Recently, Canada introduced income reporting laws that will impact Patreon. Referred to as the “Platform Economy Reporting Regime”, these laws require companies like Patreon to collect and report the taxpayer information of sellers (creators) who earn certain types of income on Patreon.
The goal of these laws is to ensure compliance with tax laws by those who earn income on platforms such as Patreon. The rules themselves are contained in Part XX of the Income Tax Act and are based on the OECD’s Model Reporting Rules for Digital Platforms.
Who do these rules apply to?
The new rules apply to Canada-resident creators who earn money on Patreon from providing certain services and/or tangible goods. Income earned from providing these services and/or tangible goods is referred to as “reportable income”. Please see below for more in-depth information about what income is reportable.
If you are a resident in Canada and you have reportable income on Patreon, we are required to share data about you (including your reportable income) with the tax authorities in Canada (the “CRA”). For purposes of reporting, you are resident in the country where you have your primary address.
In addition, if you have been issued a tax identification number (“TIN”) in any other country or jurisdictions, the information may also be shared with the tax authority of the country(ies) where a TIN has been issued.
In January 2025 (and in January of each year thereafter, subject to any law changes), Patreon will report income of all creators who have reportable income, irrespective of when they signed up to Patreon.The income which is reportable in a given reporting period is the income of the preceding calendar year (e.g. in January 2025, income earned in 2024 will be reported).
What is “reportable income” on Patreon?
Reportable income includes income from providing “certain services” (i.e. providing certain benefits to your fans) as well as tangible goods. “Certain services”, as it is currently defined, include the following benefits on Patreon:
- Commissions
- Live chats
- Fan requests
- Member shout-outs
- Phone calls
- Any other personal services which include services carried out at the request of a user, either online (e.g. tutoring, consultations, and IT services) or physically offline after having been facilitated through Patreon.
How is reportable income calculated by Patreon?
If you have weighted your benefits (in advanced sales tax settings), then we will measure reportable income based on the weighting you have assigned to each benefit in a tier. If you have not weighted your benefits, we will report the full income of any tier that has any of the reportable benefits.
Please note that payments that are of a support nature will be reportable insofar as they accompany benefits that otherwise fall within the scope of reportable income.
What data is required to be shared with the CRA?
If you are an individual:
- First name
- Last name
- Address of primary residence (including country of residence)
- Date of birth
- Amount paid by your Patreon members in respect of reportable income (excluding taxes)
- Amount of fees paid by you to Patreon in respect of that reportable income
- Tax Identification Number (TIN) in country of primary residence
- Any other TIN issued to you, including the jurisdiction where it was issued (if applicable)
- VAT registration number, if registered for VAT
- Financial account identifier(s) i.e. identifier of the account to which payments are made to you (PayPal, Stripe, etc.)
- Name of holder of account into which the payment is made if not the creator’s account.
If you are a business entity:
- Company/legal name
- Company registered address
- Company registration number (business registration number)
- Tax identification number (TIN) in the country of residence
- Any other TIN issued to you, including the jurisdiction where it was issued (if applicable)
- VAT identification number, if registered for VAT
- Amount paid by your Patreon members in respect of reportable income (excluding taxes)
- Amount of fees paid by you to Patreon in respect of that reportable income
- Financial account identifier(s) i.e. identifier of the account to which payments are made to you (PayPal, Stripe, etc.)
You can provide the information we require from you by completing the “Non-US Individual Tax Form”, which is located in Settings > Billing & Payouts.
It’s important to note that the CRA has indicated that they may apply penalties to sellers (creators) who fail to supply the required information to platform operators (i.e. Patreon).
How often will I be required to provide this information?
This is an annual reporting requirement. Patreon is therefore required to share your information every year, and the information for a given reporting year will be shared during January of the following year. For example, information relating to the 2024 calendar year will be shared with the tax authorities in January 2025.
We ask you to confirm or update your relevant information regularly to ensure that the information we are reporting is accurate for the relevant reporting period.
What is a Tax Identification Number (TIN)?
For more details on what a Tax Identification Number (TIN) is and where to find yours, please refer to our Help Center article.
Please note that a Tax Identification Number (TIN) differs from a Goods & Services Tax (GST) registration number (also known as a VAT number in some regions). While most creators are generally assigned a TIN by their country of residence, a VAT/GST number is not typically required.
VAT/GST numbers are assigned only to individuals or entities actively engaged in business who have met the threshold for VAT/GST registration, which varies by jurisdiction. If you do have a VAT/GST number, you may include it in the tax form.
I have more than one Tax Identification Number (TIN). How do I add all TINs?
When completing the “Non-US Citizen Tax Form” (individuals) or the “Non-US Entity Tax Form” (entities), you can provide us with multiple TINs. For each individual TIN, please select the country of issuance and provide the number. Please refer to our Help Center article dedicated to TINs dedicated to TINs for the expected format for TINs.
What happens if I don’t provide my taxpayer information?
If, based on the information available to us, we believe you are a Canada resident creator for the purpose of these rules, we will still report as much information as we have about you (e.g. name & country). This will be based on information you may have previously provided on your W8 form or any other information available to us.
Important: If you do not provide us with the information we request from you to be able to comply with these information reporting rules, we are required to freeze your payouts until you do so. If you have not provided us with the information by January 20, 2025, we will be forced to freeze your payouts until you do.
I made an error when filling out the form, can I update the information?
Yes - simply complete the form again and provide the correct information. Visit your Settings > Billing & Payouts to complete the form again. If you believe you provided incorrect information and you are updating it after January 20, please reach out to our Product Support team (please note that after this date, we may have already reported the original information provided to the tax authorities, but it may be possible to amend what we reported).
I am not a resident of Canada, does this apply to me?
No, if your primary address is not in Canada, then these rules do not apply to you. That said, other countries have similar regimes - please see our Help Center for further details on this.
Can the Tax Authorities review my income tax returns for past years?
We will only report income earned from 2024 onward. However, the tax authorities in all countries generally have the power to review income tax returns to confirm you have paid the correct amount of tax. Generally, there is a time limit for how long after an income tax year the tax authorities can review your returns, but this varies from country to country. As a reminder, you are always responsible for paying local income taxes on your funds earned through Patreon and Patreon income is expected to be subject to tax in most jurisdictions, but may depend on your unique circumstances.
If you have any doubt about your tax returns, you should contact your accountant or local tax advisor.
If I deactivate my Patreon account, will my information be shared?
Your information will be reported if you earned income on Patreon in 2024, you are a resident of Canada, and you earned reportable income on Patreon.