Youtuber Is Subject To US Government Tax, Here Are The Calculations

Illustrated on YouTube (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The United States (US) government will collect income tax on all creator content on the YouTube platform from around the world. Indonesian YouTubers are no exception.

The US Government will collect tax objects based on AdSense income. Google announced that it will be required to withhold taxes under Chapter 3 of the Internal Revenue Code, including creator content outside the US.

"We're reaching out because Google will be required to deduct US taxes from payments to creators outside of the US later this year (as early as June 2021). Over the next few weeks, we'll be asking you to submit your tax info in AdSense to determine the correct amount of taxes to deduct, if any apply. If your tax info isn't provided by May 31st, 2021, Google may be required to deduct up to 24% of your total earnings worldwide, "write an email from YouTube.

The flow of income earned by YouTubers is through the profit sharing system that Google provides from advertisers. The calculation is determined by the number of AdSense ads that appear or the number of clicks on YouTube videos and the number of subscribers (subscribers).

Generally, revenue per 1,000 views (impressions) of ads is 1 US dollar or more or vice versa. The acquisition of this value still depends on how many ads on the YouTube channel are clicked on by the user, to the matter of the effective cost per mille (CPM) of a country where the YouTube channel is created.

YouTube illustration (Google Support)

YouTuber Tax Scenarios

Say a YouTube channel outside the US that earned $ 1 in revenue per 1,000 ad impressions in the past month. Of the total income, Youtuber apparently got 100 US dollars from AdSense or around Rp1.4 million from US viewers.

Thus, the YouTuber will be taxed as much as 240 US dollars (around Rp.3.4 million) 24 percent of all his income from YouTube. For that Youtuber needs to register relevant tax information via AdSense before the deadline of May 31, 2021, so that Google can calculate taxes properly.

If Youtuber has sent his tax information and claimed treaty benefits, the creator will only be taxed at 15 percent. The next scenario, if a YouTuber sends tax information but doesn't claim treaty benefits, then the creator will be taxed as much as 30 percent of US viewers.

To calculate tax revenue from US viewers on YouTube, content creators can follow the following methods:

Open YouTube Analytics Click on Advanced Mode Select date range Click on Geography The drop-down menu will allow you to add secondary metrics. Choose your estimated income. Look for the United States in the list of countries below the graph. There you can see how much US income is subject to tax.

It should be noted that this tax collection rule only applies to those whose income is generated by the number of viewers in the US. This means that not all revenue results will be affected, but only those obtained from US viewers.