tax issue for illegal website in India

I own a website which gives free download links to copyrighted material. I dont host any of the material. The problem I face is that I made 1.2 lakh rupees this month and will be making more than this the next month. This is the problem I face because i now have to consider tax payments and (am 19 yrs old) I know nothing about all this tax and paying money to the goverment!

1. Should i get my website registered as a propietership business? and then pay tax?
2. Would i goto jail for getting a copyrighted-content-website registered as a legitimate propiertership business in India?

Also, i cant skip paying taxes as I get my payments thorough paypal, and i have to add my PAN card number to paypal to get them withdrawn to my bank account. So, this way the government knows all about the income I recieve per month.

move your domain and hosting to a dmca ignored host then get whois guard on domain .

now get a pan card , use your agricultural land or any shop as money source .

now pay tax and relax .

if you still have another question then tell me .

You are getting your money from Paypal .
The bank is never gonna know what you are being paid for.

So why worry about it. talking about legal claims of your site "Prab1996" gave you a good advice

You wont need to setup a company ofcourse and the Government would never ask you how you are getting your money. Even if they ask in rare case you could say you make it through CPA marketing and those CPA companies are registered and since the money is coming from Paypal you are already showing it as freelance money.

So don't worry, keep banking hard, Hire a CA and Pay tax in time.

PS: If CA asks you how you making money then just tell its through freelancing where you get paid for advertising etc. They will never ask your method..lol

prab1996 said:

move your domain and hosting to a dmca ignored host then get whois guard on domain .

now get a pan card , use your agricultural land or any shop as money source .

now pay tax and relax .

if you still have another question then tell me .

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Thanks for the reply. I will get a DMCA ignoring host soon (i have found some, its just choosing time now). Did not know that WhosiGuard is important, will get that too.

1) As for the idea of using the agricultural land, that would involve explaining my parents everything(and I dont want to tell them that I run a illegal website as they would kill me for this ), I will do that as the last option. I have something that i wanted to know would be good or not?:--- I have one fully legal website, it runs ads, offers downloading of mobile apps, games, themes, wallpapers and ringtones(make some 10K per month). So if I get it registered as a propiertership business and show all income from only this legal website, wont the government get snooping around and see what I am actually doing by asking for website stats and earning reports and accounting for each and every cent of money moved around by the clicking of ads?

2) Also I read online that if i earn more than 10 lakh per year, It is neccesary to get the business registered as a propiertership firm. Will that be really necessary?

3) I also read online that because of Paypal(And the pan card number I added to it), the government knows that I am getting paid by foreign nationals, and knows that the payment is coming from Canada( so wouldnt that make it impossible to show it as agricultural land earning?)

Sorry to ask too much but I just a kid and am sooooo confused

do not worry about land because in india money earned from agricultural land is not tax-able .

agriculture is tax free .

Income tax and Legality of Business are Two different issues.
Income tax authorities are not concerned Whether your source of earning is a legit one or not?
What they keep checking is whether you are Showing your earnings fully and thereby paying taxes on them or not??

1. Should i get my website registered as a propietership business? and then pay tax?
Yes, It will be most preferred and economical solution for you.

2. Would i goto jail for getting a copyrighted-content-website registered as a legitimate propiertership business in India?
Under Indian tax laws evasion of Tax can't be punished with Imprisonment unless you doesn't appear and answer to show-cause notice issued by authorities.

Feel Free to contact me over Skype or PM me if you still have some concerns/doubts.

My advice to you would be to talk to a known CA for this matter, and ask for rebated and tax relaxation. Rest mentioned in the above posts already.

Ask lawyer that is my best advice

Registering a proprietorship will give you no protection/benefits other than having a business name. In short, this means that if your website were to be involved in a legal (civil) case, all your personal assets will be at risk should the ruling be against you.

A better way to go about things would be to create a limited liability partnership. The drawback is that you'll need at least one other person to create it. On the upside, it'll ensure a clear separation between your personal assets and your LLP assets. Note that in case of criminal cases, no form of business structure will aid you.

Even though you're not hosting copyrighted material, linking to them can be considered illegal. It is a grey area and you'll need a good lawyer to put you on the white side of this grey area. If you're making decent coin, here's my suggestion:

1. Pay all your taxes (The last thing you want is the IT department on your case)
2. Save part of your income to act as your 'legal fund' should the need arise for you to hire a lawyer.

I'm not a lawyer or a CA and don't take what I said on face value. You are now running a business so treat it as one. Get professional advice. Trust me, it is worth the time and money to set things up right so that you don't lose your business overnight.

thanks friend. one thing I think would solve most of my issues,,, I have one fully legal website, it runs ads, offers downloading of mobile stuff (makes some 10K per month). So if I get it registered as a propiertership business and show all income from only this legal website, wont the government get snooping around and see which website is actually earning the money?

If this is possible I can open a propiertership business by the name of this mobile games download site and show all my income thorugh this site only. Will thing be fine this way?

You can use US Payment Service by Payoneer.

1. Get a card (if you don't have one already) from payoneeraffiliates.com
2. Apply for US Payment Service
3. After approval, get your US Bank details and add them in your PayPal
4. You can now withdraw all your PayPal earnings to your US Bank which automatically credits your Payoneer card
5. Use your card to withdraw money anywhere (ATM) and your government wont know anything at all

prab1996 said:

do not worry about land because in india money earned from agricultural land is not tax-able .

agriculture is tax free .

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Agree with this .

does the payoneer card still work in India?? i think it stopped working around 2011 due to some regulations by the RBI.

Didn't know that there is laws in India.. Hmm learn something new today ... (joke)

And no.. move to offshore dmca ignore host and use paypal. Fck the taxes

If you earn from outside from country then why you have to pay a tax to Indian GOV?

baigmona said:

If you earn from outside from country then why you have to pay a tax to Indian GOV?

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coz he stays in India .hence , liable to pay tax . Government isn't concerned about from where you get money . If you get money , you have to give money .

Dude you are way more legit than DON's and all. Don't worry

It's not really worth the amounts is it?

thewoodcutter said:

Thanks for the reply. I will get a DMCA ignoring host soon (i have found some, its just choosing time now). Did not know that WhosiGuard is important, will get that too.

1) As for the idea of using the agricultural land, that would involve explaining my parents everything(and I dont want to tell them that I run a illegal website as they would kill me for this ), I will do that as the last option. I have something that i wanted to know would be good or not?:--- I have one fully legal website, it runs ads, offers downloading of mobile apps, games, themes, wallpapers and ringtones(make some 10K per month). So if I get it registered as a propiertership business and show all income from only this legal website, wont the government get snooping around and see what I am actually doing by asking for website stats and earning reports and accounting for each and every cent of money moved around by the clicking of ads?

2) Also I read online that if i earn more than 10 lakh per year, It is neccesary to get the business registered as a propiertership firm. Will that be really necessary?

3) I also read online that because of Paypal(And the pan card number I added to it), the government knows that I am getting paid by foreign nationals, and knows that the payment is coming from Canada( so wouldnt that make it impossible to show it as agricultural land earning?)

Sorry to ask too much but I just a kid and am sooooo confused

Click to expand...

It's too late, you need to get that protection when you register the domain. Your real info will still be available in public online records.

A solution is to register a new domain with privacy protection then 301 the old domain to it. Kind of sucks but that's the safest way IMO.