Important: Make sure you submit a tax form, and if eligible, claim a tax treaty benefit by Dec. 10th each year. This applies to all creators, even if you don't live in the US.
Monetizing creators should check and update their tax info in AdSense for YouTube each year. Even if nothing has changed, your tax forms expire at the end of the third full calendar year, after the year of signing. This means that you will need to submit your tax info again every few years, even if nothing changes. Learn more about tax form expiration.
If you don’t share tax info, Google may be required to withhold taxes worldwide using the maximum tax rate. Your tax rate will depend on your AdSense for YouTube account type and country.
Check your tax info and claim a tax treaty benefit:
- Make sure we got your tax info. Double check that your tax form status is a green “Approved” in AdSense for YouTube.
- Confirm with your tax advisor if you’re eligible to make a claim for treaty benefits. A tax treaty benefit can reduce the tax withholding rate for certain income types:
- Other Copyright Royalties (such as YouTube Partner Program and Google Play)
- Services (such as Google AdSense)
Learn more about tax withholding on YouTube or review FAQs on submitting your U.S. tax info to Google.
Google is required to collect tax info from creators in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). If any tax deductions apply, Google will withhold taxes on YouTube earnings from viewers in the U.S. from ad views, YouTube Premium, Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks, and Channel Memberships.
Why Google withholds U.S. taxes
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.
Note: YouTube and Google can’t provide advice on tax issues. Consult a tax professional to better understand your tax situation.
Submitting tax info to Google
All monetizing creators on YouTube, regardless of their location in the world, are required to provide tax info. Creators are also required to re-submit their tax info every few years, or if their circumstances change enough that it impacts the validity of the form. Please submit your tax info as soon as possible. If tax info isn’t provided by Dec. 10th, Google may be required to deduct up to 24% of your total earnings worldwide.
You can follow the instructions below to submit your U.S. tax info to Google. Keep in mind that even if your circumstances don’t change enough to impact the validity of the form, you will be asked to re-submit tax info every three years. Note that only Latin characters may be used when submitting tax forms (due to requirements by the IRS); learn more here.
- Sign in to your AdSense for YouTube account.
- Click Payments
Payments info.
- Click Manage settings.
- Scroll to "Payments profile" and click edit
next to "United States tax info".
- Click Manage tax info.
- On this page you'll find a guide that will help you to select the appropriate form for your tax situation.
Tip: After you submit your tax information, follow the instructions above to check the “United States tax info” section of your Payments profile to find the tax withholding rates that may apply to your payments.
You’ll also be able to make any edits in case your individual or business circumstances change. If you've changed your address, make sure your updated permanent address is the same in both sections: "Permanent residence address" and "Legal address". This will ensure that your year-end tax forms (e.g., 1099-MISC, 1099-K, 1042-S) are delivered to the correct location. If you’re in the US, you must resubmit your W-9 form with your updated legal address.
Where U.S. tax requirements apply
Every YPP creator, regardless of their location in the world, is required to provide U.S. tax info to Google. Under U.S. tax law, Google is required to deduct taxes from your YouTube earnings from U.S. viewers, if applicable. The tax withholding requirements can differ depending on your country of residence, whether you're eligible to claim tax treaty benefits, and whether you identify as an Individual or a Business.
- Creators outside of the U.S: If you submit U.S. tax info, withholding rates are between 0-30% on earnings you generate from viewers in the U.S. and depend on whether your country has a tax treaty relationship with the United States.
- U.S. creators: Google will not withhold taxes on earnings if you have provided valid tax info. Most U.S. creators already have submitted their U.S. tax info.
Important: If no U.S. tax info is provided, Google may be required to withhold using the maximum tax rate. Your tax rate will depend on your AdSense for YouTube account type and country:
- Business account type: the default withholding rate will be 30% of U.S. earnings if the payee is outside of the U.S. Businesses in the U.S. will be subject to 24% withholding on total earnings worldwide.
- Individual account type: backup withholding will apply and 24% of total earnings worldwide will be withheld.
These withholding rates will be adjusted in the next payment cycle once valid U.S. tax info is provided in AdSense for YouTube. You can follow these instructions to determine which account type your AdSense or AdSense for YouTube account is.
FAQs
What is tax withholding?
Simply put, tax withholding is when taxes are deducted from your payments so that they can be paid to a government to satisfy the payee’s U.S. tax liability.
Under U.S. tax law, Google is a withholding agent required to comply with U.S. tax law, and where required, to withhold taxes on relevant YouTube earnings.
Only the portion of your earnings from viewers in the United States will be subject to tax withholding and reporting if you provide valid tax information.
The exact rate of tax withholding will be determined by the tax info you provide to Google. You can view your tax withholding rate in the Manage tax info section in your AdSense for YouTube Payment Settings once you submit your form. Tax withholding amounts are not visible in YouTube Analytics.
Hypothetical example
Here’s a hypothetical example: a YouTube creator in India in the YouTube Partner Program earns $1,000 USD from YouTube in the last month. Of the $1,000 USD, their channel generated $100 USD from U.S. viewers.
Here are some possible withholding scenarios:
- Creator doesn’t submit tax info: the final tax deduction is $240 USD because the withholding tax rate is up to 24% of total earnings worldwide if they didn't submit tax info. This means that until the creator submits complete tax info, we’ll need to deduct up to 24% of their total earnings worldwide, not just their U.S. earnings.
- Creator submits tax info and claims a treaty benefit: the final tax deduction is $15 USD. This is because India and the U.S. have a tax treaty relationship that reduces the tax rate to 15% of earnings from viewers in the U.S.
- Creator submits tax info, but is not eligible for a tax treaty benefit: the final tax deduction will be $30 USD. This is because the tax rate without a tax treaty is 30% of earnings from viewers in the U.S.
Calculate your estimated tax withholding
See how your YouTube income may be affected with the following example calculation:
- Access the Revenue Report in YouTube Analytics and set the date filter to the relevant payment period (e.g. Oct 1 - 31). It may be helpful to set your YouTube Analytics to the currency you are paid in (e.g. USD).
- Apply a geography filter to see estimated revenue from the United States. Learn more about your Audience in YouTube Analytics.
- Go to your AdSense for YouTube account to find your tax withholding rate. Your withholding rate is visible after submitting your U.S. tax info.
- Multiply the results of steps 2 and 3 above.
Note that following the above only produces an estimate of tax withholding. Once Google begins withholding taxes, you will see the finalized amount withheld in your regular Payments Transactions Report in AdSense for YouTube (if any apply).
What if I don’t earn revenue from viewers in the U.S. on my channel?
What criteria are you using to determine if I am a U.S.-based creator or not?
Your location is determined by the country of residence you declare in your tax info.
Google is only required to withhold U.S. taxes from your YouTube earnings from viewers in the U.S. Your local income tax laws may still apply to your YouTube earnings.
Many countries have tax treaties that reduce or eliminate double taxation. In addition, certain countries may allow for foreign tax credits to help reduce international tax burdens. By claiming a tax treaty in the tax tool in your AdSense for YouTube account, you may be able to reduce your tax burden. Please consult your tax advisor. Learn more here
What kind of tax reporting documents does Google provide?
You will see finalized tax withholding amounts in your Payments Report according to your payment cycle. Amounts withheld are usually visible in the month following payment – for example, withholding amounts for April are listed in the payments report for May. If there are payment holds or other issues on your account, finalized tax withholding amounts for multiple combined months may be listed in the payments report at a later date.
All creators that submit tax info and who receive eligible payments, will receive a tax form (e.g. 1042-S,) on or before April 14 of each year for the previous year’s tax withholdings (Forms 1099-MISC issued to US creators are typically issued by early March). Visit our Help Center to request a copy, revision, or to void a year-end U.S. tax form.
Tax document delivery preferences
Your document delivery options and document statuses for year-end tax forms you receive are under Settings
- If you select online delivery, you'll receive documents online only.
- If you select paper mail, we'll send documents to the mailing address provided on your tax form and your documents will still be available online.
If your mailing address has changed, update your tax info in your payments profiles. Google will use the info you submitted on the U.S. tax form in your payments profile.
Google may refund U.S. withholding tax in certain circumstances if updated tax info is provided by December 10. For example, if an updated W-8 tax form with a claim for a lower tax rate and other required documentation is given in a timely fashion, Google will recalculate withholding amounts and refund the difference.
Note that you may need to give us an affidavit of unchanged circumstances and declare that the changes made to your form apply to a previous date in time, if eligible. You can do this under the “Status change affidavit” section in Step 6 of the tax tool in your AdSense for YouTube.
These refunds will be visible in the payment cycle after you update your form.
These circumstances are limited and valid tax info must be received by the end of the calendar year in which the tax was withheld. If you don’t give us valid tax info by the end of the calendar year, you will have to file a request for a refund directly with the IRS. We recommend you seek professional tax advice to this end.
Any applicable refunds will be visible in your Payments Report at the end of the payment cycle after updating your tax info in AdSense for YouTube.
Affiliates in multi-channel networks (MCN)
Affiliate channels in MCNs are now eligible for refunds. Affiliates must give us valid documentation that proves that a prior payment was subject to a lower rate. Only taxes withheld in the same calendar year will be eligible for refunds. Once eligible, the refund will be issued to the original content owner from whom the tax was withheld.