For all those people commenting "pay your taxes, help your country grow" you probably have no idea of the current political/economic situation of India.
The corruption here is alarmingly disturbing and paying 30% of your income to a government that provides little to no public facilities, security, and not even the most normal of things that even similar third world countries provide to their citizens without doubt.
Every day in India, political scams are uncovered and literally billions of dollars are found to be missing from money taxpayers have paid continuously year after year. Where is this money? Stashed away in private Swiss bank accounts of the most notorious politicians.
Statistical studies show that India has the most political black money stored off-shore. Way more than some of the top countries combined.
I could go on and on but the point is, avoid your taxes as much as possible if you're in India and pay only what you need to to get past the scanner.
What I recommend is:
For digital payments:
Use services like 2checkout.com, they allow you to store around $65,000 without having to withdraw it.
The beauty of it is you can make more accounts in your parents or spouse's names and store up to $65k in each which should be a great way to combat it all.
What do you do when you have to withdraw?
There are 2 ways to go about this:
1.) The short term hassle but long term convenience - SEZ Certification
2.) Short term simplicity but lack of convenience long term - Offshore Banking
SEZ Certification
This is basically a certification that signifies you operate in the IT industry mainly exporting software or digitized goods. This entitles you to tax free operation for the initial 5 years of setup and 50% tax discount for the following 5 years.
The problem here is, your office needs to be in an SEZ zone and you have to get SEZ approval which is one hell of a task but if you do manage to get it, you can declare all your earnings and not pay 1 cent of tax.
Offshore Banking
There are numerous countries like Belize, Seychelles, etc that allow foreigners to open tax free bank accounts. Some countries require a minimum deposit whereas others don't.
You can opt for one of these and transfer your US held funds there. Problem is, whenever you need to bring in money to India, if you're not an SEZ you can be taxed on it.
Bringing in Money - The Blackhat Way
Though many people may not know about this, you can bring your funds in without the Po-pos knowing a thing.
Talk to your CA, ask him to setup a system where you can wire funds to one of his SEZ clients or a similar tax free business. Then, when those funds arrive you get them in cash.
Some CA's may charge you a VERY NOMINAL fee for this but with most it should be free since the businesses get to retain foreign currency.
But keep in mind, this is as black as it gets and your earnings will always be cash so you won't be able to turn your money "white" i.e. account for it without paying tax.
Also invest in Govt PF's u get a rebate in ur tax and its good income after few years
