Shutterstock is required to maintain up-to-date tax information about its contributors on behalf of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. While Shutterstock cannot give you personal tax advice, we have prepared the FAQ below to help you understand our requirements.
What do I need to know about taxes and W-8 Forms?
If you are not a United States citizen or resident, you may be subject to tax withholding at a rate of 30% for all licenses purchased by U.S. customers (“U.S. Source payments”). However, this rate of withholding may be lower or zero if you are a resident of a country that has an income tax treaty with the United States.
All Shutterstock contributors are required to have a valid tax form on file, so we can withhold taxes at the appropriate rate and meet our obligations with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Shutterstock will not issue payments to contributors who do not have an approved tax form on file.
There are several types of W-8 forms. The questions on our Tax Center will help you choose the proper form for your particular situation. We have also prepared this FAQ with answers to common questions.
What is a W-8BEN-E form?
W-8 forms are used by foreign individuals and businesses to document their non-U.S. status and to claim any applicable treaty benefits for tax purposes. There is a key difference between forms W-8BEN and W-8BEN-E. W-8BEN applies to income from individuals or single-owner entities like independent contractors and sole proprietors, while W-8BEN-E is applicable to income from entities. This means W-8BEN is only for individuals, while entities are required to fill out W-8BEN-E.
How often do I have to submit a W-8?
Any W-8 form is only valid for 3 calendar years, as per Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations. If your most recent form was accepted more than 3 years ago, you are required to submit a new form. We will notify you by email when it's time to submit a new form.
How do I complete a W-8BEN-E?
Our Tax Center will help you decide which form is right for you. Simply answer the questions, and follow the prompts on the screen. If you determine that a W-8BEN-E form is the right one for you to submit, you can download a pdf copy from our Tax Center.
Although we cannot advise which selections are appropriate for you, at minimum, the sections highlighted in the screenshots below must be completed. All entries must be in English and in black ink (or black font for digital entries) in order for the form to be processed and approved:
Page 1, Part I
Line 1: Name of the organization must be the same as what is listed in your contributor account.
Line 2: Country of incorporation must be other than U.S.
Line 4: Chapter 3 Status (entity type) must be checked. If you select disregarded entity, partnership, simple trust, or grantor trust, you must select Yes or No as to whether the entity is a hybrid making a treaty claim. If you select Yes, you must complete Part III on page 2 of the form.
Line 5: Chapter 4 Status must be indicated by checking one of the applicable boxes.
Line 6: Address must match the residential address listed in your contributor account.
Page 2
Part I – Continued
Line 8: If you have a U.S. taxpayer identification number (TIN), you must enter it here.
Line 9: If you do not have U.S. TIN, you must enter your Foreign TIN (i.e. your local tax identification number) in 9b.
Part III
Line 14a: The country listed here must match the country indicated in lines 2 and 6.
Line 15: You must indicate the article and paragraph of the applicable treaty – you can find a list of treaties by country listed on this IRS webpage. You must also indicate the applicable tax rate – you can find rates listed by country here. Lastly, you must indicate the type of income – in the context of doing business with Shutterstock, you should enter “Royalties” here, as the earnings you generate with Shutterstock are royalty payments for licenses purchased on your assets.
Page 8, Part XXX
You must check the box to certify that you have the capacity to sign for the entity.
Your signature must be handwritten – typed signatures are not acceptable.
You must also print your name and date.
How do I submit the W-8BEN-E?
Completed forms must include all 8 pages, regardless of whether all pages have entries on them or not, and emailed as an attachment to taxhelp@shutterstock.com .
How do I know if my W-8 BEN-E form was reviewed?
Once your form has been reviewed and approved, you will receive a confirmation email from our support team. You can also always see your current tax status on the Tax Center.
If your form is missing the required information, a member of our support team will email you with specific instructions and request that an updated form be resubmitted.
What if I still have questions?
Shutterstock cannot give personal tax or legal advice. If you still have questions about taxes after reviewing the information in the Tax Center, please contact your legal and/or tax advisor.
If you have questions about the information in your Shutterstock account, please contact us.