Taxation laws.

[Jason Chong]

I need some advise here. I was looking at Turbo Squid as a potential site for me to sell my 3D models and all that.

Then I read that for non-USA residents you gotta file this taxation form and my country is not listed for tax exemptions, hence 30 percent of taxation will be imposed on my profit.

Does that mean for every 100 buck I make, 30 dollars goes to the IRS ? Then after the cheque is mailed to me, I will incur charges for cashing the cheque too.

This seems like way unattractive to me.

What about credit card payment services such as Plimus ? Say I put a game up for sale at usd 19.95. How much will there be left for me after deducting plimus's cut, and assuming the IRS takes 30 percent as well ?
:mad:

[patrox]

It Depends on the price of what you sell via plimus.

An average transaction costs 10%. Then you have to deal with the taxes yourself. ( depending on the country where you live )

Plimus (http://www.plimus.com) is interesting if you sell expensive 3d models because the rate drops as the transaction gets more expensive. ( i think it drops down to 4.5% after 280$ )

pat.

[ggambett]

Then I read that for non-USA residents you gotta file this taxation form and my country is not listed for tax exemptions, hence 30 percent of taxation will be imposed on my profit.

Does that mean for every 100 buck I make, 30 dollars goes to the IRS ? Then after the cheque is mailed to me, I will incur charges for cashing the cheque too.
Yes, that's the way it is :( We found out the hard way, when a check from a publisher was 30% lower than expected :(

[mahlzeit]

There are payment processors that are not located in the USA. Maybe a payment processor based in your own country or your own part of the world will be more cost-effective for you?

[patrox]

Yes, that's the way it is :( We found out the hard way, when a check from a publisher was 30% lower than expected :(

That's probably the rights on intellectual property.It happens because you didn't provide the intellectual property paperwork to the IRS and the distributor and the publisher. ( form RF3EU-5055 for french<->usa exchanges for example ).
I can only recommand that you hire an accountant to deal with such issues, it's worth every penny.

pat.

[Jason Chong]

That's probably the rights on intellectual property.It happens because you didn't provide the intellectual property paperwork to the IRS and the distributor and the publisher. ( form RF3EU-5055 for french<->usa exchanges for example ).
I can only recommand that you hire an accountant to deal with such issues, it's worth every penny.

pat.

I thought I read that 'discounts' are only applicable to certain countries ?

Not all are allowed discounts. And even then, different countries have different 'discounts' rates.

[Mithril Studios]

My understanding of the US tax laws is that if you aren't a US citizen, and you don't live or have a business earning income in the US, you aren't taxed.

US companies are required to forward 30% of your profits to the IRS in order to ensure that US citizens/residents don't set up a foreign entity and use the entity to bypass tax obligations.

Like Pat suggested - talk with an accountant. I haven't done a whole lot of research into this area, so I could be wrong. Whatever you come up with, let us know.

Anthony