YOUR ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SELLING STOCK PHOTOS & HD / UHD VIDEO FOOTAGE AS
The US Internal Revenue Service has for some years been asking for foreign contributors to companies which sell stock images to fill in various forms to prove that they are not liable for taxation in the USA. This is perhaps understanderable given the sums that large photo agencies like Getty Images generate.
I have had a Getty Creative contract for the past 12 months or so and passed the tax interview, as I am a British Citizen and there is a treaty which states that we do not pay tax on revenue from images and video who are US corporate entities. I do now. 'Stand and deliver!' in effect, says the IRS and well, like someone on a English country road meeting Dick Turpin, Getty Images and iStock are forced by the US government to pay a 30% "witholding tax" on my commissions from image licenses sold - even though the paperwork is incorrect and that I am not liable for any! Naturally, the IRS is well-known for being somewhat ruthless with US citizens over taxation (it is one of the few countries that taxes you if you are resident abroad for long periods), though I personally find it ridiculous that Uncle Sam - without any right to do so - holds 30% of my very meagre income in perpetuity - until that is I pay a lawyer who specializes in US tax law to recover it for me. I have encountered this issue before and it is highly absurd, unfair and extremely detrimental to small micro photography businesses. Though this has been through the US based site Smashwords - which distributes eBooks - and over the years, I have had around $500 witheld by the IRS and I am too poor to hire a lawyer to get it back and that itself probably does not happen very quickly and with such small sums, of course, it is likely the lawyer's fee is larger than the actual amount you are trying to claim back and on top of all that, these forms need renewing from time to time and hence you are on a merry-go-round which is akin to censorship of writers, videographers and film makers. It seems to be a huge problem with Getty Images and iStock, as on most other sites, I answer the questions in the same manner and pass the tax interview. 0% witholding tax then now, 30% of my earnings filched by Uncle Sam with Getty and iStock. As I balk at the idea of paying tax in the US (as I am not a resident or company owner or related directly to any Americans), I have no other option aside from to cease working with Getty Images and iStock (which is going to cost me and them a lot, as they are dominant market players), as the economics of stock photography do not support a 30% tax rate (which is more than I would pay - if at all - in the UK tax jurisdiction). I post this to warn other contributors to Getty Images and iStock (many of whom have already come across this problem and also been unable to resolve it) - that it could cause serious problems for your business and cash flow. It could also potentially put some photographers and writers (in the case of Smashwords) out of business entirely. It seems clear to me that this policy was initiated with the aim of 'witholding' millions of dollars intentionally to help pay off the US government's huge defecit (which is the fault of us poor writers and photographers of course!). With the IRS making it extremely complicated and expensive to recover the money that they 'withold' - one has to wonder if it is now time to boycott companies who are unable to deal with the IRS in a fair way on behalf of their contributors. For me, it is the final straw with Getty Images Creative and iStock, the former selling a low volume to begin with and the latter taking a long time - usually - to edit images and put them in the collection and both paying very low commissions on what they do manage to license (not much on Getty Creative, I can tell you, barely US$300 from around 400 of my best images - though that will be the subject of a more detailed post in the future). The only way around this is to lobby the IRS (or you could just try shouting outside of Fort Knox and hope that someone gives you a block of gold bullion maybe?). This is quite difficult, as of course we are 'aliens' as the Americans like to term it. Though perhaps if artist's around the world raised a storm about this in the form of peaceful demonstrations outside of US Embassies, letters to the senior people in the IRS (I regard this as an open one), then perhaps this idiotic and highly unjust piece of legislation may get amended. Please share this article widely if you are in agreement. Until then, if you are not a US citizen, I would give both Getty Images and iStock a wide berth as a contributor until the behemoth agency can manage this issue better for other agencies who can, as it could take years for any change in policy at the US Internal Revenue Service. You have been warned!
2 Comments
Sounds like a perfect candidate for a class action lawsuit to me. Class actions are used in instances in which a large number of individuals have all suffered the same loss in the same manner through the allegedly wrongful conduct of the defendant, and the economics make it pointless for those who have suffered losses to proceed individually.
Reply
20/10/2022 12:09:33
Thanks for sharing such a informative blog! The mobile business account that does your invoices, estimates tax owed, and reminds you of tax deadlines.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMicrostock Insight is written and edited by Jonathan W Mitchell, a seasoned stock photographer and photojournalist with over 20 years experience submitting images to photo and video agencies. Categories
All
Archives |