US tax information reporting and withholding

You're being asked to complete this form in order for Google to comply with its obligations under the United States ('US') Internal Revenue Code sections 1441 (Chapter 3) and 3406.

This form is used to identify the correct rate of withholding on applicable payments made to you, if withholding is applicable on future payments.

The Internal Revenue Service ('IRS') requires Google to refresh its non-US partners' and vendors' tax forms at the earlier of

• (1) Every three years or
• (2) If there has been a change in circumstances that would impact the validity of the form.

Google is updating its payees to confirm compliance with these IRS rules.

If withholding is applicable, completing the form will identify the proper withholding rate on future payments. Not completing this form may result in Chapter 3 or potential backup withholding being deducted from your future earnings.

The appropriate tax form is automatically generated based on the answers that you provide. If you have any doubts, consult your tax adviser.

• A Form W-9 will be required from US persons, companies, partnerships and so on.
• Generally, a Form W-8BEN or Form W-8BEN-E is required from individuals and entities (respectively) outside of the US who are the beneficial owner of the income received. It may be used to claim a treaty benefit (in other words, a reduced rate of withholding).
• A Form W-8ECI is used by persons claiming income received and is effectively connected with a US trade or business. A US TIN will be required for all payees that provide a Form W-8ECI.
• A Form W-8IMY is required for certain intermediaries, partnerships and flow-through entities outside of the US. If this form is provided, Google may ask for additional documentation (for example, an allocation statement).
• A Form W-8EXP is used by entities to establish non-US beneficial owner status and eligibility for a reduced rate of tax withholding as a non-US government central bank, international organisation, non-US tax exempt organisation, non-US foreign private foundation or government of a US possession.

Below are some key points that you should consider as you complete the process:

• Do not use a PO box or 'in care of' address as a permanent residence address: We found that some individuals and businesses provide a post office box or 'in care of' address as their permanent residence address. If your permanent residence address is a PO box, 'in care of' address or a corporate services provider (such as a law firm or trust company), you may need to upload a copy of your articles of incorporation or other appropriate document showing that the address is your registered legal address.
• Identity verification: You may be required to verify your identity if one of the following situations applies:
  • Missing TIN or TIN not nine-digit numeric
  • TIN entered is not currently issued
  • TIN and name combination does not match IRS records
  • Invalid TIN matching request
• US addresses require extra support: If you claim non-US person residency status and have a permanent or mailing address located in the United States, you need to supply additional information to support the fact that you're not a US person.
• Limitations on benefits (entities only): Entities that claim treaty benefits must certify that they satisfy the 'limitation on benefits' clause of the relevant tax treaty. To determine whether you qualify for tax treaty benefits, consult your applicable tax treaty or a professional tax adviser.

We highly recommend that you complete this process with a laptop or desktop.

If you need help to resolve technical issues, contact Google support. However, Google can't provide you with tax advice. If you need tax advice, please speak to a professional tax adviser.

If you're not the right person to complete the required form, you can forward the email to the correct person within your organisation to sign in. That person must have administrator access to the Google Payments account. They can then use the information provided in the email to complete the form. To give the signatory administrator access to the account, follow these steps.

An individual account is owned and operated by an individual person and not a legal organisation. Taxes are filed in the owner's name on a personal tax return.

A non-individual account or entity account is a business account that's separate from its owner for tax purposes.

Legal name

Enter your legal name exactly as it appears on your legal documents.

• If you're earning income as an individual: provide your legal name in the name field. You may have to provide a translated name as reflected in your legal documents (for example, your passport).
  • If you have a business that you want to associate with the form, please include that in the DBA field. If your payments profile is under a business name, please include that name in the DBA field.
• If you're earning income as an entity: the name of your entity needs to be in the name field. If your payments profile is under an individual name, please include that name in the DBA field.

You may be asked to provide additional documentation to verify your legal name. If you need to update your payments profile, follow these instructions.

DBA name

A doing business as (DBA) name is a company name different from the owner’s name. Depending on the type of form that you provide, you may also provide a person's legal name.

Disregarded entity

A disregarded entity is a business entity that has a single owner, isn't a corporation under US tax law and isn't considered an entity separate from its owner for US federal income tax purposes. Learn more about disregarded entities from the IRS (the US tax authority).

A Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) is a tax processing number required by the IRS (the US tax authority) for all US tax forms. Non-US citizens may need an individual TIN (ITIN). If you are claiming a tax treaty benefit, you are required to provide either a foreign TIN or a US TIN. Learn more about TINs from the IRS.

Note that pages on the IRS website aren't maintained or reviewed by Google. As such, Google can't confirm the accuracy of the information presented. If you have further questions, you may want to seek professional tax advice.

To determine acceptable Tax Identification Numbers, please reference your local tax authority or seek professional tax advice. Google can't provide tax advice.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of examples of foreign TINs from around the globe:

• India: Permanent Account Number (PAN).
• Indonesia: Nomor Pokok Wajib Pajak (NPWP).
• Japan: Individual Number (nicknamed "My Number").
• Russia: Taxpayer Personal Identification Number, known as INN.
• United Kingdom: Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), National Insurance Number (NINO).

A US or non-US Tax Identification Number (TIN) is generally required on eligible payments made to non-US payees who claim treaty benefits under an income tax treaty between the payee's country or region of residence and the United States.

A US TIN is required from all US payees completing a Form W-9.

If your country and the United States have an income tax treaty in place, the tax tool in AdSense will identify the details of that treaty during tax form submission.

Want to know if your country has a tax treaty with the United States? Refer to the IRS website. This is an IRS website and isn't maintained or reviewed by Google and Google can't confirm the accuracy of the information presented. If you have further questions, you may want to seek professional tax advice.

Unfortunately, Google can't make this determination for you. To determine whether you qualify for a treaty benefit, find out whether you live in a country or region that has an income tax treaty with the US, and whether the type of income that you receive from Google is included in a specific tax treaty provision. You may need to seek professional tax advice to determine your treaty eligibility.

Refer to the IRS website. This is an IRS website and isn't maintained or reviewed by Google. Google can't confirm the accuracy of the information presented. If you have further questions, you may want to seek professional tax advice.

Even if you're not claiming any treaty benefits, to comply with IRS rules and requirements, Google must collect proof that you're a non-US person. Not completing this form may result in Chapter 3 or backup withholding being deducted from your future earnings.

Google can't advise you on tax matters. Contact your tax adviser for more details.

Payments made in relation to Google products can sometimes fall into multiple categories. YouTube, AdSense, Cloud and Play partners should select all income types for which they're eligible to claim treaty benefits to ensure that they receive appropriate withholding tax rates. Google withholds at the appropriate rate based on the income type being paid and corresponding treaty claim. Google won't use additional treaty claims unless such income type is paid. To help you decide which payment types relate to your partnership with Google, use the following:

• Other copyright royalties (such as the YouTube Partner Programme, Cloud Marketplace – reseller model and Play Pass)
• Services or other business income (such as AdSense, but not including AdSense for YouTube)
• Motion picture and TV royalties

Google will generate PDFs of the IRS tax forms that were filled in. You'll be required to verify the accuracy of your documents. If you need to make changes, simply return to AdSense and make the necessary revision.

Another party may complete and sign the form on your behalf but only in limited circumstances, such as a parent for a minor or a party with a valid power of attorney. Anyone who signs the form on behalf of another party will be asked to provide proof of identification and signing capacity.

US activities are the performance of a service in the United States. This can include having employees or owning equipment in the US that are involved in generating revenue.

An affidavit of unchanged status can be provided with a valid Form W-8. The affidavit allows Google to retroactively apply a new Form W-8 to a previous payment. The affidavit can be used to obtain a withholding tax refund from Google on payments made before the new Form W-8 was submitted, provided that (1) the Form W-8 entitles the creator to a lower withholding rate, and (2) the creator has made a refund claim within the time frame for providing refunds (by 31 December of the year in which withholding occurs).

• In review: Your submitted tax info is being reviewed. This may take up to seven working days. If additional documents are required to validate your tax information or verify your identity, we will notify you in the Google payments centre and by email.
• Approved: Your tax information is submitted, reviewed and accepted.
• Declined: Your tax information may have been declined for a few reasons:
  • The Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) that you entered couldn't be found in IRS records. This may be because the IRS system didn’t update or you recently created a TIN.
  • The TIN and name combination that you entered doesn't match IRS records.
  • Your tax information can’t be validated with the documents that you provided.

If your form is declined, we will notify you in the Google payments centre and by email. Submit a new form or contact your tax adviser. In your billing profile, make sure that your legal information exactly matches the information on your tax form before you submit it.

The information that you provide in the tax tool goes through a series of checks to ensure safety, accuracy and completeness. Sometimes, even a small error on your documents may flag your tax information as 'in review'. Ensuring that the tax information that you provide matches your payments profile information is the best way to minimise delays in processing your tax information.

Some common cases that will result in a review include:

For W9 forms:

• The 'legal name' provided in the tax tool does not match the name on your payments profile.
• The 'disregarded entity' name provided in the tax tool does not match the name on your payments profile.
• The Social Security Number (SSN) provided in the tax tool is invalid or belongs to a person whose name does not match the name on the account. This may take longer to review.

For W8 forms:

• The 'legal name' provided in the tax tool does not match the name on your payments profile
• The 'disregarded entity' name provided in the tax tool does not match the name on your payments profile.
• The 'residence address' or 'postal address' provided in the tax tool is in the United States or does not match the country where you are claiming treaty benefits.
• An 'in-care-of' or 'PO box' address is provided in the tax tool.
• The form field 'capacity' is populated in the tax tool.

Note that all W-8IMY forms submitted will be put under review.

You may be required to verify your identity if one of the following situations applies:

• Missing TIN or TIN not nine-digit numeric
• TIN entered is not currently issued
• TIN and name combination does not match IRS records
• Invalid TIN matching request

Learn more about the documentation accepted for each tax form.

If your US tax information is flagged for additional review, you may need to provide an additional form of identification. To see which documents and forms of identification you can use, please refer to this Help Centre page: Approved tax documents. PNG, JPEG and PDF files are accepted.

While the questions in the tax form are available in your supported language, the fields in the tax form only support upper- or lower-case letters (a–z, A–Z), numbers (0–9), spaces, hyphens (-) and ampersands (&). This is due to reporting requirements by the Internal Revenue Service (the US tax authority, also known as the IRS).

Google has a regulatory responsibility under Chapter 3 of the US Internal Revenue Code to withhold tax and report where a non-US partner receives US source income. It also has obligations under Chapter 61 and Section 3406 of the US Internal Revenue Code to perform backup withholding where applicable. The tax information submitted to Google is used to identify the correct rate of withholding on future payments made to you, where applicable. If reporting is applicable, Google provides a reporting form (Form 1042-S or Form 1099) annually.

If you've been validly documented as a non-US business or individual, only the portion of your revenue earned from US users is subject to US withholding taxes and reporting. These are revenues (such as advertising views, transactions and subscriptions) that are generated from usage in the United States. US partners should provide a valid US Taxpayer Identification Number to indicate exemption from US tax withholding (including under Chapter 3 of the US Internal Revenue Code).

The US withholding tax rate that applies is based on the tax documentation that you’ve provided to Google.

If a valid tax form isn't provided, Google may apply backup withholding at 24% or Chapter 3 withholding at 30% on applicable payments. This rate may only be reduced if you're a tax resident of a country or region that has an income treaty with the US and you provide a valid tax form with a valid treaty claim. You can find the finalised amount withheld in your monthly earnings report.

In some cases, Google may be required to withhold 24% from payees on all eligible earnings, including:

• If the tax information entered on your tax form is found to be incorrect or inaccurate, and you’re presumed to be a US person under the US tax withholding presumption rules.

If you've had earnings withheld from a payment, it's because our records indicate that you were subject to tax withholding at the time of payment.

If you don't believe that you're subject to tax withholding, please update the tax information in your account.

Generally, a documented non-US person (i.e. valid Form W-8 on file) is subject to US tax on income that is earned from US sources. For example, if a non-US person performs services in the US, then the payments related to the services performed in the US are subject to US income tax withholding. The withholding rate depends on the type of income received, whether the payee is eligible for treaty benefits and, if eligible, a validly completed claim for treaty benefits on a Form W-8. The IRS requires the party making the payment to a non-US person to withhold and, if applicable, deposit the amounts with the IRS, and complete certain information returns at the end of the calendar year in which payment was made.

If a valid tax form isn't provided, the default withholding rate is generally 30% on applicable payments. This rate may be reduced if you're a tax resident of a country or region that has an income treaty with the US, if the type of income that you receive is eligible for a treaty benefit, you meet all the treaty requirements and make a valid claim for treaty benefits. In some instances, the default withholding rate is 24% where an undocumented partner is presumed US.

Find relevant withholding rates in your payments profile under Settings  Manage tax info.

If you've received eligible payments from Google, we'll provide a year-end tax form to you and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The form will be a 1099 or 1042-S depending on your tax status. The form delivery options and statuses for year-end tax forms can be found in Settings  Manage tax info. You can choose online delivery of digital tax documents or select paper mail. 

• 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 information in your payments profiles. Google will use the information that you submitted on the US tax form in your payments profile.