Taxes as a Youtuber

[tando]

@Meloo

english speaking tax consultant

they provide the service for free.

Professional English Taxation Consultation
https://www.ntbt.gov.tw/English/multiplehtml/51c544ce868347fa85b4d63bcaee4559

[Meloo]

@tando

Professional English Taxation Consultation
Professional English Taxation Consultation-National Taxation Bureau of Taipei

I will make sure to check it out, thank you very much my friend

[Lao_Wang]

@Rocket

I, as a resolutely non-US citizen, was required, no exceptions, to sign some indecipherable IRS form

That was likely the form stating that you are not a US citizen.

I opened an account a few years ago and the 60 year old manager was so sure I was getting away with something illegal by not signing the US forms, she started questioning me about where I was born (Switzerland), to which she haughtily enquired if I even spoke Swiss. Wish I had a better comeback than making eye contact with her juniors and shaking my head smiling.

[ma3xiu1]

@Rocket

Would this, do you reckon, be part of why I, as a resolutely non-US citizen, was required, no exceptions, to sign some indecipherable IRS form when opening a new bank account a few months ago???

Yes, correct. The bank might have given you the IRS form because they don’t have a different form for other countries but the spirit is the same as FACTA for US citizens: Report your account to your home country so they can tax you, in case you are still a tax resident there.

Hopefully the US model of taxing their citizens worldwide will not be copied by other countries but this CRS thing might be first step to do just that.

[Rocket]

@ma3xiu1

@Rocket

Would this, do you reckon, be part of why I, as a resolutely non-US citizen, was required, no exceptions, to sign some indecipherable IRS form when opening a new bank account a few months ago???

Yes, correct. The bank might have given you the IRS form because they don’t have a different form for other countries but the spirit is the same as FACTA for US citizens: Report your account to your home country so they can tax you, in case you are still a tax resident there.

Hopefully the US model of taxing their citizens worldwide will not be copied by other countries but this CRS thing might be first step to do just that.

No, it wasn’t that, my country is and always has been residence based rather than passport, there was no question about that.
It was some kind of muscle down from the IRS that the bank couldn’t explain.

[SunWuKong]

I am wondering if it’s a problem that you are doing “work” while in Taiwan and earning an income that you don’t have a work permit for, even if the income is paid by a foreign company. I do internet marketing and things but I’ve avoided doing anything that would get me identified as being in Taiwan. I do have a residence in my country and file taxes there.

There’s always bitcoin.

[Meloo]

@SunWuKong

I am wondering if it’s a problem that you are doing “work” while in Taiwan and earning an income that you don’t have a work permit for, even if the income is paid by a foreign company. I do internet marketing and things but I’ve avoided doing anything that would get me identified as being in Taiwan. I do have a residence in my country and file taxes ther

I will check next week, but I know other people who declared their taxes for online stuff and was not a problem. Also from a logical point of view it would be crazy: lets say 10 years ago you uploaded a youtube video, that video is of course still generating revenue each month. So if you ever in your entire life did anything online that is generating revenue you would be excluded from ever staying legally here. But if the immigration tells me next week that it is not possible, I will of course accept it and leave Taiwan

[yyy]

@ma3xiu1

Claim the income was generated while you were not in Taiwan during the year (only Taiwan sourced income is taxed)

Of course, don’t claim anything that isn’t true.

That said, doesn’t it depend on how long you were in Taiwan during the tax year?

[yyy]

@Meloo

Also from a logical point of view it would be crazy: lets say 10 years ago you uploaded a youtube video, that video is of course still generating revenue each month. So if you ever in your entire life did anything online that is generating revenue you would be excluded from ever staying legally here.

Youtubing (as I understand it) is certainly not traditional employment, and the payment system (as I understand it) is more like profit sharing than wages, so you can argue that it’s not employment or even that it’s not work. That argument isn’t guaranteed to win, but it’s plausible.

That said, if you in fact have a contract stating that you will upload X videos per week of at least Y length and so on, details like that would count against you.

[Meloo]

@yyy

Youtubing (as I understand it) is certainly not traditional employment, and the payment system (as I understand it) is more like profit sharing than wages, so you can argue that it’s not employment or even that it’s not work . That argument isn’t guaranteed to win, but it’s plausible.

That said, if you in fact have a contract stating that you will upload X videos per week of at least Y length and so on, details like that would count against you.

no contract, I just do whatever I want and how much I want, I get 90% and my network gets 10% of it, if I do not want to upload anything for 6 months, I do not have to. It started as a hobby, just turned out to make some money, but still I do always what I want to and when I want to like a hobby. But all speculation aside, I will ask authorities how the situation is handled

[SunWuKong]

@Meloo

Also from a logical point of view it would be crazy: lets say 10 years ago you uploaded a youtube video, that video is of course still generating revenue each month.

That’s residual income and a different situation because the work was already done. Working in Taiwan and getting paid for it may be the problem. But @yyy may be right that it’s not employment, but as he says it’s an argument and (maybe) not a law. Working illegally is a deportable offence, and not one I’d like to risk breaking.

If it’s not too off topic, how do networks work? I’ve only ever used YT ads, then AdSense on YT videos. But that was years ago. I got a few offers to join networks, but it looked dodgy and I didn’t see the point over running ads on the sites myself.

[Meloo]

@SunWuKong

If it’s not too off topic, how do networks work? I’ve only ever used YT ads, then AdSense on YT videos. But that was years ago. I got a few offers to join networks, but it looked dodgy and I didn’t see the point over running ads on the sites myself.

works exactly like ad sense, no difference, the ads still come from ad sense, you just give the network a fixed rate from the ad sense revenue (automated) and they give you additional creator tools or other stuff depending on the network. I also agree, most networks are scams, not dodgy in terms of legal but bad for your earnings, they dont provide any value but take % of your earnings. In terms of legal stuff you are better with a network tho, cuz they take care of turnover tax and US withholding tax and everything, adsense for example does not always do for you. All in all networks are leftovers from a time before youtube partnership was open for everyone, nowadays many people leave them and transition to adsense, which eventually I will also do, but not soon

[Meloo]

@ma3xiu1

A bit more advanced: Depending on your exact level of income it might be cheaper to incorporate (profit tax is 20% in Taiwan currently and you can deduct a lot of stuff).

I will email you a local CPA contact. Will check if she takes new clients.

hey man, I thought about it and I think the best solution is to incorporate if thats possible, but I heard the requirements are really high, like having 5 million NT revenue each year, which I definitely do not make even in an amazing best case scenario. But if there is any other way to incorporate I would love to hear about it,

[SunWuKong]

I think it’s 3 million, but you can’t run a corporation while also working as teacher. It would have to be one or the other. You can start a corporation or do freelance work after you get an APRC and/or an open work permit.