Yeah, that's good info ! And congratulations on a successful set. I really wonder what kind of tracking tools are available for contributors (still waiting for Valve to get back to me on that). It would be great to have some precise graphs over time ...
There's none currently. I think if you press them for it enough they may provide it to you.
Valve said that they want it so that sets and chest items make about the same amount. In my experience of not having very popular sets, I make a lot more from chest items.
They're very aware that we want it and that they should have provided tracking to us by now. No idea when it's going to happen though.
I don't know, I'm a bit on the fence on the whole issue. On the one hand, I really like not knowing how much I can expect to make from a given item because it allows me to completely push revenue into the background when I actually make the item but on the other hand, it would be nice to get a more detailed breakdown of how a payout came to be in terms of multiple factors playing a role. For example, I just got payed for a piece we did as contract work and I'd be curious to know how much of my paycheck this month came from that versus the stuff that I already have ingame.
But to be honest, I'm not getting my hopes up, Valve has been notoriously slow on getting that kind of info to users (which, again, has a good and a bad side).
There's none currently. I think if you press them for it enough they may provide it to you.
Valve said that they want it so that sets and chest items make about the same amount. In my experience of not having very popular sets, I make a lot more from chest items.
They're very aware that we want it and that they should have provided tracking to us by now. No idea when it's going to happen though.
If you email their financial service you can get the information, it might take you a month, but they do provide it.
I'll throw out some numbers. doesn't bother me.
I've got one set in game - its integration got kind of messed up. Didn't get added to the shop til 2 or 3 months after it got patched into the game (even though some people managed to buy it and I had broken self-made items in my inventory).
When it did finally get added it got stuffed into the store like it had been available for 2 months. No front page coin slider image, no "new" label.
Reddit took care of it though. It went out on the wire that it was actually available, and that must have worked well enough.
In 2 months I've made $2500 US or so from that set. Don't know what more to expect from it, but there it is.
Still...I've submitted a few other things since. nothing accepted yet. I'll keep at it. I don't need the money - the money is nice, but I'd be doing it anyway. Because it's fun and i love Dota...
i wouldn't try to make a job out of it though.
Maybe if i didn't have a job in the industry already - and didn't have a family. I suspect that to produce the volume of work necessary to keep yourself afloat completely on accepted dota items would suck up a great deal of time...and i've got these damn kids climbing all over me all day once i get home
Reverend, would you mind telling us a bit more about the Reddit part ? Do you mean that you posted something about your set on Reddit and it took off from there - or where people spontaneously talking about it on there and it created momentum ?
/r/dota2 usually keeps track of newly available stuff in dota2 and if it's good it's usually linked and talked about quite a bit. As much as r/dota2 can be real negative, when something decent hits they will talk about it and try and show it off.
/r/dota2 usually keeps track of newly available stuff in dota2 and if it's good it's usually linked and talked about quite a bit. As much as r/dota2 can be real negative, when something decent hits they will talk about it and try and show it off.
Pretty much this. A post went up when itv as actually in the shop stating as much. Im sure it helped the sets visibility. So make friends with reddit i guess...though ut eludes me personally.
Today my new Set got in to the workshop and now I need to fill in all the stuff and I dont have a bank account yet thus I am student and never needed it before and since stuff changed alot since this thread was active the last time.
I wonder if something major changed....for exampe Spudnik told me that the W-8 BEN changed a lot.
If I am not mistaken, all the steps are outlined in the online forms that Valve links you to.
Regarding the EIN : it stands for Employer Identification Number (in our case, your are basically your own employer). Back when I got mine about a year ago, getting one was just a matter of calling the american revenue service (IRS) and talking to a person for about 15 mins. The number was generated on the spot. Not sure if the process has changed by now !
Just make sure that you are ready to spell your contact information and physical mailing address in english. You might want to practice a bit beforehand and write everything down before calling.
Once you get that identification number you can then fill in the paperwork that allows you to pay taxes in your home country only, as opposed to having american taxes taken from the Valve paycheck on top of having to pay your own.
If I am not mistaken, all the steps are outlined in the online forms that Valve links you to.
Regarding the EIN : it stands for Employer Identification Number (in our case : your are basically your own employer). Back when I got mine about a year ago, getting one was just a matter of calling the american revenue service (IRS) ; not sure if that changed by now.
Once you get that identification number you can then fill in the paperwork that allows you to pay taxes in your home country only, as opposed to having american taxes taken from the Valve paycheck on top of having to pay your own.
Good luck !
And I need a Bank Account for that right?
But my biggest fear is that the set cant get accepted because all the paperwork will take so long. Is that possible?
The IRS doesn't care about your bank account (as far as I can remember). But of course you need a bank account in order for Valve to transfer your revenue.
Don't worry too much about all this and just do it ! It comes with the territory. You will also have a few things to figure out later regarding the taxes in your country, but that's very good stuff to be aware of early in one's career anyways.
As far as the paperwork taking long : getting the EIN over the phone takes about 15 minutes.
International applicants may call 267-941-1099 (not a toll-free number) 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) Monday through Friday to obtain their EIN. The person making the call must be authorized to receive the EIN and answer questions concerning the Form SS-4 (PDF), Application for Employer Identification Number. Complete the Third Party Designee section only if you want to authorize the named individual to receive the entitys EIN and answer questions about the completion of Form SS-4. The designees authority terminates at the time the EIN is assigned and released to the designee. You must complete the signature area for the authorization to be valid.
Have this PDF ready when you call them. You will need to tell them some parts of the second page.
Tell them you are a freelance graphic designer who works for an american company, and you need EIN so you can get payments from that company.
You need an EIN for "Sole proprietor" type of entity.
Be prepared to wait up to 45 minutes in the line and the person who picks up is tired so bare with them. and spell everything, even the name of your country of residence
As for the bank account, yes you need it and make sure that the name you give to valve is the same as the name you use for your bank account (in case you have multiple family names and stuff)
Have this PDF ready when you call them. You will need to tell them some parts of the second page.
Tell them you are a freelance graphic designer who works for an american company, and you need EIN so you can get payments from that company.
You need an EIN for "Sole proprietor" type of entity.
Be prepared to wait up to 45 minutes in the line and the person who picks up is tired so bare with them. and spell everything, even the name of your country of residence
As for the bank account, yes you need it and make sure that the name you give to valve is the same as the name you use for your bank account (in case you have multiple family names and stuff)
nice thank you! Can you also give me some information about the W-8 BEN? I looked it up but it is still very confusing.
And how long do u think will the whole process take?
I also saw that it is possible to do get the EIN without the talking via a formular is that correct?(I saw it on their page, or I missunderstood it.)
The w-8BEN is the tax form you have to fill, in payment section of steam. Its very easy, you just have to fill up basic info and give them your address and tell them if you are an american resident or not. It will take some time for valve to confirm it though. Specially if u have got your EIN recently, mine took couple of weeks so I suggest you get your EIN as early as possible.
I think the other ways of getting EIN is for Americans or those who live there. If u r not an american and u don't live there I guess phone call is the only way.
The w-8BEN is the tax form you have to fill, in payment section of steam. Its very easy, you just have to fill up basic info and give them your address and tell them if you are an american resident or not. It will take some time for valve to confirm it though. Specially if u have got your EIN recently, mine took couple of weeks so I suggest you get your EIN as early as possible.
I think the other ways of getting EIN is for Americans or those who live there. If u r not an american and u don't live there I guess phone call is the only way.
The online application process is available for all entities whose principal business, office or agency, or legal residence (in the case of an individual), is located in the United States or U.S. Territories.
International applicants may call 267-941-1099 (not a toll-free number) 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
It's a pretty painless process to call. Accent and language issues aside it's not very hard and just requires a certain level of personal information to be provided. I think from memory you get your EIN immediately over the phone after completion?
Yes u get the code right away but it takes sometime for them to update their database. Up to a month or so I guess. But that's up to luck. For a friend of mine it got updated almost right away and valve confirmed his tax info the next day. For me it took way longer.
I now want to get my EIN via Fax because I believe that it is easier for me thus the phone call could lead me to say wrong things hence I am not sure what to do exactly.
As a result I need you're help once again.(sry) http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf
So I have to fill that ss4 out but I dont really know where to put the crosses in.
Can someone help me with that, I dont want to fuck it up.
I understand that having to speak in a foreign language can be intimidating, but I think there's no real risk in doing it anyways - and if mistakes happen they can always be corrected. You could even find an english teacher in your area and have him/her coach you !
Yes, I did mine via fax, it takes a while though, something like a month (because for some reason I didn't recieve a fax back with the EIN, only the postal letter)
Fill in 1, 4a, 4b, 7a
Check 8a "No", 9a "Sole proprietor", 10 "Compliance with IRS withholding regulations", 18 "No"
And put your name, date and signature at the bottom, and your fax number if you want eventually a fax back.
OK why don't you try this?
Call them and at the beginning tell them yourself that someone else will speak on your behalf. and if they say it's cool, then it's cool, if not, use fax. There is not much time left. only 2 weeks
Yes, I did mine via fax, it takes a while though, something like a month (because for some reason I didn't recieve a fax back with the EIN, only the postal letter)
Fill in 1, 4a, 4b, 7a
Check 8a "No", 9a "Sole proprietor", 10 "Compliance with IRS withholding regulations", 18 "No"
And put your name, date and signature at the bottom, and your fax number if you want eventually a fax back.
Thanky you dude! I will fax it out asap, then!
And I know, I could do it per phone but I just feel a bit more in control when I do it per fax. Well, thank you guys!
1)
is it true that i need to fill in all the contact,bank acc,tax information so that my items can be view in dota2 workshop?
2)
i have already submitted all my items in dota2 workshop , and i have done the contact, bank account information , but im stuck at the tax information . Well im not sure if i did it right or wrong. After i done the interview they told me to send the signed tax form to valve so i printed the form out and signed it and scan and send it to them. So now i just need to wait for them to reply? or is there another way to get it done with the tax information? because i have been waiting like for half a day
Here is a quick UPDATED review!(For noobs like me)
So if you wanna fill out the stuff for the Workshop do it like this:
1. Ur adress.(Very easy)
2. Fill in your bank account details, if you dont have a bank account create one it will take 1 day at your local bank - after that just fill everything in it takes like 1 min.
3. The EIN! (Use skype credits for that! It costed like 3€ for me[~3hrs phone time])
-1: Fill out the SS4! But dont fax it to the number you see on the website!
-2: Call the IRS and apply for an EIN by phone.
---: Now the person you get connected to will ask you if want a EIN you say: Yes.
Then the person wants to know where youre from ofc you answer that with the country you live in. After that the person will ask you if have filled out the SS4 you just say yes and the person will give you their fax number so you fax it to them, idk what then happens but I guess that you will get a few question about your business.(4-5 Question answer all of them with: No.) Then you get ur EIN.
If you can't fax it to them they will do it verbally with you like they had to do with me cos my fax device isn't quite operational.
Finally you will get ur EIN and you will recieve it per mail too some weeks after the phone call.
4:
Now you are done and you have to fill out the W8-BEN in the Steam Workshop where you filled ur other stuff in. Do it then you are finished...now volvo has to check ur information.
If they accepted it you are good to go.
I hope that I could help you, pal.(Who ever you are in the future)
1)
is it true that i need to fill in all the contact,bank acc,tax information so that my items can be view in dota2 workshop?
2)
i have already submitted all my items in dota2 workshop , and i have done the contact, bank account information , but im stuck at the tax information . Well im not sure if i did it right or wrong. After i done the interview they told me to send the signed tax form to valve so i printed the form out and signed it and scan and send it to them. So now i just need to wait for them to reply? or is there another way to get it done with the tax information? because i have been waiting like for half a day
So they want the signed SS4? I dont know what to sent to them so idk what to do now to be honest. I will just wait. Btw. how to sent it to them.(Digitally) It still says incomplete on the same side I had to fill the other stuff in...so I guess that I have to wait.:poly141:
[COLOR="rgb(255, 140, 0)"]i'll just copy them anyway since its all words haha[/COLOR]
For your convenience, we have attached the tax form generated from the tax interview that requires your signature. You can submit your signed tax form via email. Below are the steps to complete this action:
1. Reply to this email, making sure that you do not change the subject line
[COLOR="rgb(255, 140, 0)"]i'll just copy them anyway since its all words haha[/COLOR]
For your convenience, we have attached the tax form generated from the tax interview that requires your signature. You can submit your signed tax form via email. Below are the steps to complete this action:
1. Reply to this email, making sure that you do not change the subject line
Did you had that thing at the end of the W8-BEN where you had to say that you are the person/owner filling it out and stuff like that - after you saw the generated W8-BEN,too?
So you got the E-Mail after u completed it? Cos I didnt recieve anything yet.(I filled it like 1 or 2 hrs ago)
Okay I looked it up now. No worries all goes according to the plan they need it to accept you...so expect your items in the workshop in a few days!
Sry I cant help you. I have a tax of 0%. So do u registered it with the EIN or TIN? Well, both works but I guess that the EIN is better. And how it works is that if a item gets ingame the money you get will be reduced by 30% cos valve has to pay 30% taxes. So valve pays the taxes and not you. Someone correct me if it is wrong. :-D
haha its ok i thought of checking out about this TIN and EIN thing , man 30% tax is too high haha ,by the way Thank you guys for your replies it helps me a lot
I would think that the best course of action would be to chat with Valve Finance to see if they can give you any tips regarding that issue. They probably had to deal with that problem before (and it sucks !). Good luck man.
Shork : glad to hear it's all up and running for you man, that's good news ! See, it wasn't that hard It's all very good stuff to know, as it could probably come in handy when doing contract freelance work for a US studio, for instance.
pior : well i think its still better to ask valve finance, i still need to find out what does TIN do and their advantage and disadvantages and is it ok to change/create another new tax information ? if i change or create it wont charge a double tax right?
I have to admit that I have no idea if an EIN or TIN are even necessary in the case of someone from a country without a tax treaty with the US. On top of chatting with Valve Finance, maybe you could try to find some tax expert in your area ?
Hmmm one thing I've been wondering about is, maybe it sounds ridiculous, but it goes like this:
I currently live in a country that doesn't have US tax treaty. If I were to move to a country that does have a treaty (in this example, Norway), I get EIN or TIN, pay Norway it's taxes and whatnot, would I be eligible to get stay permit and register myself an address up there?
Replies
There's none currently. I think if you press them for it enough they may provide it to you.
Valve said that they want it so that sets and chest items make about the same amount. In my experience of not having very popular sets, I make a lot more from chest items.
They're very aware that we want it and that they should have provided tracking to us by now. No idea when it's going to happen though.
But to be honest, I'm not getting my hopes up, Valve has been notoriously slow on getting that kind of info to users (which, again, has a good and a bad side).
If you email their financial service you can get the information, it might take you a month, but they do provide it.
I've got one set in game - its integration got kind of messed up. Didn't get added to the shop til 2 or 3 months after it got patched into the game (even though some people managed to buy it and I had broken self-made items in my inventory).
When it did finally get added it got stuffed into the store like it had been available for 2 months. No front page coin slider image, no "new" label.
Reddit took care of it though. It went out on the wire that it was actually available, and that must have worked well enough.
In 2 months I've made $2500 US or so from that set. Don't know what more to expect from it, but there it is.
Still...I've submitted a few other things since. nothing accepted yet. I'll keep at it. I don't need the money - the money is nice, but I'd be doing it anyway. Because it's fun and i love Dota...
i wouldn't try to make a job out of it though.
Maybe if i didn't have a job in the industry already - and didn't have a family. I suspect that to produce the volume of work necessary to keep yourself afloat completely on accepted dota items would suck up a great deal of time...and i've got these damn kids climbing all over me all day once i get home
Pretty much this. A post went up when itv as actually in the shop stating as much. Im sure it helped the sets visibility. So make friends with reddit i guess...though ut eludes me personally.
I wonder if something major changed....for exampe Spudnik told me that the W-8 BEN changed a lot.
Well, so the steps are:
1. Create Bank Account
2. Fill out the W-8 BEN
3. Get the EIN(What does it stand for?)
4. Send it to Volvo
Is that correct?
Regarding the EIN : it stands for Employer Identification Number (in our case, your are basically your own employer). Back when I got mine about a year ago, getting one was just a matter of calling the american revenue service (IRS) and talking to a person for about 15 mins. The number was generated on the spot. Not sure if the process has changed by now !
Just make sure that you are ready to spell your contact information and physical mailing address in english. You might want to practice a bit beforehand and write everything down before calling.
Once you get that identification number you can then fill in the paperwork that allows you to pay taxes in your home country only, as opposed to having american taxes taken from the Valve paycheck on top of having to pay your own.
Good luck !
And I need a Bank Account for that right?
But my biggest fear is that the set cant get accepted because all the paperwork will take so long. Is that possible?
Don't worry too much about all this and just do it ! It comes with the territory. You will also have a few things to figure out later regarding the taxes in your country, but that's very good stuff to be aware of early in one's career anyways.
As far as the paperwork taking long : getting the EIN over the phone takes about 15 minutes.
Have this PDF ready when you call them. You will need to tell them some parts of the second page.
Tell them you are a freelance graphic designer who works for an american company, and you need EIN so you can get payments from that company.
You need an EIN for "Sole proprietor" type of entity.
Be prepared to wait up to 45 minutes in the line and the person who picks up is tired so bare with them.
As for the bank account, yes you need it and make sure that the name you give to valve is the same as the name you use for your bank account (in case you have multiple family names and stuff)
nice thank you! Can you also give me some information about the W-8 BEN? I looked it up but it is still very confusing.
And how long do u think will the whole process take?
I also saw that it is possible to do get the EIN without the talking via a formular is that correct?(I saw it on their page, or I missunderstood it.)
I think the other ways of getting EIN is for Americans or those who live there. If u r not an american and u don't live there I guess phone call is the only way.
But I saw a video where they fill out a form online without calling to get the EIN.
[ame]
The online application process is available for all entities whose principal business, office or agency, or legal residence (in the case of an individual), is located in the United States or U.S. Territories.
International applicants may call 267-941-1099 (not a toll-free number) 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
As a result I need you're help once again.(sry)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf
So I have to fill that ss4 out but I dont really know where to put the crosses in.
Can someone help me with that, I dont want to fuck it up.
Thank you in advance. :-)
I understand that having to speak in a foreign language can be intimidating, but I think there's no real risk in doing it anyways - and if mistakes happen they can always be corrected. You could even find an english teacher in your area and have him/her coach you !
Fill in 1, 4a, 4b, 7a
Check 8a "No", 9a "Sole proprietor", 10 "Compliance with IRS withholding regulations", 18 "No"
And put your name, date and signature at the bottom, and your fax number if you want eventually a fax back.
Call them and at the beginning tell them yourself that someone else will speak on your behalf. and if they say it's cool, then it's cool, if not, use fax. There is not much time left. only 2 weeks
Thanky you dude! I will fax it out asap, then!
And I know, I could do it per phone but I just feel a bit more in control when I do it per fax. Well, thank you guys!
Here's a pretty good average:
http://www.polygon.com/2014/1/17/5318402/valve-paid-10-2m-to-dota-2-and-team-fortress-2-item-creators
I made about 3x more on my TF2 contributions than the DOTA 2 ones.
1)
is it true that i need to fill in all the contact,bank acc,tax information so that my items can be view in dota2 workshop?
2)
i have already submitted all my items in dota2 workshop , and i have done the contact, bank account information , but im stuck at the tax information . Well im not sure if i did it right or wrong. After i done the interview they told me to send the signed tax form to valve so i printed the form out and signed it and scan and send it to them. So now i just need to wait for them to reply? or is there another way to get it done with the tax information? because i have been waiting like for half a day
2. how did they ask you to send the tax form? via E-mail?
Here is a quick UPDATED review!(For noobs like me)
So if you wanna fill out the stuff for the Workshop do it like this:
1. Ur adress.(Very easy)
2. Fill in your bank account details, if you dont have a bank account create one it will take 1 day at your local bank - after that just fill everything in it takes like 1 min.
3. The EIN! (Use skype credits for that! It costed like 3€ for me[~3hrs phone time])
-1: Fill out the SS4! But dont fax it to the number you see on the website!
-2: Call the IRS and apply for an EIN by phone.
---: Now the person you get connected to will ask you if want a EIN you say: Yes.
Then the person wants to know where youre from ofc you answer that with the country you live in. After that the person will ask you if have filled out the SS4 you just say yes and the person will give you their fax number so you fax it to them, idk what then happens but I guess that you will get a few question about your business.(4-5 Question answer all of them with: No.) Then you get ur EIN.
If you can't fax it to them they will do it verbally with you like they had to do with me cos my fax device isn't quite operational.
Finally you will get ur EIN and you will recieve it per mail too some weeks after the phone call.
4:
Now you are done and you have to fill out the W8-BEN in the Steam Workshop where you filled ur other stuff in. Do it then you are finished...now volvo has to check ur information.
If they accepted it you are good to go.
I hope that I could help you, pal.(Who ever you are in the future)
A crazy fast person can do all of it in one day.
so what i did is printed the form out and signed it and scan and send it to them
this is what they told me to do
For your convenience, we have attached the tax form generated from the tax interview that requires your signature. You can submit your signed tax form via email. Below are the steps to complete this action:
1. Reply to this email, making sure that you do not change the subject line
2. Attach your signed tax form to this email
3. Send – the email will be sent to taxclientsupport-valve@taxidentity.com
Validation Type -Signed tax form
Verification Required-Signed and dated tax form
Documents Received By-30 days from date of notification
Did you had that thing at the end of the W8-BEN where you had to say that you are the person/owner filling it out and stuff like that - after you saw the generated W8-BEN,too?
So you got the E-Mail after u completed it? Cos I didnt recieve anything yet.(I filled it like 1 or 2 hrs ago)
Okay I looked it up now. No worries all goes according to the plan they need it to accept you...so expect your items in the workshop in a few days!
1)Since my tax information is still incomplete so i just wait for them to reply? I'm a malaysian by the way
2)is it ok to change/create another new tax information ? if i change or create it wont charge a double tax right?
3)How did you complete the tax information?
2) idk..I am just a noob
3) Like u did it too.
" Based on your tax information, the US tax withholding rate to be applied on your US sales is 30% "
so thats mean i need to pay 30% tax? or is there anyway to avoid that? by the way US does not have a income tax treaty with Malaysia
but they allow me to provide Foreign Tax Identification Number (TIN) , and i have no idea what is that XD
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/International-Businesses/United-States-Income-Tax-Treaties---A-to-Z
I would think that the best course of action would be to chat with Valve Finance to see if they can give you any tips regarding that issue. They probably had to deal with that problem before (and it sucks !). Good luck man.
Shork : glad to hear it's all up and running for you man, that's good news ! See, it wasn't that hard
pior : well i think its still better to ask valve finance, i still need to find out what does TIN do and their advantage and disadvantages and is it ok to change/create another new tax information ? if i change or create it wont charge a double tax right?
I currently live in a country that doesn't have US tax treaty. If I were to move to a country that does have a treaty (in this example, Norway), I get EIN or TIN, pay Norway it's taxes and whatnot, would I be eligible to get stay permit and register myself an address up there?