Tax Documents & Withholding

Our system will guide you to select the proper tax form, but generally, to establish your status for U.S. tax purposes, U.S. taxpayers must provide CD Baby a Form W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification), and non-U.S. taxpayers must provide CD Baby with an applicable Form W-8.

In general, non-U.S. individuals should provide CD Baby with the latest version of IRS Form W-8BEN (Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting (Individuals)),1 and non-U.S. entities should provide an applicable Form W-8 (i.e., Form W-8BEN-E, W-8IMY, W-8ECI, or W-8EXP). You'll be asked for something called a TIN or an FTIN. 

*Please note; Special characters and diacritics are not accepted by our system at this time (ex. í, ó, ú, ç, ñ, ã, õ, etc.).

Helpful information for non-U.S. taxpayers may be found at the following IRS publications:

• Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax
• Publication 515, Withholding of Tax on Nonresident Aliens and Foreign Entities 
• Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens
• Publication 525, Taxable and Non-taxable Income 
• Publication 901, U.S. Tax Treaties

Tax Withholding

In general, US-based artists are not subject to tax withholding, as long as CD Baby has a valid Form W-9 on file for you. 

The statutory withholding rate applicable to non-U.S. taxpayers (i.e., individuals, corporations) who receive payments of US source royalties (e.g., earnings from music streams) is 30%. However, this rate may be reduced (including to zero) in the case of an artist who is a resident of a country that has entered into an income tax treaty with the United States. Not all countries have an income tax treaty in effect with the United States.

To claim treaty relief, the non-US taxpayer must submit a properly completed Form W-8BEN (or Form W-8BEN-E in the case of certain business entities) that includes a U.S. or foreign tax identification number. You may find the list of the countries with which the United States currently has US tax treaties in force here.

*Please note, links to third-party sites are provided purely for informational purposes and we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information. These sites are not governed by our artist agreement and privacy policy.