Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Here is a quick rundown of the more notable changes:
Some interesting changes, some I am sure for legal reasons, some for tax reasons, and some just for support reasons, so they can refer people to the terms. The related searches addition is an interesting one - I am guessing we will see a new version of the related searches "feature" arrive back on the AdSense scene sooner or later.
We should be seeing some sort of tax information upon login sometime soon, with that addition to the terms.
I am guessing they added those repeated manual clicks to the terms due to all the click happy webmasters and their friends when the program first launched, and thought clicking ads was a great way to make money during the first days.
I also thought it was curious that they removed "is not false, misleading, defamatory, libelous, slanderous or threatening".
Any thoughts on these changes?
(disclaimer)
Of course, its best to see your own personal tax advisor.
(end of disclaimer)
Hmmm... profit might be the keyword there. Its gonna be a while (in my case for instance) before I see anything I'd call 'profit'. Like a lot of hobby-businesses, the investment is still greater than the profit (as it would be with any hobby).
I guess I was also thinking about that deal where you have to send them (the u.s. gov) a report every four months. As a hobby, I have nothing to report. As a business, I would be reporting 'stuff'... but not profit.
Kind of sucks to have to be a tax expert to run your own little hobby-hopefully-turned-business. I think Im gonna vote libertarian (the third largest party in the U.S., but doesnt seem to get much press coverage) from now on (smile).
Under Program Policies, they have now added that they can serve "related Google search queries"
P.S.. I believe they might add "related search queries" as default.. but will leave an option for publishsers to remove it too.. so they can maintain good relationship with publishers too.. as serving only advertisers or self purpose.. might not be very good for their reputation.
my 2cents
NS
Kind of sucks to have to be a tax expert to run your own little hobby-hopefully-turned-business.
It is so annoying that just a couple of Mb of code can cause so many headaches. I suppose that we have the ultimate power. Hit the delete key.
I have always looked upon the sucess of my site as how many dollars a month I brought in. I supose it is time to start looking at the logs again and patting myself on the back when my stats go up another 10k instead of my revenue. Oh if I could only go back to the days of tripod and getting happy at 50c a day.
There is no real secrecy in most maildrops. Why bother with (apparent) fraud when a proper company setup can have minimal tax if done carefully (even in the UK) and would build you a business you can sell later?
You need to have maildrops when you are getting reasonably well known otherwise a million people can do a whois and call round for afternoon tea
You need to have maildrops when you are getting reasonably well known otherwise a million people can do a whois and call round for afternoon tea
Didn't say it wasn't a good idea to have a maildrop for a small extra layer of privacy (whether personal or business), just pointing out that it's fairly useless hiding from the taxman via one, especially if it is in the same country as you. (although other than the usual spam domain "renewal invoices" I've never had anybody contact me via the whois info).
To get back the new terms and conditions, I agree with some others that putting related searches on the page would make me (reluctantly) drop Adsense also. Perhaps that is the idea - to introduce them when there are too many publishers...
IMHO it could help with the circular flow of traffic therefore promoting Adwords which in turn increases revenue.
However it is in all of our favour to promote the site that feeds us.
I don't quite get what you mean here. Are you assuming that the traffic is coming from Google and is being circulated back?
assuming that you've kept decent records of your business income and expenses.
Keeping good records is critical. A tax auditor once told me that the most common reason for disallowing "business" deductions was not any question that the expenses were legitimate, rather that they weren't adequately documented.
Save those receipts!
This is not strictly true.
I believe that if you check this with a real tax expert and actually follow the rules, you will discover that in the US,
1. All of the revenue must be declared as income (regardless of whether it is a hobby or a business.)
2. If it is a hobby, none of the expenses may be deducted from income (this makes all of the revenue ordinary income which is all taxed.)
3. If it is a business, most but not necessarily all of the expenses may be deducted from the revenue to arrive at the net income and that is what would then be taxed.
4. If your "business" does not make a net profit after a certain amount of time (perhaps 3 out of 5 years) it may be declared by the IRS to be a hobby and all deductions from the previous years may be disallowed and the entire amount of the revenue may be taxed retroactively.
E.G. I get x cents out of the y cents the advertiser pays the PPC agency every time i send a click from my site.
Does anyone in here know what (as an estimated %) the likes of google adsense, and espotting pay?
Does anyone in here know what (as an estimated %) the likes of google adsense, and espotting pay?
I don't quite get what you mean here. Are you assuming that the traffic is coming from Google and is being circulated back?
What I meant was that we are being paid by google. Adsense is the biggest thing to hit the internet since $6cpm so I am with them all the way.....
60% of my traffic comes from google and the more people who use google the better for me. If I in turn can promote google then that is to my advantage.
Say a visitor comes to my site from yahoo and exits my site to google. He then finds that google is less cluttered and better than yahoo then there is another google user. That new google user could return one day.
In a way it is creating a circular flow of traffic......
This is not strictly true. I believe that if you check this with a real tax expert(more)
Wow. I've always seemed to have a mental block when it comes to taxes, probably due to my first experience looking at all those forms. Your message is a wake up call... its time to get some serious paid help or join a micro-credit/business group (business owners helping each other). I hope its tax deductible.
As for adsense, has the related search already started? I don't see any indication on my sites' ads this morning... or is this a thing that happens after an ad is clicked (I wasnt with adsense the last time related search was in town). I should probably go back and reread this thread from the start again... I better get some coffee.
A number of AdSense publishers did express concern about the related searches feature. As a result of this feedback, we decided to temporarily disable this feature. We will soon re-release this feature with greater flexibility for the publishers. I don't know if this will be opt-in or opt-out, but I believe publishers will be able to turn off the feature if they don't want to use it.
[webmasterworld.com...]So it was known that the related searches would be re-introduced to AdSense, just not when and how.
So it was known that the related searches would be re-introduced to AdSense, just not when and how.
NS
I think it is flawed to assume that every website gets 60, 70, 80, etc percent of its traffic from Google. Lets take the case where sites have worked to get to a point where the majority of their visitors are non-Google referred. By adding the "related searches" link, Google is trying to wean away these users from other search engines to its own. So if you get a lot of searches from non-Google SEs, it is possible that you might be losing some of these visitors in the future - ie, if they decide to move over to Google.
I know webmasters are making a lot from Adesene...but if I were to guess, I'd say that Google is raking it in aswell. A mutually beneficial relationship where nothing is 'owed'.
Bold bits by me.
5. Does Google need my tax I.D.?Yes. If you are approved to participate in Google AdSense and you file taxes in the US, we are required to collect your tax I.D. or, if you don't have a tax I.D., your Social Security number. The ability to collect your tax I.D. is coming soon. When we launch this feature, you'll be prompted to submit your tax I.D. when you log in to your account. If you do not file taxes in the US, you won't need to provide us with any specific tax information.
Google uses industry-standard SSL (secure socket layer) technology to protect this and other personal information you provide us. Please read the Google Privacy Policy for more information about what we do to protect your privacy
valid tax identification number and/or Form W-9 in the case of U.S. taxpayers and a fully-completed Form W-8 in the case of non-U.S. taxpayers
is what the terms say, so I would take that as the most current and up-to-date information on tax information with regards to non-US taxpayers.
what if somebody have given address of his/her friend in the US due to payment convenience, he/she put it in bank there then sends money via wire when the checks clears.
what could be done to avoid any tax related complication.
is there any thing for in W8 form in this regard.
or simply to give Home address to avoid this issue.
what could be done to avoid any tax related complication.
Nothing. You are going to have to give Google tax reporting information or, I suspect, be kicked out of the program. The U.S. Government simply will not allow Google to make disbursement to anyone without them being reported to the IRS -- and that reporting MUST contain the proper indentification (a tax payer indentification number in the case of us in the US). Google will be fined if they don't provide the information.
Having the funds sent to someone in the US is not going to work. You have to file a W-9 or W-8. Address has no impact on it.
If the cheque's in your US friend/relative's name and they do pay US tax, then you'll need their SSN of Tax ID and they'll have to pay tax on this income, because it's technically their income, not yours.
At least, that's how I've understood it to work.
or should i get my bank account opened there (can i do that sitting in another country.) and simply fill the W8 form.
Actually i m not sure My Friend has that Tax id, and the only reason for which i did that was Just Payment convenience as people didnt get cheques here even weeks after i got money transferred here through bank.
i am willing to pay tax if it is required by US govt as dont want to cause trouble to my friend or google. but question is how?
now issue is what should i do for the FUTURE.
should i change the address or open a account in my name in US ..and if i do it will i still be required to submit info on payments i received before in US.
as far as W8 is concerned everything just went above my head. i guess would have to read it more carefully.
