YouTube announced that it will start deducting U.S taxes for all creators on its platform including Nigeria on the earnings they generate from viewers in the US.
The Google-owned company has been a useful platform for anyone with creativity and determination to make money from producing videos and a lot of people have been making a living from YouTube.
The new policy will take effect as early as June 2021. In an email to creators, YouTube states that “We’re reaching out because Google will be required to deduct U.S taxes from payments to creators outside of the U.S. later this year (as early as June 2021).
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“Over the next few weeks, we’ll be asking you to submit your tax info in AdSense to determine the correct amount of taxes to deduct, if any apply. If your tax info isn’t provided by May 31, 2021, Google may be required to deduct up to 24% of your total earnings worldwide.”
This change applies to all creators outside of the US, including the ones in Nigeria. However, there won’t be any similar tax deduction for creators living in the US.
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What this means
- According to a statement on Google’s support page, Google has a responsibility under Chapter 3 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code to collect tax info, withhold taxes, and report to the Internal Revenue Service (the U.S. tax authority, also known as the IRS) when a YPP creator on YouTube earns royalty revenue from viewers in the U.S.
- That means that only income earned will be affected, but only that earned from viewers within the United States.
- YouTube has asked creators to provide their tax information in their AdSense account as early as possible. If a creator isn’t able to provide the information by May 31, the company said that it might need to deduct up to 24 percent of their total earnings worldwide. This could be detrimental to many who rely on the platform to make a living.