YouTube today announced that it will soon start deducting taxes from all creators outside of US on the earnings they generate from viewers in the United States. The new policy will begin from as early as June 2021, YouTube told creators in an email. In order to determine the correct amount of taxes to deduct, YouTube has also asked creators to submit their tax information in Google AdSense.
YouTube, in its support page said that under the Chapter 3 of the US Internal Revenue Code, it is the responsibility of Google to collect tax information, withhold taxes, and report to the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) when a creator earns royalty revenue from viewers in the US. YouTube has asked creators to update their information in their AdSense account as early as possible. The company said if a creator is not able to submit their information by May 31, may face a 24 percent deductions in their total earnings worldwide.
YouTube has also created a video to help creators understand the concept and provide their tax information. The company has also posted about the changes on its social media pages as well.
YouTube said that there will be a tax witholding of 0-30 percent on the earnings they generate from viewers in the US. The withholding rates depend on whether the country of the creator has a tax treaty relationship with the US. For India, the withholding rate is 15 percent of the total earnings of the creator from US viewers.
Creators in India are criticising YouTube’s move, as the platform already takes a cut of revenue from ads that are served on videos.