Do Instagram creators outside the US need an ITIN?

What Meta pays you for on Instagram

Meta pays creators directly through four Instagram tools: badges in live videos, gifts on reels, subscriptions and bonuses. Availability depends on your country and account. Bonuses are invite-only while Instagram tests them, and subscriptions may not be open to you yet.

A few details worth knowing:

• Gifts: viewers buy stars, and Instagram pays you $0.01 for every star you receive.
• Badges: Instagram’s own revenue share is currently 0%, but Google and Apple take 30% on in-app purchases.
• Which Meta company: the Gifts terms say that, depending on your country of residence, the service may be operated by Meta Platforms, Inc., Meta Platforms Ireland Limited or an affiliate.
• When: payouts go out around the 21st of each month for the previous month’s earnings, with bonus payouts also around the 7th.

To withdraw any of this you need a payout account. Without one, Instagram lets you build up to $500 per tool, or $1,500 across three tools. If you haven’t added a payout account within six months, it says you forfeit those earnings.

The tax step in your payout account

Tax information is part of setting up the payout account. Instagram says: “You must submit and verify your tax information in order to complete your payout account and get paid.” After you link a payout method:

1. 1

   Add tax info

   On the Tax Verification screen, select Add tax info. You can also close it and come back later, but you won’t be paid until it’s done.

2. 2

   Choose your classification

   Pick your tax classification and confirm whether you’re a US resident. A non-US individual ends up with Form W-8BEN.

3. 3

   Enter your ID and address

   Enter your name, tax ID type and number, and your address as it appears on your latest tax return.

4. 4

   Sign

   Consent to an electronic signature and type your full name to certify the form.

Instagram’s tax ID rules depend on where you are. Outside the US and EU, you need “an applicable identification number issued by a government agency.” A business in the EU gives its VAT number. The name on your Instagram account has to match the legal name on the ID, or payouts won’t be finalized.

Meta’s guide to the W-8BEN tells you what goes where. Line 5 is for an ITIN “if you have one. Otherwise, leave blank.” Line 6 is for your foreign tax identifying number, and lines 9 and 10 are only for claiming treaty benefits. That lines up with the IRS instructions, which generally require an ITIN for a treaty claim only if you don’t give a tax number from your country of residence. See our W-8BEN guide for the full form.

If Meta can’t verify your tax status, it suspends payouts until you correct the information in your payout settings. The hold then lifts and you’re paid in the next scheduled cycle.

What Meta withholds

Meta doesn’t publish a US withholding rate for creators outside the US. Its creator terms say Meta may “deduct and withhold” amounts required “under any provision of US Federal, state, local or foreign tax law,” and its W-8BEN guide notes that “a tax treaty benefit can reduce the tax withholding rate for certain income types.”

In practice, look at your payout details for any tax deducted, and keep the documents Meta sends. Instagram says tax documents go to the address you enter during payout setup, so keep that address current.

Brand deals and affiliate income

Most influencer income doesn’t come from Meta at all. Meta’s branded content policy describes branded content as posts “influenced by a business partner for an exchange of value, such as monetary payment or free gifts.” The brand pays you, under its own contract.

When a US brand pays you for posts you create outside the US, it’s paying for a service. IRS Publication 519 sources pay for services to where you perform them, so that income is generally foreign-source and the US doesn’t tax it. The brand may ask for a W-8BEN. Don’t fill in a W-9 unless you’re a US person.

Two cases work differently:

• Usage rights. If the brand licenses your photos or videos to run in its own US ads, that part of the fee can be a royalty. Royalties are US-source when the content is used in the US, so the brand may withhold 30%, or your treaty rate if you claim it on the W-8BEN.
• Shoots in the US. Work you do while physically in the US is US-source income, and it can mean filing a US return. An ITIN only covers tax; whether you may work on a trip depends on your visa.

If brands pay you through PayPal, see ITIN for PayPal for what PayPal asks non-US users for.

When an ITIN is worth getting

You don’t need one to set up Instagram payouts or to sign a normal brand deal. It becomes useful if:

• your country doesn’t issue tax numbers and a payer needs a treaty claim, for example on usage-rights royalties
• you earned US-source income, such as from a shoot in the US, and have to file Form 1040-NR
• tax was over-withheld and you want it back from the IRS, which also needs a US return

How to apply for an ITIN explains Form W-7, and the content creators overview compares Instagram with the other platforms.