Your online services bill to rise with new tax

Indian consumers could face an increase in charges for services such as Airbnb, Netflix and Booking.com, among others, after the government expanded the scope of its equalisation levy to all overseas ecommerce transactions originating from India.

According to the amended Finance Bill, which was approved by Parliament on Monday, with effect from April 1 an equalisation levy of 2% will be applicable on sales made by foreign ecommerce companies operating in Asia’s third-largest economy.

The levy is expected to hit all companies with sales of more than Rs 2 crore in the previous financial year. According to experts, technology, internet and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies — from Microsoft, Adobe and Google to Facebook — all of which offer services through their overseas arms, are likely