expected to pay 18% on the forex transactions that comes under the taxable value bracket.

So what is “taxable value”? Taxable value is the set portion of the transaction upon which tax is levied. This reduces the amount of tax one has to pay on forex services greatly. Currently the government has set up 3 slabs of taxable value, based on the amounts of transactions.

Slab 1: Up To Rs. 1 Lakh: On forex transactions up to Rs. 1 lakh, the taxable value stands at 1%, and the minimum taxable value is at Rs. 250.
Here 1% of Rs. 25,000 is Rs. 250. Thus for transactions up to Rs. 25,000, the taxable value is Rs. 250.
18% of this taxable value (Rs. 250) is a mere Rs. 45.
Hence the minimum tax one has to pay in Slab 1 is Rs. 45.
Similarly, the maximum payable tax is Rs. 180.

Slab 2: Rs. 1 Lakh to Rs. 10 Lakh: In Slab 2, the taxable value is calculated as 1000 + 0.5% of the amount above 1 lakh.
Considering the value of transaction to be Rs. 5 lakh, then
Taxable value = 1000 + (0.5% * 4) = 1000 + 2000 = 3000
Actual tax = 18% of 3000 = Rs. 540.
Similarly, calculating the lower limit (tax on Rs. 1 lakh transaction) and upper limit (tax on Rs. 10 lakh transaction), we get the lower and upper limit of taxes for Slab 2, which is Rs. 180 and Rs. 990, respectively. 

To know more about Service Tax on Forex Transactions in India, visit source blog.
Source: https://yourexpertguide.wordpress.com/2019/04/12/tax-you-have-to-pay-on-foreign-exchange-transactions-in-india/


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Know How Exchange Rates Work and What Affects Them?

Planning to travel abroad anytime soon? Then, you would definitely need to brush up on forex currency exchange and currency exchange rates. You would need to know how to buy forex and also look up the best money exchange locations . Before that, it helps to understand what international money exchange is all about. Essentially, foreign exchange rate is the amount or value of one currency vis-a-vis the other. What is the worth of one unit of your currency in another country’s unit of currency? So, if your country’s currency is the rupee, and you are travelling to the US, for example, what is the worth of a rupee in relation to the US dollar, and how many rupees would you need to shell out to convert it into one US dollar? That is what you would need to understand when you head out to buy forex. Foreign exchange is also the world market where currencies trade. The US dollar is still considered the dominant currency across the world, and many a time, currency exchan...

What Are The Best Travel Money Options?

So, you are heading on a foreign trip and wondering what your travel money options are. Should you get a forex card , an ICICI bank travel card or just get enough foreign cash via currency exchange ? Should you opt for debit/credit cards or travellers’ cheques? So many questions keep going round in your head, and the whole thing can be quite daunting right? Not really, if you do some homework. Ideally, you should keep some spare cash but also get one of the forex cards for the bigger expenses. How about a HDFC forex card or an Axis bank forex card? You could pick one of them. A combination of various options is a good way to carry your money. First, let’s look at forex cards. Foreign exchange cards You can use your card to buy stuff at a mall or a market, spend on tickets, pay for your food at restaurants or order food/buy online. You can get in touch with your bank in your home country and load currency on to the card; this could be any of th...