Everyone’s favourite content creation site YouTube has thrown a bit of a curveball to its international creators. YouTube creators outside the United States will now have revenue generated from viewers on the continental nation subject to tax:
“Google may begin withholding U.S. taxes on earnings you generate from viewers in the U.S. as early as June 2021. Please submit your U.S. tax info in AdSense as soon as possible. If your tax info isn’t provided by May 31, 2021,”
Youtube
So how much is YouTube going to be taking off the top?
First you’ll need to submit your tax information by filling out a form in Adsense.
- In AdSense go to payments
- Then select manage settings
- Select “Manage Tax info” below the “United States Tax Info” option
You’ll then be asked a series of questions to determine which tax form is appropriate for your region. The form tax that applies to international YouTubers is W-8BEN for individuals and W-8BEN-E for businesses.
Once you’ve submitted a valid tax form, you can find your tax withholding rate in the payments section of AdSense. So for Zimbabwean creators, the tax withholding rate for passive income is 15%.
To calculate your US earnings to see how much YouTube will be taking from revenue generated there. You can find that information in your channel analytics.
If you choose not to sumbit your tax form however YouTube will begin withholding as much as 24% of your global earnings. It won’t be just from your United States earnings. Talk about inducing people to act…
Best to be an early bird on this one
It doesn’t matter if your channel is big or small. It’s probably best to get this one out of the way. As much as it sucks YouTube has, to its credit, given everyone a pretty wide window till the 31st of May.
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