Patreon is asking me to fill in a W9 form otherwise they can’t issue my payout at the end of October. I’m not hot on US tax law as I’m a UK resident, but surely this doesn’t apply? I thought W9’s were for US citizens and those in the UK have to fill out W8s instead?
Anyone else get a similar email? I’ve been on Patreon for a few years now and this is a first, so it’s not like this is the first accounting year I’ve gone through with them.
Cheers,
Rich
Ok, solved this myself, so am pasting the solution here in case it helps anyone else:
I got the same email (I’m in the UK too and filled out my W-8BEN ages ago).
If you go in to your profile and click ‘Payout Preferences’ in the left-hand menu you’ll see that it has, for some weird reason, probably changed you back to the ‘I am a USA person or corporation (USA)’ option at the top of the page. It had for me anyway. I swapped it back to the non-US option and saved my settings. It then recognised that I had filled out my W8 ages ago and doesn’t ask for any more information.
Phew. Panic over! Hope this helps you.
Hello!
I just got an email that reads:
"Hi there,
As we approach the end of the year, we need to make sure that we have the required tax forms on file for all of our creators. Please complete your W9 by October 26th. After that date, you will be required to submit a W9 in order to initiate an earnings payout. Don’t worry, it only takes a few minutes, and payouts will be available again as soon as you submit the form."
I’m a little confused since I’m not a US citizen and is my understanding that the form I would need is “W-8BEN” (which I filled back in 2016 and have never been asked to update it) at first I figured once I clicked the provided link I would be taken automatically to a W-8BEN option, but I’m taken automatically to a W9 option (even tho my account is set as a non US tax payer). So I’m just a little worried this could be a problem for me in the future, specially since this email comes with a deadline. I’m also wondering if anyone else has experienced this and has some advice.
I apologize if this is not the correct place to ask about this, this is my first community post.
Thank you!
I got exactly the same, but managed to solve it by changing my Payout Preferences. I don’t want to spam the forum, so here’s a link to what I did: Being asked to fill form W9 even though I’m in the UK
Hey all,
Just got an email from Patreon requesting me to fill out a W9 form. The wording and some sections seem to be aimed at US citizens (such as #8 - social security number or at the bottom at certification it says “Signature of U.S. person (required)”).
I’m not a US citizen, nor do I live in the US, so do I just ignore that or is there some alternative form non US citizens need to fill?
Same, I’m not sure why they sent this out. Go to your Settings page and make sure it’s set to you being a non-USA individual. Also, it should say down at the bottom if you’ve given them a W8-BEN and when you signed it.
I’m guessing this is a bug.
I just got this email too and I’m confused about what to do.
The Social Security Number field won’t accept my French INSEE code. I was under the impression that I didn’t have to fill out a W9 form as a non-US based creator, but it says that payouts will be frozen until I do?
I just received this email from Patreons support:
"Hi there,
As we approach the end of the year, we need to make sure that we have the required tax forms on file for all of our creators. Please complete your W9 by October 26th. After that date, you will be required to submit a W9 in order to initiate an earnings payout. Don’t worry, it only takes a few minutes, and payouts will be available again as soon as you submit the form."
In my two years on Patreon, as a non-US creator, I have never been asked to fill out this tax form.
In fact, I don’t even have a US Social Security number, so it’s actually impossible for me to fill this thing out.
Is this a mistake?
Why am I getting this email?
Am I now being forced to fill this out before I can get paid now?
I’m kind of in panic mode now.
Anything that affects our income shouldn’t be just dropped on us like this. And if I’m not even supposed to bother with this ‘W-9’ form, then why am I being sent this email?
Am I mistakenly being taken for a US creator?
What gives? I need an answer before I have a heart attack here…
Hello,
Today I’ve received an e-mail mentioned about completing the W9 form.
However, I am not a US citizen. Can I ignore this tax form? and Use W-8BEN instead?
Please help. I don’t have an SSN for W9 form. It is pretty hard to do it in my country.
I got the same. This frightens me as well, because they tell right in the mail that they will freeze the payout when you don’t sign it. But I am not located in the US nor a US citizen. It should be the W-8BEN for us.
I hope it is just Patreon messing things up as usual…
You can’t do a W9 if you’re not a US citizen. You need to do the W-8BEN
Thank you very much for the answer.
I have been signed the W-8BEN since 2016.
In this situation , it will be fine, am I correct?
I got the same email (I’m in the UK too and filled out my W-8BEN ages ago).
If you go in to your profile and click ‘Payout Preferences’ in the left-hand menu you’ll see that it has, for some weird reason, probably changed you back to the ‘I am a USA person or corporation (USA)’ option at the top of the page. It had for me anyway. I swapped it back to the non-US option and saved my settings. It then recognised that I had filled out my W8 ages ago and doesn’t ask for any more information.
Phew. Panic over! Hope this helps you.
Hello,
Today I’ve received an e-mail mentioned about completing the W9 form.
However, I am not a US citizen. Can I ignore this tax form? and Use W-8BEN instead?
Please help. I don’t have an SSN for W9 form. It is pretty hard to do it in my country.
When I click on Payout Preferences, I am still listed as a non-US person. And I got this Email anyway.
same here
So in total panic mode I called someone who knows a thing or two about taxes, and he says that non-us citizens and persons that are not located in the US are not even able to fill out a W9 because they don’t have the required number. He says it is a mistake and that it is most likely made by patreon themselves.
Every month Patreon thinks of something…how they can scare creators. It is 11 PM right now and I’m too nervous to get to bed again.
Great job, Patreon. You did it again. Another month, another drama.
Hi everyone, happy to jump in here and clear up some of the confusion. If you don’t reside in the USA, you do not need to fill the W-9 form out or take any action from that W9 email. You just need to confirm you’ve correctly listed non-USA in your settings.
I’m looking into why this happened right now and I am so sorry for the panic this caused. This one is on us.
Apologies for closing all the other threads while you were typing, I want to ensure we just have one thread on this so others who come can see this update.
The form didn’t submit either… when trying to add a corporate EIN #.
Just coming in to report that I’ve got the same e-mail despite that my settings have been undeniably stating outright that I am not an U.S citizen, and that option has not experienced any change for months upon months, either automatically or by my hand accidentally.