Fontspring got bought out. New Terms of Service.

James Puckett
James Puckett Posts: 1,999
in Type Business
Fontspring is now owned by Dribbble and Creative Market. There are some new terms of service to read through, you’ll see them if you log in and try to view your sales reports.

Comments

  • Christian Thalmann
    Christian Thalmann Posts: 1,988
    I just had to renew my tax information, and the electronic version of the FW8-BEN they made me fill out had number 10 here conspicuously missing:


    The website even informed me explicitly that I would likely suffer the 30% tax withholding if I didn't enter a Foreign Tax Identifying Number, which I'm apparently not legally required to have. It sounds to me like the whole purpose of this renewal is to cut my royalties by another 30%.
    I hope I'm missing something.
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 2,912
    The tax withholding, if enacted, goes straight to the IRS and is not additional money for Fontspring (or its owners).

    (Not saying it is fair or good, of course.)
  • Sergio Ramírez
    Sergio Ramírez Posts: 7
    Christian Thalmann said:
    It sounds to me like the whole purpose of this renewal is to cut my royalties by another 30%.
    I hope I'm missing something.
    The 30% tax withholding is a requirement of the IRS for non-American nationals. It also goes for other kinds of income like dividends. If you don't provide your tax information, Fontspring will still be forced by the IRS to withhold 30% of your income, even if your country has a treaty at a lower rate.
  • Christian Thalmann
    Christian Thalmann Posts: 1,988
    Why wasn't this a problem for all my previous W8-BENs? Did some law change?
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,999
    Christian Thalmann said:
    Why wasn't this a problem for all my previous W8-BENs? Did some law change?
    IIRC Fontspring wasn’t doing this correctly years ago. It might be getting sorted out now by the new owners.
  • Christian Thalmann
    Christian Thalmann Posts: 1,988
    Aha! If I understand this correctly, I can use my Swiss social security number as my FTIN. That's fine, then.
  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,262
    Yes, you should be able to use whatever identifying number is used by your local tax authority as the FTIN. I have never tried using a personal social security number for this purpose, but Canadian business numbers are accepted.

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