APPLICABILITY OF GST ON YOUTUBE CONTENT CREATOR
The YouTube platform is a subsidiary of Google, a US-based company that allows anyone to open a channel and post videos. In turn, the company also earns by running advertisements and other promotional material on the videos hosted on it.
A YouTuber is a person who runs a channel on YouTube. A YouTuber begins earning money when the channel gains a specific number of subscribers and when views on the videos surpass a certain threshold level as per YouTube policy.
On the other hand, a blogger refers to a person who provides space for brands to place their advertisement. Facilitator agencies mediate between bloggers and brands to work as advertising channels. Mostly, bloggers use advertising portals such as Google AdSense to earn income when advertisements placed on their blogs get clicks. Google AdSense functions as a medium, and bloggers will not know the advertisers behind the system.
Could a Youtuber & Blogging Income be Said as a ‘Supply’?
Section 7 of the CGST act mentioned the supply beneath the GST. Any transaction would arrive beneath the GST if it is covered beneath the supply definition. Moreover, the supply of goods or services with the consideration of executing the business would be a supply.
The service is also described beneath the CGST act to mean anything excluding goods, money, and securities. The same includes the activities along with money, or its conversion is charged individually for some consideration.
Youtubers supply services by posting videos and content on their channel with monetization and furnishing the platform for advertising. The bloggers supply services by furnishing the platform to the advertisers to show their advertisements with monetization. Thus, YouTubers and bloggers are to be acknowledged as the suppliers of services.
Services through the bloggers would be acknowledged as online data and database access or retrieval services. Under section 2(17) of the IGST act, online Information and Database Access or Retrieval (OIDAR) services are said to be the services in which the information technology is used to supply the information through the internet or through an electronic network, along with the online advertisement services. The kind of supply is automated, engages low human interference, and is not possible to share without any information technology.
Mandatory GST enrollment for Bloggers & Youtubers:
GST registration is needed by bloggers or YouTubers, in which the total PAN-based turnover exceeds Rs.20 lakh for a financial year. The same threshold is Rs 10 lakh for the mentioned class.
You must remember that when the service is furnished to the recipient enrolled in a state varied from the supplier, YouTuber, or blogger the supply is then said to be the interstate supply and is responsible for the enrollment irrespective of the whole turnover.
For example, when Mr. Akash, Lucknow, writes blogs about food and poses Rs 5 lakh. He has contracted a devoted space on his blog to Pinstorm, advertising the agency enrolled in Delhi, for kitchen appliances ads on pay-per-impression grounds.
If the turnover of the YouTuber and blogger is Rs 50 lakh and if they meet the conditions they might indeed choose the composition scheme available for the service providers.
When YouTuber & Blogging Services are Exported and Taxability As Per GST
The export of the services is being acknowledged as the supply beneath the GST when the supplier is located in India while the recipient and supply place is outside India. The supplier and the recipient should not be two establishments of different individuals and the recipient of the consideration should be in convertible foreign currency.
Moreover, since a blogger’s services are of the kind of OIDAR services, the supply place should be the recipient’s location, either Google Inc or Google Adsense, both are outsiders of India.
The same conditions are satisfied in the bloggers who post the content on Google and would qualify as export of services. Since the recipient and the supply place do not count under the tax, no GST is imposed. Moreover, under section 16(1)(a) of the IGST act, a zero-rated supply comprises exporting the goods or services or both.
Additionally, a YouTuber directed the zero-rated services to Google Adsense in running the advertisements on the youtube video. Thus the Youtuber and the bloggers rendering services to recipients outside India, like Google, Youtube, and others, pose 2 options.
Youtuber either needs to export service beneath the cover of a bond or Letter of Undertaking (LUT) in Form RFD-11 excluding furnishing the GST or should furnish the GST and after that claim it back as a refund.
GST Rate Imposed on YouTubers and Blogger’s Income Earned
The GST rate subjected to apply towards the services rendered by the YouTubers and bloggers is 18% (that is, CGST of 9% and SGST of 9% or IGST of 18%). This GST rate applies only when the YouTuber is responsible for GST registration or is GST enrolled.
Wherever the YouTubers or bloggers are exporting services these will be recognized as zero-rated supplies and no GST is imposed.
GST Compliance Requirements for Bloggers and YouTubers
A GST invoice is required to be provided for all the services given and the invoice should write the invoice number, invoice date, value of services offered, and the GST rate, among others.
Despite there being no mentioned format for asking for a GST invoice by the Youtubers or bloggers, the law would mandate that some items must write on all the GST invoices.
The information on all the invoices is needed to be mentioned in the GST return in Form GSTR-1. All invoices should be asked under the GST rules.
