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Help required with the Tax Interview

A topic by adwitr created Jan 16, 2019 Views: 6,534 Replies: 9
Viewing posts 1 to 6

Hello,

I am a citizen of Bangladesh, living and studying in Canada. I want to fill out the tax interview but I am kinda intimidated by the whole thing. Can someone explain to me the procedure and whether or not I should fill it out any differently? Thanks in advance.

P.S: I do not own anything in the USA neither have I ever been to USA. 

Admin

Have you started the form yet? Most of the questions should be pretty self explanatory. Generally should fill out the form for the country you are a citizen of (or where your company is incorporated if applicable). It is not necessary to apply for a US tax number, but, depending on the country you are from, you may be eligible for a reduced withholding rate. I don't think Bangladesh is eligible for this though, but to confirm you should do some research online and/or talk to a professional.

Hope that helps

(1 edit) (+2)

The only thing I had issues with personally (after doing some Google Translate of the most legalese words) was one of the last fields, "capacity in which acting"... which was a freeform field instead of a dropdown menu. I just winged it and wrote "individual" (since I'm planning to file my indie game income as "hobby" when doing my swedish taxes next year, which seems to be the most appropriate given my circumstances), but it really was the final straw in my impression of that thing's UX. I mean, if there's only a set number of possible capacities in which you can act, why NOT have those be the only you can choose from? Being forced to guess whether what you're writing is a valid answer or not is pretty frustrating.

I've heard that there's a big industry in the US that exclusively makes tax form support software, and which are lobbying a lot to keep the paperwork as convoluted as possible so they can keep making money... not sure if it's true or just a conspiracy theory, though.

(+1)

Since you were filling the tax that kinda doesnt answer it, what you should have written is Freelancer or Sole Proprietorship. Both give answers to you doing small time things in itch.io to earn money. Writting individual doesnt answer much. Filling out the tax is something you should have known or done a little bit of research, it is always assume the person has understanding of how to fill the tax requirements.

(+4)

Well, I passed the interview, so that means it answered enough, right? I'm not even an US citizen in the first place.

(1 edit)

In that case, you should input "owner", if you are the sole creator of the product.

Is this what makes a new game NOT show up on the listing if you don't have a payment method and this overwhelming tax thing set upfront?

Admin

This has nothing to do with how games are listed. This is something that is required by seller accounts if they want to collect money and get paid by itch.io.

(+2)

I was more intimidated by the idea that my information was being looked over by the IRS in America despite my not living there nor even having even been there.

The IRS will still look into how much you earn. When you create a ITIN, that is used to make records of how much you earn through itch.io or any other site you earn.