Selling photos on stock photo sites
- Thread starter djchris
- Start date
may i ask where is the source of the news?
Just PMed you the source. Help to post the link here if you know how (as I don't know how to do it)
It is actually from an official announcement made by the ShutterStock management in the submitter's forum. There is an uproar there right now.
Thanks Barracuda, just read it on SS website. Seems like a big issue. The founder and president's latest msg sounded rude "If you dont like it, just leave. We will remove your pictures for you.."
Anyway, you are right. 30% is huge. Moreover we are already paying taxes here. Why double tax. And in any cases, countries who doesn't have tax treaty with the US, then the US govt gets to keep it... its so complicated.
Anyway, you are right. 30% is huge. Moreover we are already paying taxes here. Why double tax. And in any cases, countries who doesn't have tax treaty with the US, then the US govt gets to keep it... its so complicated.
Can get the w-9 here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf
And the W-8ben here http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf
this may be helpful "Withholding of tax on nonresident aliens and foreign entities" http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p515.pdf
And the W-8ben here http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf
this may be helpful "Withholding of tax on nonresident aliens and foreign entities" http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p515.pdf
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wildstallion
Senior Member
Yes, by the looks of it that seems the case. I dont get how this has only cropped up now, I guess the US govt needs all the money it can get to start bailing its banks out even more!
Alot of people seem very pissed off about it, maybe they will have to drop it, or risk losing a vast majority of contributors.
Not good news in the stock world anyhow.
so we'll still have to give the 30% (freaking large amount) anyway, anyone still going to file the paperworks?
Darcy.Zhou
Senior Member
it is a bomb i received ystd morning.... 30%
Probably because some retard senators are trying to get a bill passed that will give the govt the ability to shut down any internet activity for any reason whatsoever, whenever it feels like it. This bill is the Cyber Security Act 2009 which is in congress right now.
As soon as more companies figure out / know about it, there will be a whole crap load of legal mumbo jumbo, shuffling and patching going on in the e-business sector.
It's not that much of a stretch since this is starting to look like what the U.S. did to companies when the UIGEA was being passed which killed a 10 billion a year industry in the US. I'm not kidding...google it, you'll find the WTO got involved by issuing fines to the US. Small countries have sued the US and won...If this foreign tax things get out of hand and links up to the passing of the cyber security act then you'll be lucky to be making 70% without it being illegal for someone/entity.
It's really not all Shutterstock's fault or any other online company for that matter. In this case the tax laws were there but were not adhered to because it was never enforced until now. Every country has those kinda laws, it's there but not enforced until they feel like it, right? So maybe people should be thankful they were never "dinged" until now.
Should you submit your records? Knowing what the US did / capable of doing, I wouldn't if I were you, especially if you made a significant amount.
Man, I voted for Obama too...I hope he doesn't turn out to be a retard like the former and some of those senators...haha
This is very bad news for us stock shooters based in Singapore as it looks like we're all going to have to pay 30% of our commissions to Uncle Sam. At the moment I can't see anyway around this but I for one would like to see the exact legislation that states that Shutterstock has to take this figure.
I can't understand why Shutterstock isn't taxed on it's net profits (subscriptions received - commissions paid - expenses) and that is the end of it.
The forum is on page 69 now so until someone summarises this for each country then I am afraid I will be very lost.
I can't understand why Shutterstock isn't taxed on it's net profits (subscriptions received - commissions paid - expenses) and that is the end of it.
The forum is on page 69 now so until someone summarises this for each country then I am afraid I will be very lost.
Sion
Senior Member
Good news!
The taxation will only occur if the buyer downloading the image is in the U.S. - if any one outside the U.S. downloads an image, there will be no withholding.
This goes for treaty country submitters and non-treaty country submitters alike.
Looks like a large percentage of sales are outside U.S.
See SS Forum.
The taxation will only occur if the buyer downloading the image is in the U.S. - if any one outside the U.S. downloads an image, there will be no withholding.
This goes for treaty country submitters and non-treaty country submitters alike.
Looks like a large percentage of sales are outside U.S.
See SS Forum.
Thanks for the update. Seems like they need to work out their software to track the buyer's location. However fr the looks of it, anyone can start to register as a buyer outside US (Its an online biz) and then make their purchases.
Well, whatever the cases, i just hope the streamline it.
Well, whatever the cases, i just hope the streamline it.
It seems like Shutterstock rushed into this announcement without really thinking everything through. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more announcements in the near future. I have to say I was most aggrieved at the tone of Jon Oringer's post to the forum - didn't at all sound like a CEO who had the situation under control. Guess we wait and see.
I do professional photography on the side and I've posted photos on gonogging.com just to make some quick money. I've actually had a lot of success on there, I've posted about 8 photos and 3 of them have been purchased. It's helping get my name out there as well. They have a section where people request photos and you can take the job and get paid for it. It's pretty cool. The site is gonogging.com... hope this helps.
Hi, i came across Getty Image's advices to photographers who wants to submit pictures. I thought this might be useful to all.
Source: Getty Images
1) Big Six Image Guidelines - http://contributors.gettyimages.com/workwithus/img/articles/The_Big_Six_Image_Guidelines.pdf
2) Most Frequently Applied Themes - http://contributors.gettyimages.com/workwithus/article.asp?article_id=1249
Source: Getty Images
1) Big Six Image Guidelines - http://contributors.gettyimages.com/workwithus/img/articles/The_Big_Six_Image_Guidelines.pdf
2) Most Frequently Applied Themes - http://contributors.gettyimages.com/workwithus/article.asp?article_id=1249
Sion
Senior Member
That's is official now.
30% tax withholding for those from countries without tax treaty with US is huge. I can feel the pain although from Australia we will suffer a lesser pain of I think about 15% tax withholding.
I've noticed an immediate reponse from some photographers by not contributing to SS anymore when SS first announces this.
Back to the long grind guys!
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