India GST - ZVC India (billing currency is INR)

Please note that Zoom has two GST registrations in India:

Customers who select their billing currency as INR will be supplied through ZVC India. Customers that select their billing currency as any currency other than INR will be supplied through ZVC Inc. See the FAQ for supplies made through ZVC Inc.

Note: The information below relates to supplies made through ZVC India only.

The following information applies to ZVC India's digital services excluding Zoom Phone. For details regarding Zoom Phone, you can refer to this article.

This article covers:

What is GST?

GST is the abbreviation of Goods and Service Tax. GST is in general due when goods and/or services are sold. It applies to most goods and services that are bought and sold for use or consumption in India. It is a consumption tax because it is ultimately borne by the final consumer.

Who must pay GST?

Generally, GST is invoiced by the supplier that is selling goods or services and collected from the customer. Subsequently, the supplier reports and remits the collected GST to the tax authorities.

Why am I being charged GST?

GST generally applies to all the taxable supplies made by ZVC India to customers in India (there may be some supplies to customers in Special Economic Zones (‘SEZ’) that are treated without GST).

The supplies are bifurcated as intra-state supplies and inter-state supplies. Intra-state supplies are where the supplier and the customer are located in the same state whereas inter-state supplies are where the supplier and customer are located in different states.

Central GST (‘CGST’) and applicable State GST (‘SGST’) are levied on intra-state supplies, whereas Integrated GST (‘IGST’) is levied on inter-state supplies.

What are the different rates of GST that could be charged?

The services provided by ZVC India are subject to GST at 18% (unless a customer has SEZ status).

What is a GSTIN?

A Goods and Service Tax Identification number (referred to as ‘GSTIN’) is a unique 15-digit PAN-based identification number that identifies a person/entity as being registered for GST in India.

Does ZVC India have a GSTIN number?

Yes. ZVC India is registered for GST in the state of Maharashtra. ZVC India will state its GSTIN on the tax invoices, debit note, and credit note issued to its customers in India.

Does ZVC India provide e-invoices?

Effective from April 1, 2021, ZVC India may be required to provide e-invoices through the Invoice Registration Portal (“IRP”) for any Business to Business (B2B) supplies including any supplies to a customer in an SEZ.

If you are a GST-registered customer, it is essential that you provide your GST number to Zoom. If you do not provide your GST number to Zoom, no e-invoice will be generated through the IRP process and you may not be able to reclaim GST charged to you by Zoom. Zoom will not go back and adjust for any invoices, debit notes, or credit notes previously issued. As such, it is essential that as a customer you provide Zoom with your GST number if you want to recover the GST as an input credit.

ZVC India utilizes real-time validation against the Goods & Services Tax Portal to determine if the GSTIN provided belongs to an SEZ taxpayer. If the GSTIN provided indicates that you are a SEZ customer, no GST will be charged on the supplies made to you. If it is identified that you do not have valid SEZ status, ZVC India reserves the right to charge GST on invoices issued.

To align with revised rules announced by the Indian Government, ZVC India is required to generate e-invoices within 30 days from the date of invoice, debit note, or credit note. It is, therefore, critical that your GST number and other relevant information for e-invoicing is correctly provided by you to ZVC India at the time of invoicing. Further, ZVC India reserves the right to recover any tax, interest, or penal liabilities suffered for non or delayed issuance of e-invoices through the IRP due to non or delayed submission of a valid GSTIN by you to Zoom.

To provide your GST number, follow the steps below depending on where your billing portal is located in the left navigation menu of the Zoom web portal. Not sure how to identify where your billing portal is located? Learn how to locate your billing settings.

You are required to notify us if there is a change in your GST registration status.

Billing portal under Plans and Billing

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Plans and Billing then Billing Management.
  3. In the Contact Information section, click Edit.
  4. Enter your GST Number.
  5. Click Save.

Billing portal under Account Management

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Billing.
  3. Click the Billing Information tab.
  4. To the right of Sold To Contact, click Edit.
  5. Enter your GST Number
  6. Click Save Changes.

How is ZVC India determining which customers GST applies to?

GST applies to all services provided by ZVC India to customers except where services are supplied to customers that have SEZ status i.e., customers that have provided a GSTIN which via the real-time validation indicates that they are a SEZ taxpayer.

What happens if I do not have a GSTIN?

GST will be levied on all supplies made by ZVC India to customers in India (except customers that have SEZ status). For supplies made to business customers, the customer must provide a valid GSTIN to Zoom to be able to claim the GST charged as input GST.

If a valid GSTIN is not provided, ZVC India will treat the supply as being made to a non-business customer when it submits its GST returns to the Indian tax authorities. The impact of this is that even if the supply is made to a business customer, the customer may be unable to recover the GST charged as input GST.

Please note, there may be other requirements required to be met by the customer to support an input GST credit claim.

How will the customer location be determined where the bill to and the sold-to addresses are different?

ZVC India will apply GST if the location of the “Sold To” contact address entered by the customer is in India. This information is subject to cross-referencing against other data to verify that the ‘Sold To’ country is accurate.

Please note, if the ‘Bill To’ or ‘Sold To’ address are not aligned with your GSTIN registration details, this may impact your ability to avail GST input tax credit on the tax charged by Zoom. As such, it is your responsibility as a customer to make sure the “Bill To” and “Sold To” address you provide to Zoom align.

Where the customer has multiple premises located in different states where the services are received by the customer, the customer should provide the GSTIN and address of the premises receiving the services in the ‘Bill To’ and ‘Sold To’ address field.

What type of GST will be charged and how will it be determined?

The ‘Sold To’ address provided by the customer will be considered as the relevant location which has received and consumed the services and will therefore be treated as the customer location for determining the application of GST.

If the ‘Sold To’ address is in the same state where ZVC India is registered for GST (Maharashtra) CGST and SGST shall be levied on the invoice. If the sold-to address is in a different state than where ZVC India is registered for GST (Maharashtra), IGST shall be levied on the invoice.

As an example, if a customer with a ‘Sold To’ address in Maharashtra receives services from ZVC India CGST and SGST shall be charged. However, if a customer with a ‘Sold To’ address in Bangalore receives the services of ZVC India in Bangalore, Karnataka IGST shall be charged.

Is there a minimum threshold transaction amount before GST is applied?

No. GST applies to all sales of ZVC India’s services in India.

What exemptions are available?

If you are located in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), you (1) provide your GSTIN and (2) the GSTIN provided indicates that you are located in a Special Economic Zone, then the supplies that Zoom makes to you will be taxable at the zero rate of GST.

ZVC India will verify SEZ status with the Indian Tax Authorities when submitting its GST returns. If during this process it is identified that a customer does not have valid SEZ status, ZVC India reserves the right to charge GST on any future invoices issued.  ZVC India may further request for a declaration of use of the services in the authorized operations of the SEZ/ SEZ unit.

Where a customer cannot confirm SEZ status then ZVC India will collect GST on supplies made.

Are there any special exemptions applicable for charitable organizations under which GST may not be charged?

No. GST will be charged on all taxable supplies made to charitable organizations in India.

Are there any GST obligations for me as a customer?

If you are registered for GST and you want to claim the input tax credit for the GST paid on invoices issued by ZVC India, you should ensure that you provide ZVC India with your GSTIN and keep a copy of ZVC India’s invoice for your records.

Effective from April 1, 2021, ZVC India issues e-invoices where required for supplies to customers who have provided Zoom with a valid GST number.

There is a time limit of 30 days from the date of invoice, debit note, or credit note to generate e-invoices. It is therefore critical that you provide accurate billing information to Zoom to ensure that the e-invoice is generated correctly and within the required timeline. If you don’t provide accurate billing information, Zoom will not be able to report the supply through the e-invoicing mechanism and you will not be able to claim the GST charged as input credit.

In addition, if your ‘Bill To’ or ‘Sold To’ address are not aligned with your GST registration, this could impact your ability to claim the GST charged as input credit. Customers should therefore ensure that both the ‘Bill To’ and ‘Sold To’ address are aligned with the GST registration.

To check or update your information, please complete the following steps:

Billing portal under Plans and Billing

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Plans and Billing then Billing Management.
  3. In the Contact Information section, check all current information.
  4. (Optional) To make changes, click Edit, then click Save when complete.

Billing portal under Account Management

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Billing.
  3. Click the Billing Information tab.
  4. Check the information mentioned under Billing Contact and Sold to Contact.
  5. Make updates as necessary and click Save.

Additionally, you are responsible for informing ZVC India of a change in your SEZ status.

What are some of the common errors that impact the generation of e-invoices?

Errors that may lead to e-invoices not being successfully generated typically relate to errors in customer billing information. We, therefore, recommend undertaking the below checks when updating billing information on the Zoom portal:

What if I have a GSTIN and forget to enter it?

The GSTIN number can be entered at any time. If entered before the next invoice, ZVC India will not charge GST on the next invoice or future invoices issued to you if you are in an SEZ.

If you have a GSTIN number and are not located in an SEZ you should still make sure that your GSTIN is provided to ZVC India. The GSTIN can be entered at any time and once provided it will show on the next invoice and future invoices issued by ZVC India. Once the GSTIN is entered, ZVC India will also report all future supplies against your GSTIN number when reporting its output GST to the Indian Tax Authorities (which is required to support your input GST deduction). No retrospective adjustments will be made where you have not provided your GST number.

Further, ZVC India reserves the right to recover any tax, interest, or penal liabilities suffered for non or delayed issuance of e-invoices through the IRP due to non or delayed submission of a valid GSTIN by you to Zoom.

Please note, if you do not provide a valid GST number to Zoom your supply will not be reported through the e-invoicing system and you may not be able to claim input credits. However, if you subsequently provide a valid GST number to Zoom all future invoices and credit notes will be reported through the e-invoicing system. In this scenario, as the credit note will be reported through the e-invoicing system this may reduce your input GST credits. As such, it is essential that you ensure your GSTIN number is provided to Zoom and that you notify Zoom of any changes to your GSTIN.

Is there any timeline to issue credit notes?

Credit notes with GST are required to be issued before October 31 of the end of the financial year to which the invoice relates. See examples below of the time limits applicable:

If the credit note is issued outside of these dates, an adjustment for the GST amount may not be included on the credit note.

Decision tree – I am resident in India; will I be charged GST?

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Disclaimer

Every customer is unique and so are their specific tax circumstances. The above-stated information should not be considered as tax advice, but as a general overview of relevant tax rules. Zoom cannot provide you with tax advice for your individual situation, and therefore we strongly recommend speaking with a professional tax advisor for tailored advice.