Finance Ministry To Issue FAQs On 20% TCS On International Card Spends

The Finance Ministry will soon be issuing a Frequently Asked Questions document on the applicability of 20% tax collected at source.

There have been many discussions underway between the Finance Minister, Finance Secretary, Revenue Secretary, and other senior officials regarding the subject, Raman Chopra, joint secretary at the revenue department, said at an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry on Friday.

Chopra was replying to a question on how the ministry would distinguish personal and corporate transactions made abroad on international credit cards.

He said the TCS legislation has not yet kicked in and will apply on July 1, 2023.

"We will certainly come out with some FAQs that will clarify beyond any reasonable doubt what and how and in what manner TCS is to be collected, to what extent the threshold is available, and what TCS is not to be collected," he said.

A clarification from the ministry is due soon, said Chopra, without disclosing a specific date.

In May, the government made an exception to the TCS legislation where small payments made on international debit or credit cards, up to Rs 7 lakh in a financial year, will be excluded from the 20% tax collected at source.

Finance Secretary TV Somanathan had previously clarified on a TV programme that the intention was not to inconvenience people with smaller transactions. The extent of the impact of the legislation is a temporary effect on personal transactions, as it can be adjusted when taxes are filed, he said.