What puts me off is the deal with international developers. Payments will be made out through checks in the mail. Bummer. This goes back to those days when I was dealing with handango and pocketgear ten years ago. It takes a good 4 weeks to receive and clear the checks.
Where did you find this information , I'm ready to submit my first game to amazon market but i can't find info for none US developers ! From my understanding we can't sign up for the "Amazon Flexible Payments Service" , so how do we get paid? I mean , where are the forms we need to fill up? Roy.
here's the document. https://developer.amazon.com/settings/docs.html Scroll through to point 6. Royalty Payments and Reporting "If you are located outside the United States, we will pay you via check sent to a mailing address you provide for such purpose. We are entitled to accrue and withhold payments, without interest, until the total amount due to you (net of any tax withholding, as further described below) is at least US$10.00 for payments we make via EFT or US$100.00 for payments we make by check."
Another bummer is that the sales made on Amazon is considered as royalties. Because of this the US IRS will take 30% away from your royalties after amazon had a 30% cut. I wonder why Amazon doesn't classify this as sales instead. Now giving away 30% to the IRS is a whole lot of money I tell you! I'd rather pay those taxes in my home country which is much lower.
But heck, at least the whatever amount I get after all those taken by the IRS doesn't need to be taxed back home. What a relief.
Yes that's correct. But that rate of Tax withholding amount to IRS is different for different countries. So some countries may not be as high as 30%
The android market considers the sales proceeds as sales just like iTunes, so any tax on it has to be paid in your own home country. As far as I know IRS has got no business touching that money
Guys , thanks for the clarification , I'm trying to figure out what i need to do to avoid those extra 30% taken from me , I can't quite figure out what info i need to get? (taxpayer ID ?!?) , how to get it ? (US embassy in my country-Israel ?!?) and where to send it once i get it ? (amazon mail?!?)
@osalzano, I was featured in the "hot new releases" section on the games homepage. Right now, two of my apps have been in that spot and have gained about 3,000 downloads since I released my first game. Catching up to iOS at a fast rate
@Non-US residents: I was not aware that there are additional cuts in your pay. That is really a bummer... Sorry to hear for you guys. The market has so much potential. Might as well get the free dev license and try it out right? Attempting to maximize your revenue is better than keeping it where it is. And who knows, maybe you'll still sell enough to make a substantial amount of revenue.
The second problem is that it says in this form : "DO NOT SUBMIT THE FORM if you have social security number" I have a SSN from when i worked in the USA 3 years ago , so what do i do ? ~X( ~X( ~X( ~X(
@P-O-M make a game that sells millions of copies so that even 20% is still GREAT I actually have no idea about tax stuff and SSN. I'm still in high school. Hope you figure it out. Maybe call your bank or some kind of authority on this matter?
Comments
Which app?
Have you done any promotion or got featured br Amazon?
From my understanding we can't sign up for the "Amazon Flexible Payments Service" , so how do we get paid?
I mean , where are the forms we need to fill up?
Roy.
here's the document. https://developer.amazon.com/settings/docs.html
Scroll through to point 6. Royalty Payments and Reporting
"If you are located outside the United States, we will pay you via check sent to a mailing address you provide for such purpose. We are entitled to accrue and withhold payments, without interest, until the total amount due to you (net of any tax withholding, as further described below) is at least US$10.00 for payments we make via EFT or US$100.00 for payments we make by check."
Another bummer is that the sales made on Amazon is considered as royalties. Because of this the US IRS will take 30% away from your royalties after amazon had a 30% cut.
I wonder why Amazon doesn't classify this as sales instead. Now giving away 30% to the IRS is a whole lot of money I tell you! I'd rather pay those taxes in my home country which is much lower.
But heck, at least the whatever amount I get after all those taken by the IRS doesn't need to be taxed back home. What a relief.
All my games on Google Play
So for non US devs, from a $0.99 app it goes
Amazon: 0.30
IRS: 0.21
Dev: 0.48
...?
That takes some of the fun out of it. Is that the same with the Android market/google?
Yes that's correct. But that rate of Tax withholding amount to IRS is different for different countries. So some countries may not be as high as 30%
The android market considers the sales proceeds as sales just like iTunes, so any tax on it has to be paid in your own home country. As far as I know IRS has got no business touching that money
All my games on Google Play
I can't quite figure out what info i need to get? (taxpayer ID ?!?) , how to get it ? (US embassy in my country-Israel ?!?) and where to send it once i get it ? (amazon mail?!?)
Did any of you already made this process ?
Roy.
@Non-US residents: I was not aware that there are additional cuts in your pay. That is really a bummer... Sorry to hear for you guys. The market has so much potential. Might as well get the free dev license and try it out right? Attempting to maximize your revenue is better than keeping it where it is. And who knows, maybe you'll still sell enough to make a substantial amount of revenue.
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/AmazonMobileApps/DevPortal/FAQ/Tax/W-8_BEN_with_affidavit._V179712489_.pdf
The problem is that this form requires an ITIN number , and to get that number we need to fill up this form :
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/online/ss-5.pdf
The second problem is that it says in this form : "DO NOT SUBMIT THE FORM if you have social security number"
I have a SSN from when i worked in the USA 3 years ago , so what do i do ? ~X( ~X( ~X( ~X(
Roy.