U.S. Tax Withholding and Reporting Policy FAQs

Important update: No more withholding tax in 2022

Along with BandLab's acquisition of ReverbNation, your music distribution royalty income will no longer be subject to any U.S. withholding taxes. Where you may have had up to 30% of your royalties withheld in the past, this will no longer be the case regardless of where you’re based. This change will apply to all withdrawal requests starting from 1 Jan 2022. 

 

This page describes our current United States tax withholding and reporting policy.  Our policy is subject to change based on changes in U.S. tax law, our (and our professional advisors’) interpretation of applicable law and guidance, and its application to our business.

Throughout this page, a withdrawal of funds refers to either (1) payment via PayPal of funds reflected in your ReverbNation Credit account, or (2) your purchase of ReverbNation products and services using funds reflected in your ReverbNation Credit account.

Not all payments you receive from ReverbNation are subject to U.S. tax withholding and reporting obligations.  For example, funds generated by the sale of music (downloads) currently are not subject to the requirements described in this tax policy.  You can withdraw those funds without any tax form, reporting, or withholding requirements, subject to our General Terms & Conditions applicable to withdrawals from your ReverbNation Credit account.

This page and the information contained herein is not intended to serve as tax advice.

You should not rely upon the information on this page for any purpose without seeking tax advice from a tax expert in your state or country of residence. This information is not intended to constitute specific tax advice or to be a substitute for advice from qualified experts. Such information is provided only as general information that may or may not reflect the most current tax developments or apply to your jurisdiction; accordingly, such information is not promised or guaranteed to be correct or complete.

 

Tax Form Collection 

When you request payment of funds reflected in your ReverbNation Credit account that are attributable to streaming or publishing royalties, or when you or we attempt to apply those funds towards a purchase of a ReverbNation service, we will request that you complete and submit a tax form if we do not yet have a valid form on file for you. 

If you are a U.S. individual citizen or resident, or a U.S. legal entity, you should complete a W-9: 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf

If you are a non-U.S. individual, you should complete a W-8BEN:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf

If you are a non-U.S. legal entity, you should complete a W-8BEN-E: 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8bene.pdf 

The determination of which tax form to complete is your decision, based on the specific facts and circumstances applicable to you.  Links to more detailed instructions for each form, including more detailed information about who should complete which type of form, are available in the PDFs linked above. 

You also have the option to explicitly decline to provide a tax form, but doing so will result in ReverbNation withholding 30% from all withdrawals of funds that are attributable to streaming or publishing royalties (see section “Withholding” below). 

All Tax Forms and related information you submit to us is collected, processed, and retained by us pursuant to our Privacy Policy.

 

Tax Form Review and Acceptance 

Upon our receipt of a completed tax form from you, we may accept it or reject it, and/or request follow-up information from you.  Our acceptance criteria are outlined below.  We typically review a tax form within 3-5 business days of receipt, although review times may be longer at the beginning of each calendar year. 

W-9:

Each W-9 must satisfy the following minimum requirements:

  • Must include Name as shown on your tax return (form Item 1)
  • Must include Tax Identification Number (“TIN”) (Part I)
  • We participate in the United States Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) TIN matching program. We must be able to validate your Name and TIN with IRS records in order to accept your W-9.
  • Must include your ReverbNation user profile ID as the “account number” on the form (item 7). You may include multiple user profile IDs on this line. 

We also recommend that your W-9 include a mailing address, in the event we must provide you a printed and mailed copy of a year-end information report (e.g. 1099-MISC).  (items 5 and 6) 

W-8BEN

Each W-8BEN must satisfy the following minimum requirements:

  • Must include Name of Individual (item 1)
  • Must include Country of Citizenship (item 2)
  • Must include Permanent Address, including Country (item 3). The address cannot be a Post Office Box.
  • If you are claiming tax treaty benefits, you must enter either a United States TIN (item 5) or a foreign tax identifying number (item 6), as well as the country of tax treaty being claimed (item 9). Your ReverbNation user profile ID will not be accepted as either your U.S. TIN or foreign tax identifying number.  However, if you are not claiming any tax treaty benefits, this information is not required. 
  • Must include your ReverbNation user profile ID as the “reference number” on the form (item 7). You may include multiple user profile IDs on this line.
  • We may request follow-up information if your permanent address is in a country different from the country you claim for tax treaty benefits.
  • Must sign the form; electronic signature (e.g. typed on PDF) is acceptable. 

We also recommend that your W-8BEN include a mailing address, if different from your permanent address, in the event we must provide you a printed and mailed copy of a year-end information report (e.g. 1042-S) (item 4).  

W-8BEN-E

Each W-8BEN-E must satisfy the following minimum requirements:

  • Must include Name of Organization (item 1)
  • Must include Country of Incorporation or Organization (item 2)
  • Must include Chapter 3 Status (item 4)
  • Must include Permanent Address, including Country (item 6). The address cannot be a Post Office Box.
  • If you are claiming tax treaty benefits, must enter either a United States TIN (item 8) or a Foreign TIN (tax identifying number) (item 9b), as well as the country of tax treaty being claimed (item 14a). Your ReverbNation user profile ID will not be accepted as either your U.S. or Foreign TIN.  However, if you are not claiming any tax treaty benefits, this information is not required. 
  • Must include your ReverbNation user profile ID as the “reference number” on the form (item 10). You may include multiple user profile IDs on this line.
  • We may request follow-up information if your permanent address is in a country different from the country you claim for tax treaty benefits.
  • Must sign the form; electronic signature (e.g. typed on PDF) is acceptable. 

We also recommend that your W-8BEN-E include a mailing address if different from your permanent address, in the event we must provide you a printed and mailed copy of a year-end information report (e.g. 1042-S) (item 4). 

 

Withholding 

No withholding is applied to withdrawals of funds that are attributable to sales of downloaded music.  Only funds attributable to streaming or publishing royalties are subject to withholding and reporting. 

United States Users (Provided W-9)

If your tax form was received and accepted by us, and as long as we do not receive notification from the IRS that you are subject to backup withholding, we will not withhold from any of your withdrawn amounts. 

If we receive notice from the IRS that you are subject to backup withholding (IRS “B-notice”), we will withhold 24% of the portion of any withdrawn amounts that were generated by music streaming or publishing royalties. 

Non-United States Users (Provided W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E)

If your tax form was received and accepted by us, we will withhold either 30% or the claimed country’s tax treaty rate of the portion of any withdrawn funds that were generated by U.S.-sourced music streaming or publishing royalties.  The rate of withholding will be 30% if there is no claim of tax treaty benefits, or it will be the claimed country’s tax treaty rate for Copyright Royalties (Income Code Number 12 - For tax treaty rates, see https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/Tax_Treaty_Table_1_2019_Feb.pdf).  Many countries’ tax treaties call for withholding of less than 30%.

The determination of sourcing as U.S. or non-U.S. is based solely on reporting from streaming services and publishers. 

Users Who Decline To Provide Tax Form

If you decline to provide a tax form, then we will generally presume that you are a non-U.S. entity and withhold from your U.S.-sourced streaming and publishing royalties at a rate of 30%. 

Withholding on Purchases

If you have a recurring subscription, your normal payment method is repeatedly declined, and your ReverbNation Credit account has sufficient funds to pay for the ordered subscription, then we will request a tax form from you.  If you fail to provide a tax form, then we will deduct sufficient funds from your ReverbNation Credit account to withhold 30% and arrive at a net amount equal to the purchase price of the requested subscription plus any applicable sales taxes. 

What We Do With Withheld Amounts

As the IRS Withholding Agent with respect to certain types of royalty income, we remit withheld amounts to the United States IRS according to its established remittance schedule.

 

Information Reporting 

No reporting is provided either to you or to the IRS related to funds withdrawn that are attributable to sales of downloaded music, or any funds that are recorded and reflected in your ReverbNation Credit account but not withdrawn. 

United States Users (Provided W-9)

United States users who either (i) withdraw $10 or more within a calendar year of funds that were generated from music streaming or publishing royalties, or (ii) have any amount withheld within a calendar year will receive a 1099-MISC reflecting those amounts for that calendar year.  This information will also be provided by us to the IRS. 

Non-United States Users (Provided W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E)

Non-U.S. users who either (i) withdraw $0.50 or more within a calendar year of funds that were generated from U.S.-sourced music streaming or publishing royalties, or (ii) have any amount withheld within a calendar year will receive a 1042-S reflecting those amounts.  This information will also be provided by us to the IRS. 

 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Where can I see my current tax status?

Your current tax status will be provided in your ReverbNation Credit account, or you can contact us at support@reverbnation.com

I have multiple ReverbNation user accounts.  Do I need to provide a tax form for each account?  If so, will I receive multiple information reports (1099-MISC or 1042-S) for each account?

If you have already provided a tax form for one account, you may instruct us to apply that tax form and status to your other user accounts by emailing us at taxform@reverbnation.com.

After year-end, to the extent information reporting for each account is required per this Policy, you will receive separate reports for each user account on ReverbNation. 

How are amounts that are going to be withheld reflected in my ReverbNation Credit account? 

The “Balance” amount shown in your ReverbNation Credit account represents all amounts earned, regardless of whether we have made them available for withdrawal according to our General Terms & Conditions and regardless of any tax withholding that will be applied.

The “Available Balance” amount shown in your ReverbNation Credit account does deduct for availability policies per our General Terms & Conditions and does deduct for any withholding that is to be applied pursuant to your current tax form/status. 

How can I see amounts were actually withheld from past withdrawals?

You will see individual line-item entries in your ReverbNation Credit account transactions for withheld amounts.  You will also receive information reporting (1099-MISC or 1042-S) after year-end. 

What if I change my tax status mid-year?

We will withhold and report based on your status at the time of each withdrawal.  For example, if you make 1 withdrawal of greater than $10 of streaming royalties with a W-9 tax form on file and no withholding, and another withdrawal later in the same year of greater than $0.50 of U.S.-sourced streaming royalties with a W-8BEN tax form on file with 10% withholding, then you will receive 2 tax information reports for that year:  A 1099-MISC reporting the first withdrawal and a 1042-S reporting the second. 

Can I get a refund of funds withheld from my taxing authority via my income tax return?

It may be possible, but we do not and cannot provide tax analysis or advice.  It will depend on tax law in your country and your own facts and circumstances.  You may consult a tax expert in your state or country of residence.

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