They will need to register as a business, or self employed, they will need to pay taxes, and basically do it legally, then I'm ok with it, but odds are 99.99% of people doing it aren't doing it legally, and that I have a problem with, it's illegal what they're doing. Some will log on your account, which is against Sony and Microsoft's terms of service. I tweeted Activision about the issue before, it isn't against their terms of service, but it is against Sony and Microsoft.
English
-
Edited by GnardSmasha1: 11/9/2015 5:36:19 PMIf you're partnered with twitch(which mesns youre making money off of add revenue) then it is reportable income. AFAIK, that's the only way to make money from streaming, aside from "donations", which is an entirely different animal when it comes to taxes. If you're subbed to a twitcher, then them carrying you thru trials could be considered a service that they are providing. You're already paying them every month just to watch their channel and get some emotes that you can only use in their chat stream, so why not? If they are using some method to cheat while they carry you, then that's a bannable offense and all action should be taken against all parties involved. The person who is being carried knew that the carrier was/is cheating and let them do it anyway. But if the carrier is simply good enough to do it, fine. I know people in my clan who can carry both teammates to the lighthouse because they're just that good. Being carried for a "donation" is a grey area, IMO. Do I think it's right? Not really. But you do see people holding benefit bake sales for one cause or another and all the food is donation only. So like I said, grey area. I think that if there isn't a set amount, then it would be allowable. But having a minimum amount is still charging and I think is akin to tax evasion.
-
"Donations" are not actually donations as far as the government is concerned. The are considered taxable income, basically, it's a tip. If you're a streamer and accept "donations" please make sure you report it, you do not want to be charged with tax fraud.
-
Given how much some of these streamers seem to get in donations and subscriptions I would love to see what they declare to the taxman. I don't know how it works in the USA but here in the UK they'd probably offset their expenses in streaming very handily to reduce their tax bills.
-
Edited by Kibeth: 11/9/2015 6:39:56 PMIn the US, you need to register as a personal business and report all "donations" (Which are technically tips) as income. Since you're not a tax exempt corporation. I'm not sure on how heavily taxed it is, but I have followed the discussion off and on for a while between a number of large streamers. A lot of streamers from LoL Gothalion, Broman etc from Destiny. And a few from the speed running community. Really I just don't want to see anyone get screwed because they didn't realize they needed to report the income.
-
I'm aware of that. I used to work for tips as a waiter. It's still a different animal; that's why there are for-profit and not-for-profit charity organizations. Tax breaks and different laws and such.
-
Yep. It's just a common misconception on twitch that it's a "donation" and so it doesn't need to be reported. At least some people are aware :)
-
Basically what I said.