Shutterstock & IRS – updates, answers
Posted by mattantonino | Posted in Agencies, N2M, Tricks, business, education | Posted on 29-05-2009
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Just an update for some of you who have been waiting for information from me or Shutterstock.? I will continue to add to this at the bottom of this list so please check back.
* The email Shutterstock sent is *not* being received as “an official signed letter” and it is very likely at this point that Shutterstock will need to mail you one.? Please do not file your ITIN until this is resolved as you may waste time & money.
* We are still waiting on the answers to two important questions: 1) will US sales only be counted? and 2) what percent of sales are US based?? I will update those AS SOON as I get the information.
* You will receive a form 1042 at the end of the year to show your withheld earnings.?? This may be used to reduce taxes in your own country, depending on your tax laws.? It is proof of withholdings in the US.? http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1042.pdf
* Please see my previous post for a country-by-country list of threads on Shutterstock to help you deal with the situation.? I will keep it updated for as long as possible/reasonable.
* If you have a SSN or EIN you should contact support@shutterstock.com with that information.? It is possible you do not need an ITIN because all three are “id numbers” which is basically what you need.
* The best step-by-step tutorial on this so far is here.? Your specific country thread may provide more info.
* If your country is not on the treaty list in this thread, do not apply for an ITIN because it will not help you.? You are subject to 30% withholding from the US.? 
? Sorry.
* For help in Russian, visit http://www.zastavkin.com/forum for German, see FotoTalk
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My country is on list with 5% of withheld tax. But anyway I have been thinking to just let it go, since costs for getting requested numbers are so high, that it just doesn’t make reasonable sense to get it. I think I’ll just leave it as is. In addition I really really don’t wanna give my personal info to US government.
Just my opinion, what do you think.
It depends how much you are making with Shutterstock. If it will cost you 1-3 months of income yes, I would do it. If it will cost you 4-12 months or more, I would probably not. Unless you plan to expand in microstock and get bigger. Then it’s up to you. Many will leave over this but many will go through the hassle. What country?
well I do that as a hobby, but I never said I don’t want to submit more and concequentially also earn more.
The one thing I don’t know is wether they send those earning reports directly to foreign tax office, or does this documents come in my hands or how is it…
County is Slovenia.
Eventually if I pay tax in US, I won’t have to do it at home, am I right?
Also if this is becoming obligatory by all microstock agencies, I might as well take in consideration also getting those papers done, but am not sure if I’d do that just because of SS.
At the moment the costs of getting ITIN would mean more than 4 months. But I do plan to grow on all sites including SS.
If your plan is to keep this a hobby, it is not worth the hassle and you should probably stay at the other sites. If you are going to grow larger, it makes sense to take care of this now before you have to do it later for more than one site anyways.
The earnings reports 1042 form will come to YOU directly. If you pay the 5% or the 30% you MAY be able to “write off” part of it for your home country taxes – it depends on Slovenia law. I am not sure for you.
If you’re over 4 months income right now I’d just forget SS, let them take the 30% of whatever you have, don’t close your account, and see if you earn enough in the future to make it worth getting ITIN.
Thanks for your opinion, appreciate it. You just confirmed my thoughts
My pleasure – I wish I had better news for you though!
[...] is their FAQ thread here, plus Matt has collected some helpful links to more information and exploration of the details over at [...]
Matt
Just to say “Hi” and thank you for your excellent work in reviewing and summarising the situation. Also, love the “new look” of the site.
Ed …
Hi, can you tell me where you found out this: “* The email Shutterstock sent is *not* being received as ?an official signed letter? and it is very likely at this point that Shutterstock will need to mail you one. Please do not file your ITIN until this is resolved as you may waste time & money.”
I did not see this on the SS forums or did I miss it?
I emailed you but I thought I’d just add the info here so people know.
http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=62633
This has an update from SS that is a collection of info you need.
And this one is the post that’s based on: http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=952105#952105
Hi, Congratulations to the site owner for this marvelous work you’ve done. It has lots of useful and interesting data.