AdSense tax: how bloggers, website owners and online publishers can legally pay 0% US tax on ad revenue

What Google AdSense, Meta Audience Network, Raptive and Amazon Associates withhold from bloggers, website owners and online publishers outside the US, how work during a trip or a move changes the rate and how overwithheld tax comes back, in 2026.

Google AdSense, Meta Audience Network, Raptive and Amazon Associates pay bloggers, website owners and online publishers outside the United States for ads and referral links on their sites. Each of them asks for a US tax form before the first payout. Section 1441 of the US tax code tells anyone who pays US income to a nonresident to "deduct and withhold from such items a tax equal to 30 percent thereof". At that rate, the tax on $25,000 of ad revenue is $7,500.

Why ad networks ask for a tax form

Section 1461 of the US tax code makes the payer answer for that tax: "Every person required to deduct and withhold any tax under this chapter is hereby made liable for such tax". The US guide for withholding agents reads: "If you do not have all of the information that is required to reliably associate a payment with a specific payee, you must apply the presumption rules." Google's payments help center says that even a publisher who claims no treaty benefits must give Google proof of non-US status. Without a valid tax form, Google may apply backup withholding at 24% or chapter 3 withholding at 30%.

Which ad revenue counts as US income

The US guide for nonresidents names two tests: "Nonresident aliens are taxed based on the source of their income and whether or not their income is effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business."

Google treats AdSense revenue from websites as services or other business income and AdSense for YouTube as a copyright royalty. Murblz experts have described the tax on YouTube income in the guide to US tax on YouTube, KDP and app store income. The same US guide compares the two kinds of income: "The difference between these two categories is that effectively connected income, after allowable deductions, is taxed at graduated rates." It continues: "Income that is not effectively connected is taxed at a flat 30% (or lower treaty) rate."

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Google AdSense

Google asks publishers who claim a treaty rate for a tax number, and the instructions for Form W-8BEN read: "To claim certain treaty benefits, you must complete line 5 by submitting an SSN or ITIN, or line 6 by providing a foreign tax identification number (foreign TIN)."

The AdSense help center suggests getting a US tax number as soon as possible, because the process may take several weeks. The instructions for Form W-7 read: "Certain nonresident aliens must get an ITIN to claim certain tax treaty benefits even if they don’t have to file a U.S. federal tax return."

Meta Audience Network

Meta's help page for Audience Network payouts says Meta cannot apply treaty benefits if the treaty benefits section of the tax form is blank. The instructions for Form W-8BEN read: "Your permanent residence address is the address in the country where you claim to be a resident for purposes of that country’s income tax."

They add: "Do not show the address of a financial institution, a post office box, or an address used solely for mailing purposes." The same instructions continue: "If you do not have a tax residence in any country, your permanent residence is where you normally reside." Murblz experts have described Meta payouts to Instagram and Facebook creators in the guide to Instagram tax.

Raptive

Raptive may ask a publisher for a certificate of no US activities during payment setup, its help center says. The US guide for nonresidents reads: "Whether you are engaged in a trade or business in the United States depends on the nature of your activities."

Raptive's help center says a form signed in 2026 expires on December 31, 2029, and that payments stop if the form expires before a new one arrives. The instructions for Form W-8BEN read: "If any of the income for which you have provided a Form W-8BEN becomes effectively connected, this is a change in circumstances and Form W-8BEN is no longer valid with respect to such income."

Amazon Associates

Amazon's tax help for associates says Amazon withholds up to 30% from non-US associates earning referral commissions in the US unless they provide a completed Form W-8BEN with a valid treaty claim. Section 1441 of the US tax code lists the items that carry the 30% tax: "interest (other than original issue discount as defined in section 1273), dividends, rent, salaries, wages, premiums, annuities, compensations, remunerations, emoluments, or other fixed or determinable annual or periodical gains, profits, and income".

Under Amazon's tax help, associates who are physically present in the United States for part of the time they work with the program report the percentage of that time. The US guide for withholding agents reads: "In most cases, you make this allocation on a time basis." With a quarter of the working time spent in the United States, $7,500 of $30,000 in commissions is US income. At 30%, the tax on it is $2,250.

Travel blogging in the United States

Section 864 of the US tax code says that a trade or business within the United States "includes the performance of personal services within the United States at any time within the taxable year".

Google's payments help center counts services performed in the United States as US activities, including employees or equipment there that help earn the revenue. The instructions for Form 1040-NR list among those who must file a US return: "You were a nonresident alien engaged in a trade or business in the United States during 2025." The US guide for nonresidents adds a rule for short visits under tax treaties: "Under most income tax treaties, nonresident aliens from treaty countries and dual residents who tie break in favor of the treaty country (see chapter 1) who are temporarily present in the United States to perform services may be eligible to exempt some or all of their personal services income from U.S. tax if they meet the requirements of the applicable treaty article."

Moving to the United States

For a publisher who moves to the United States, the US guide for nonresidents sets the date when residence starts: "If you meet the substantial presence test for a calendar year, your residency starting date is generally the first day you are present in the United States during that calendar year."

Murblz experts have described the substantial presence test in the guide to Upwork tax. The instructions for Form W-8BEN read: "If you become a U.S. citizen or resident alien after you submit Form W-8BEN, you are no longer subject to the 30% withholding rate under section 1441 or the withholding tax on a foreign partner's share of effectively connected income under section 1446." They also read: "You must notify the withholding agent, payer, or FFI within 30 days of becoming a U.S. citizen or resident alien."

For the year of the move, the instructions for Form 1040-NR read: "A dual-status year is one in which you change status between nonresident and resident alien." They add: "Most dual-status years are the years of arrival or departure." The same instructions continue: "As a dual-status taxpayer not filing a joint return, you’re taxed on income from all sources for the part of the year you were a resident alien."

Where publishers lose money

Google says individuals generally cannot use Form W-8BEN to claim the independent personal services article of a tax treaty. The US guide for nonresidents describes that article: "Some income tax treaties contain an “independent personal services” article, which allows residents of the treaty country to exempt income earned as an independent contractor or as a self-employed individual from U.S. tax if they are present in the United States for a period not exceeding a certain number of days and if they do not have a fixed base regularly available to them in the United States."

An associate who chooses work both inside and outside the United States in the tax interview has 30% withheld, according to Amazon's tax help. The same help says that posting links to a US based site from abroad is not US sourced income, and that an associate who made that choice by mistake can retake the interview. When tax is withheld from foreign income by mistake, the payer reports it on Form 1042-S, and the instructions for that form read: "Foreign source income is generally not required to be reported on Form 1042-S. As a result, exemption code 03 (income is not from U.S. sources) should be used for reporting income only in limited circumstances (for example, when withholding is applied in error)."

Google's payments help center says an affidavit of unchanged status, provided with a valid new W-8 form, lets Google apply the lower rate of the new form to earlier payments and refund the difference, if the claim is made by December 31 of the year of withholding. The US guide for withholding agents reads: "Often, you must withhold under the statutory rules on payments made to a treaty country resident contractor for services performed in the United States." It continues: "The contractor must then file a U.S. income tax return (Form 1040-NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return) to recover any overwithheld tax". Murblz experts have described such refund claims in the guide to royalty tax.

What decides the rate

Raptive warns that living in a treaty country does not by itself give the right to a treaty rate, and the US guide for nonresidents reads: "Most treaties require that the nonresident alien be a resident of the treaty country to qualify in the year the benefit is claimed."

For ad revenue earned as a business, the same guide reads: "Some treaties do not have an independent personal services article. Under these treaties, income for independent personal services may be covered by the business profits article. Under the business profits article, individuals can generally exempt their business profits from U.S. tax unless they have a permanent establishment in the United States to which the business profits are attributable." The model tax treaty of the United States lists places that count: "The term “permanent establishment” includes especially: a) a place of management; b) a branch; c) an office; d) a factory; e) a workshop; and f) a mine, an oil or gas well, a quarry, or any other place of extraction of natural resources."

The same model treaty leaves some taxpayers out of treaty residence: "This term does not include any person whose tax is determined in that Contracting State on a fixed-fee, “forfait” or similar basis, or who is liable to tax in respect only of income from sources in that Contracting State or of profits attributable to a permanent establishment in that Contracting State."

Murblz experts check tax residence with the tax residency calculator and have described a change of residence in the guide on how to become tax resident abroad.

0% is possible, but not for everyone

Ad revenue and commissions for work done outside the United States are not US income. Section 864 of the US tax code reads: "Except as provided in subparagraphs (B) and (C), no income, gain, or loss from sources without the United States shall be treated as effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the United States."

Revenue for work done in the United States stays US income for publishers who are not US residents. US citizens and residents pay US tax on income from anywhere, and Raptive notes that US citizens who live abroad generally sign Form W-9.

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