> What exactly are the restrictions? Curious to know as I was planning to use FastSpring until Stripe made the announcement.
Honestly I don't remember perfectly, but here is what I think: the relationship between Fastspring and you is that of a payment processor. If you go through the Softex regulations and RBI regulations for payment processors, at some point there is a requirement that the payment processor must have a bank account with an Indian bank overseas. The money must be routed through this Indian bank's overseas branch. This is the only allowed way to receive money from payment processors for exports. Obviously, Fastspring is not obliged to carry out business this way and they probably route money through a bank account of the country they are established in.
The workaround is to say that Fastspring is not your payment processor but your client, and then raise invoices against Fastspring for the amounts you receive from them, and declare those in SOFTEX. So instead of 1000 transactions of $10 towards a thousand customers, you show a single transaction of $10,000 towards Fastspring. But this approach seems wrong on so many levels. For one, you may end up raising those thousand invoices and mailing them to your customers anyways even if you don't account for them internally. Secondly, I think the wording of the contract between Fastspring and suggests that of a payment processor, and you are the entity liable towards those 1000 customers, not Fastspring.
One could also say that you are Fastspring's customer and you are importing their payment processing services, and so even after complying with other regulations, you need to pay reverse GST of 18% on their commission as import of services if they are not paying the same.
Saying all that, I am a programmer and hate to wear the legal/accountant hat. But this is just what I could make out.
> The thing is that Citibank doesn't provide FIRC (unless you receive an FDI). It instead provides "FIRC Advise". The Authorized Dealer (the Bank you hold your Current Account in) has to issue you the FIRC based on the FIRC Advise provided by CitiBank. But the AD Bank will insist on getting a NOC (No-Objection Certificate) first! So it's a long drawn out process! And once the FIRC is issued, getting eBRC from the AD Bank is another headache (as you guessed, it requires certified SOFTEX).
So many acronyms! Way too complex for me. But thanks for clarifying and connecting the dots for me. I think I finally understand the process. However, in my experience, every bank I have dealt with has shown me circular SPL-09/2016 from FEDAI [0] that unconditionally says that " FIRC may be issued only for inward remittances covering FDI/FII." So they will not issue an FIRC no matter what, even if you take the SOFTEX out of equation. SOFTEX only compounds the difficulty. I am convinced that none of the banks are going to issue me an FIRC no matter what letter or document I show to them. I can't even get an FIRC or an eBRC for a wire transfer.
I have personally given up. I will wait for the government to rationalise the SOFTEX requirements and bring back the $20k transaction threshold below which you did not need to file SOFTEX, and somehow make the FIRC process automatic. Till then I am just paying the 18% GST which I should not have to, and classifying my services as "other engineering services" to avoid SOFTEX. I haven't registered with any STPI for SOFTEX yet.
Honestly I don't remember perfectly, but here is what I think: the relationship between Fastspring and you is that of a payment processor. If you go through the Softex regulations and RBI regulations for payment processors, at some point there is a requirement that the payment processor must have a bank account with an Indian bank overseas. The money must be routed through this Indian bank's overseas branch. This is the only allowed way to receive money from payment processors for exports. Obviously, Fastspring is not obliged to carry out business this way and they probably route money through a bank account of the country they are established in.
The workaround is to say that Fastspring is not your payment processor but your client, and then raise invoices against Fastspring for the amounts you receive from them, and declare those in SOFTEX. So instead of 1000 transactions of $10 towards a thousand customers, you show a single transaction of $10,000 towards Fastspring. But this approach seems wrong on so many levels. For one, you may end up raising those thousand invoices and mailing them to your customers anyways even if you don't account for them internally. Secondly, I think the wording of the contract between Fastspring and suggests that of a payment processor, and you are the entity liable towards those 1000 customers, not Fastspring.
One could also say that you are Fastspring's customer and you are importing their payment processing services, and so even after complying with other regulations, you need to pay reverse GST of 18% on their commission as import of services if they are not paying the same.
Saying all that, I am a programmer and hate to wear the legal/accountant hat. But this is just what I could make out.
> The thing is that Citibank doesn't provide FIRC (unless you receive an FDI). It instead provides "FIRC Advise". The Authorized Dealer (the Bank you hold your Current Account in) has to issue you the FIRC based on the FIRC Advise provided by CitiBank. But the AD Bank will insist on getting a NOC (No-Objection Certificate) first! So it's a long drawn out process! And once the FIRC is issued, getting eBRC from the AD Bank is another headache (as you guessed, it requires certified SOFTEX).
So many acronyms! Way too complex for me. But thanks for clarifying and connecting the dots for me. I think I finally understand the process. However, in my experience, every bank I have dealt with has shown me circular SPL-09/2016 from FEDAI [0] that unconditionally says that " FIRC may be issued only for inward remittances covering FDI/FII." So they will not issue an FIRC no matter what, even if you take the SOFTEX out of equation. SOFTEX only compounds the difficulty. I am convinced that none of the banks are going to issue me an FIRC no matter what letter or document I show to them. I can't even get an FIRC or an eBRC for a wire transfer.
I have personally given up. I will wait for the government to rationalise the SOFTEX requirements and bring back the $20k transaction threshold below which you did not need to file SOFTEX, and somehow make the FIRC process automatic. Till then I am just paying the 18% GST which I should not have to, and classifying my services as "other engineering services" to avoid SOFTEX. I haven't registered with any STPI for SOFTEX yet.
I will sign the petitions you shared.
[0]: https://www.icicibank.com/managed-assets/docs/business/FEDAI...