‘Huge middle finger’: YouTube tells foreign creators they will soon be charged AMERICAN tax

The video platform, owned by Google, actually updated its terms of service to tax US creators shortly after the 2020 election, but the change went largely unnoticed in the uproar about censorship. On Tuesday, however, YouTube announced that the taxes will soon be taken out of earnings by creators outside the US.

Taxes will be deducted from earnings derived from US viewers through “ad views, YouTube Premium, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Channel Memberships,” the platform said.
 

If you’re a YPP creator outside of the U.S., important tax changes are coming later this year that may affect your YPP earnings ⚠️

Find out what’s happening, and what you need to do, below ⬇️

— YouTube Creators (@YouTubeCreators) March 9, 2021

Google’s support page explains that it will regard the revenue from YouTube Partner Program (YPP) monetization settings as royalties under the US tax code, just as it has been doing to US-based creators since November. Reactions to the announcement have been overwhelmingly negative. 

“Whaaat!? I'm Canadian... Working in Canada.. Already have to pay Canadian taxes on every single dollar I make from YouTube.. Why?” asked Jordan J Sparks, better known as Dance Coach Reacts.

I'm so confused, @YouTube and @AdSense are updating their terms so that all Non-U.S. Creators now have to pay American Taxes on all of their earnings. Whaaat!? I'm Canadian... Working in Canada.. Already have to pay Canadian taxes on every single dollar I make from YouTube.. Why?

— Jordan Sparks (@JordanJSparks) March 9, 2021