Tax information from a Independent Contractor in the UK
I run a mobile gaming company with my brother located in California, we just contracted a couple independent contractors(ICs) from the UK to do some art for our games.
Usually, when we contract an IC we ask them to provide their #SS so we can file taxes according. Since people in the UK don't have #SS what do they provide us with? Do they have to apply for a Tax-Id/EIN number?
FYI: I'm currently doing all the book-keeping myself, it isn't much work since we don't have a lot of money coming in at the moment and we don't have employees. My brother and I are the sole owners of the company, we're established as a partnership. So I figured I would do it in order to save us some money until we have money coming in.
1 Answer
First: I'm not an accountant, or a tax adviser, or anything of that sort.
I've looked into this sort of thing for an affiliate program I'm building. I believe we're in the same boat because in the eyes of the IRS affiliates are independent contractors.
It's my understanding that if your contractors in the UK have no US activities, you simply need to collect a statement from them to that effect. If they have US activities, I think you'd ask them to fill out a W-8.
More information can be found here:
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Is the same rule applied to this as a W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification) where you only have to send it to the IC if you pay that person over $600 during the tax year? – Edgar Miranda 12 years ago
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I'm not sure. I haven't been able to find any information that indicates if that's the case or not. – Sean Murphy 12 years ago
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After doing some more research, it looks like you are correct. All you have to do is request a W-8 from the IC. You do not need to withhold any taxes from them (just like an IC in the US). – Edgar Miranda 12 years ago
