**FIRC

Since 2017, we have started to receive requests from Freelancers from India regarding their request to get a Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC) for all the local transfers in India. FIRC (pronounced as "ferk") is treated as documentary evidence by most of the statutory authorities for confirming the validity of the foreign money received by the beneficiary.

In other words, this is a document many freelancers located in India need to be able to withdraw their payments and later claim tax benefits from the Indian government.

In rule 89 (2) of the CGST Rules, a statement containing the number and date of invoices and the relevant Bank Realisation Certificates (BRC) or Foreign Inward Remittance Certificates (FIRC) is required in case of export of services whereas, in case of export of goods, a statement containing the number and date of shipping bills or bills of export and the number and the date of the relevant export invoices is required to be submitted along with the claim for refund. As indicated in the GST laws formulated by the Government, freelancing services are categorized under database access and online information.

Why is FIRC important to our India Freelancers?

It's important for our Indian Freelancers to get the FIRC document so that they can get the incoming transfer(s) approved and later claim tax benefits from the Indian government. The FIRC document shows that the INR Transfer originated outside of India (cross-border), which in our case from our bank in the US to India.

FL can claim a credit for the tax withheld against their tax liability for the financial year or apply for a refund if the tax withheld exceeds the tax liability for the year.

FL and agencies need proof that the transfer was an international transfer and not a local transfer which is why they request the FIRC. So the FIRC proves that the transaction was, in fact, cross-border, therefore they will not have to pay tax.

If the freelancer is requesting for FIRC, please transfer the ticket to PayOps queue and provide the following information in the Internal Notes:

• Transaction ID of the withdrawal
• Date of withdrawal
• Amount in INR

Below is the Payoneer process for FIRC requests:

1. The account holder will contact Upwork requesting FIRC
2. Upwork will then contact Client Services at Payoneer
3. Payoneer Client Services will try and locate the FIRC in the automated system to check if we have the FIRC, if we have the FIRC, Client Services will send the FIRC to Upwork.
4. If we do not have the FIRC, Client Services will then contact the FIRC team requesting the FIRC.
5. The FIRC team will contact the relevant provider requesting that they issue the FIRC.
6. Once the FIRC team receives the FIRC, they will forward them to Client Services who will then send them to Upwork

    

FIRC Additional Notes

• For INR withdrawals fulfilled by Wells Fargo, we cannot provide FIRC certificates but disbursement receipts only. Freelancers will have to request for the FIRC certificates using the receipt from their bank.

• For INR withdrawals fulfilled by Payoneer, FIRC certificates are available but may take 2-3 weeks to be provided by our payment processor

• In general, FIRC certificates are issued within 4 weeks. FIRC certificates for withdrawals made more than 2 years ago may take longer to be generated as this process will involve multiple banks to process.

• Note that there are time limitations for FIRC requests. Payoneer can generate FIRC 2 years back from the current year. I.E., Payoneer can provide FIRC from 2019 onwards for the year 2021. For any FIRC requests before this year, the account holder will need to go directly to their beneficiary bank for assistance. PayOps can provide the POP and the Transfer Confirmation for these cases.

• A purpose code is a unique code used to identify the user's line of business and helps regulators understand the purpose of their foreign transactions. You can find our Supported Purpose Codes from this link. The purpose codes are hardcoded to P1006 - Business and management consultancy and public relations services.

How freelancers can request to update their purpose code:

• If a Freelancer requests to update their purpose code, please advise the user that they will need to contact their bank directly for amendment. Please emphasize to the user that requests must be submitted to their bank within the amendment due date stated by the Reserve Bank of India.