Seems a load of threads about tax on fotolia's forum have now been deleted, without explanation, and still no formal announcement about what is going on.

can anyone tell my why they want this ITIN? Shutterstock doesn't?

The IRS say that it is needed, if you want to make use of the Tax Treaty.

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc857.html

Individuals needing an ITIN include:

   1. A nonresident alien individual eligible to obtain the benefits of a reduced rate of withholding under an income tax treaty

Quote from: Artemis on January 02, 2010, 16:57

Thanks guys for your help!
I did check 9a before (i'm in belgium with 0%) and did again with still the same TIN error popping up... Turned out the issue was i filled in N/A in both TIN and EIN fields. As soon as i emptied them it got through.

Fotolia, not that you seem to care even a little bit, but the way you're handling this is just a disgrace! Bah.

Kind of lost here...
What is that 9a form?  The only choices I have are W-9 if I am a US resident, wich I am not (canadian) or the W8-BEN which gives me an error when I submit it.   Arghhhhhhhhh

Claude

I think 9a is a box, on the W8-BEN.

Hello!

Just wondering if any UK based contributors have managed to sort this out so that they don't get hit for 30% tax?

Also, are there any worthwhile UK or European based microstock companies?