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At long last, basic tax information for game dev selling in USA sites like itch.io [updated 8/4/2018]

A topic by firecat created Jul 04, 2018 Views: 959
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Español - http://unknowns-blog.mozello.com/params/post/1555874/basica-informacion-en-usa-i...

English - http://unknowns-blog.mozello.com/comments-and-reviews/params/post/1555877/basic-...

TLDR version: Follow the tax requirements and remember:

SSN is what IRS wants if you are an individual in the usa selling games because you are only 1 person.

ITIN is most likely for anyone selling games outside the USA but the company is a USA based company and you are 1 person.

EIN is for real business and is highly recommend you get someone who knows tax information on EIN because it is more complex than you think.

If you need to file W8BEN-I

- Your full name, street address, and country you live in ( numbers 1-4)

- You then use your ITIN in 5, only fill 6 if you do not have ITIN that spot is like your "SSN" like thing in your country. (ask someone for advice for 6).

- Do not fill in 7, its is said this one is for the person who give you the W8BEN-I

- Birth of date on line 8.

- 9)  Fill in your country name.

- 10)  This one is crazy to find any kind of information but this is the TLDR version of it:

add the article number in which the tax treaty is, then add the % and lastly on that big line add "services"

 Services because itch.io is the one providing it (i know its confusing don't think about it much).

- [No number section; last big fill in] you can say anything here, its better to explain what you plan to do.

- [sign here] sign and date, do not sign the bottom-most right found below the date information, that is for someone else.

Oh and give it back to the person who give you the W8BEN-I; DO NOT MAIL IT TO THE IRS

Oh one last thing, watch out for sites like Google Play, GOG, Steam, and Amazon, they all have their agreements telling you that they do not handle all your taxes, you handle the taxes not Google, GOG, Steam and Amazon.  If you do not understand how taxes work or have money to pay someone to handle taxes, it is highly recommend to not use them.