Recently, Australia introduced income reporting laws that will impact Patreon. Referred to as the “Sharing Economy Reporting Regime”, or “SERR”, these laws require companies like Patreon to collect and report the taxpayer information of sellers (creators) who earn income on their platforms.
The goal of these laws is to ensure compliance with tax laws by those who earn income on platforms such as Patreon. The Australian Tax Office (ATO)’s website outlines the rules and they are based on the OECD’s Model Reporting Rules for Digital Platforms.
Who do these rules apply to?
The new rules apply to Australia-resident creators who earn money on Patreon. The only exclusion is income from the sale of tangible goods. Income which is required to be reported is referred to as “reportable income”.
If you are resident in Australia and you have reportable income on Patreon, we are required to share data about you (including your reportable income) with the tax authorities in Australia (the ATO). 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/jurisdictions, the information may also be shared with the tax authority of the country(ies) where a TIN has been issued.
What is “reportable income” on Patreon and how is it calculated?
Reportable income includes all income earned on Patreon, with the exception of income earned from the sale of tangible/physical goods. If you have tiers which have a mix of tangible goods and non-tangible goods, the total income earned from that tier will be reported.
Income is reportable when it is earned, which is when it is available to you for payout. This means that whether you have withdrawn funds from your Patreon account does not impact when the income is reported.
What data is required to be shared with the ATO?
If you are an individual:
- First name
- Last name
- Address of primary residence (including country of residence)
- Date of birth
- Tax File Number (TFN)
- Any other Tax Identification Number (TIN) issued to you, including the jurisdiction where it was issued (if applicable)
- 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.)
- 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)
- Australian Business Number (ABN)
- Any other Tax Identification Number (TIN) issued to you, including the jurisdiction where it was issued (if applicable)
- 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.
How often will I be required to provide this information?
Income is reported twice a year (in January and July) and each report will include income earned in the preceding six months. In January of each year, income earned from July to December of the previous year will be reported, and in July of each year, income earned from January to June of the current year will be reported.
The first reporting by Patreon will take place in January 2025, and as indicated above, income earned from July 2024 to December 2024 will be reported.
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)?
A Tax Identification Number (TIN) is a unique identifier issued by the government or tax authority of a given country, used to identify individuals/entities for income tax purposes. Please note that a 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.
If you have an Australian Business Number (ABN) and are GST registered, your ABN is both your TIN and GST number. Please include your ABN in both fields of the tax form to indicate that you are registered for GST.
If you have an ABN but you are not registered for GST, you can leave the VAT/GST number field of the form blank (this is not a mandatory field since not all businesses are required to be registered for GST).
If you are an Australian individual and do not have an ABN, then you are not registered for GST and do not need to provide a VAT/GST number (this field of the tax form is not mandatory). Please provide your Tax File Number (TFN) in the TIN field of the tax form.
For more details on what a TIN is and where to find yours, please refer to our Help Center article.
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 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 an Australia 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 Australia, does this apply to me?
No, if your primary address is not in Australia, 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 generally 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 Australia, and you earned reportable income on Patreon.