You may have to think twice before opening up a new YouTube channel in 2021. In a bid to start imposing US tax on all International YouTube content creators, YouTube has requested the creators to provide their tax information such that US taxes can be applied to their monthly earnings from their Adsense accounts.
This will impact all revenue earned from viewers in the USA through ad views, YouTube Premium, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and channel membership. In an email, the company warned that if no tax information is provided, content creators default to a higher individual backup withholding rate of 24% of total earnings worldwide.
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International YouTube content creators are expected to provide their tax information in their Adsense accounts before 1st May 2021, this info will help them determine the correct amount of taxes they can deduct if any apply. According to YouTube, “The online tax tool in Adsense has six steps and will ask you a series of questions to guide you through the process to determine if any US taxes apply.”
Google will soon be updating their terms of service to target content creators out side the USA that will mean that their earnings from YouTube will be considered as royalties from a US tax perspective. Royalties are usually used to stand for payments made to allow the use of certain intellectual property such as patents, copyrights, or trademarks. This will impact the way creator’s earnings are taxed, and Google will deduct taxes as required by the US law. It should be noted that some countries are already charging digital taxes on most online Over the Top services.
