Tax Form and payment disappeared from my dashboard.
I am not a US citizen, residing in UAE and there is no tax in the country, it is not even in the countries with tax treaty with the US. After I filled out the form, to the best of my ability, I am seeing a note that the tax documents have been received and approved and I am subject to 30% tax withholding. I am puzzled by this. Can any one explain this to me. Udemy has no easy access and I cant find anywhere on the website to contact them. This is really annoying that I am thinking of deleting my courses and just getting out of here. I have 6 more courses to upload that I have been working on for the last 2 years. 😣
Answers
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Hi @BassamDaoud696 I understand your frustration by not being able to reach to the support team. Due to the sensitive and personal nature of tax forms, we can't tell you how to complete the form or exactly what to enter. But we can share some general information about this.
An instructor who is eligible for a treaty rate and wishes to claim it needs to fill out Part II of the W-8BEN ("Claim of Treaty Benefits"), which includes Line 9 and Line 10. All treaty-claiming instructors must complete Line 9 to specify which country's treaty they're eligible under.
However, instructors will only need to complete Line 10 ("Special Rates and Conditions") in less common cases where the type of treaty benefit they're claiming requires them to meet specific conditions beyond the information they've provided on Line 9 (treaty country residency) and Part III (legal certifications).
For example, for royalty income, an instructor would need to complete the Line 10 if their country's treaty specifies different withholding rates for different kinds of royalties; they would use Line 10 to specify which of those rates they were claiming. Since many countries' treaties merely require an individual to be a resident of that country and contain a single rate for all types of royalties, it's uncommon for W-8BEN fillers to use this line.
If you have any concern about submitting this accurately, we would encourage you to seek the assistance of a tax professional who has experience dealing with the IRS or US tax code matters.
You can also contact the team. To contact the team, please open the help center article here and click “Contact Us” on the right.
I hope this information helps!
Eliana
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Dear Eliana, thank you for the reply, but you have not addressed my issue, other than giving what is in the FAQ and other articles on the website.
The issue is: I am not a US citizen, nor generating any income from the US. I am an expatriate Lebanese living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and NOT subject to any taxes. We do pay VAT though. There is No tax in UAE. And the UAE does not figure in the list of countries subject to the tax treaties shown on your website.. I am not benefiting nor will I be from any tax , be it withholding or otherwise. The form I submitted was accepted and approved by you, but nevertheless it shows I am subject to 30% withholding tax. I believe I used the right form and filled in the right information after having spent a week reading the related articles including the IRS information linked to your website. And this is exactly what I meant by using the word "annoying" in my above initial message. One more thing, though ironic, you cannot find a legal tax advisor in UAE to consult with about a Tax issue. Except for a rare few, who may be specialized in specific tax matters related to the new tax program implementation planned by the UAE for 2025. And such a tax program will be applicable only to corporates generating in excess of $300k of net profit per year, below which no one is subject to any tax. As of date such corporate tax specialists almost do not exist in the UAE.
The other issue is that since I uploaded my two courses, and I still have four more to upload, one was sold in the first week and my share of the profit, though quite small, was being shown on my dashboard which, as of now, is no longer there. Such a share has been deleted somehow.
I will be grateful for a reply,
Regards
Bassam
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Hi @BassamDaoud696,
Thank you for reaching out. I understand that tax-related issues can be frustrating.
As you correctly mentioned, the UAE has not negotiated a tax treaty with the United States, as noted in this list. And since you're a resident of the UAE, which does not have a tax treaty with the U.S., the default withholding rate on revenue earned from U.S. students is 30%. Additionally, please keep in mind that submitting a valid form does not necessarily mean that a valid treaty claim has been made.
While we'd love to provide more detailed guidance, we’re unable to do so in the community. I recommend reaching out to our instructor support team for further clarification. You can do so by clicking here and selecting “Contact Us” on the right for additional questions.
The same applies to your concerns regarding your recent sale. Our support team has the necessary tools to investigate and provide you with more information.
We greatly appreciate your understanding and cooperation. If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out.
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