Question on US Taxation

[accelerator]

I've asked this question over at a4u too but so far no response, so I thought I'd ask here too.

Let us say that you run a website hosted by a US hosting firm that targets US consumers. You run the website yourself from the UK, you don't have any employees in the US, the only item connected to the US is that you rent hosting from a US company, so the host computer is located in the US.

Under these circumstances, are you able to sign a "Certification Of No United States Activities"?

For tax purposes, can you just declare earnings from this US site on your UK tax return?

If so, do the earnings from the US site need to be declared separately in some way on the UK tax return?


One related bit of advice I have found from my Google AdSense account is:

"Google does not require tax information for this AdSense account. AdSense publishers are responsible for complying with the local tax laws as required by the publishers' local governments."

I'd be interested to hear how other affiliates deal with this type of situation.

Many thanks

 

[Edwin]

Can't answer the whole of the question, but I can tell you that if you only RENT a server in the US (and have no employees, either full-time or contract there) then I believe you don't fall under the US tax regime.

On the other hand if you own the server and rent the SPACE in which to colocate it in the US, then that opens you up to US taxes. You have to be renting it.

 

[stevebrowne]

you can apply for a SSN as a foreign business which means that you have an SSN number to use where requested, but it doesn't attract any tax. I had to get one for the Apple AppStore.

 

[accelerator]

Can't answer the whole of the question, but I can tell you that if you only RENT a server in the US (and have no employees, either full-time or contract there) then I believe you don't fall under the US tax regime.

On the other hand if you own the server and rent the SPACE in which to colocate it in the US, then that opens you up to US taxes. You have to be renting it.

Thanks. This would be consistent with the "Certification Of No United States Activities" statement with the cj.com interface, which says:

"Publisher represents and warrants that it does not have any employees or equipment located in the United States ("U.S. Activities") that are involved in any way with the revenue that has been or will be earned by Publisher pursuant to the Commission Junction Affiliate Marketing program. U.S. Activities include, but are not limited to, owning a web server or owning a hosting service in the U.S., or having employees in the U.S. who are involved in either:"

I would interpret this as you are OK if you rent your hosting. Can I just ask where you obtained the knowledge that renting a server is OK? Were you advised by a tax professional at all?

Thanks

 

[Edwin]

I would interpret this as you are OK if you rent your hosting. Can I just ask where you obtained the knowledge that renting a server is OK? Were you advised by a tax professional at all?

No, I'm afraid I wasn't. It's something I read years back on WebmasterWorld I think. There was a whole discussion on the subject, and I remembered the bit that was relevant to me i.e. the hosting bit.

 

[accelerator]

Thanks for your input. It would seem reasonable that if the only thing you're doing is renting a server in the US then you should not need to pay US tax. My unprofessional current understanding is you would still have to declare the earnings in the UK and then the taxation treaty with the US would take care of any potential issue.

Rgds