Website hosted in US, Owner in Argentina. Do I pay taxes?

I need to know if I have to pay US taxes

[paula1978]

Hello everybody,

I am planning to start a new Website and have adsense on it. I live in Argentina and I would like the site to be hosted in the US on a go daddy regular hosting service.

My question is, does that constitute as US activity? Do I have to pay taxes in the US for the revenue I get from the adsense?

I ask because I live in Argentina, I am not American and before doing this I need to make what my situation is.

any help is highly appreciated

Thanks!

Paula

[koan]

You pay taxes to your government. Read the Adsense docs to that effect.

[paula1978]

ok but I don't pay to the US and it is allowed for me to do that right? Meaning, I can be in Argentina, host a site in the US and have the site in english. I am not breaking any rules right?

[RonS]

You probably should hire a tax pro in your country if you're making any significant income from AdSense.

[vivalasvegas]

You will make money on the Internet not in the US. You are an Argentinian living in Argentina so you will pay taxes to your government.

[RonS]

You apparently have not read The Manifesto...

[acac]

You will not be liable to pay taxes to US gov. but you will be liable to pay taxes to Argentina gov..

The fact that you are hosting the site on a US server doesn't have tax implications. However you will be subject to US laws for your site like DMCA etc.

IANAL

[paula1978]

thanks a lot for all your input!

[rajivatre]

If you read "US activities clause in Adsense agreement" it is clearly written that "merely Hosting a website on US servers without having any office or a local representative in US does not constitute to US activities." (My general wordings not exact adsense terms)

Thanks
Rajiv

[ecmedia]

As a general rule if your income is not reported to the IRS, you do not owe any taxes in the US.

[swa66]

In general:

Taxes between two countries depends mostly on a tax treaty between said countries. Most of them are designed to avoid having to pay taxes in both countries (double taxation), but nearly all of them are slightly different, and most of them will predate the Internet and Adsense, so guessing how to apply it is tricky, even very tricky.
Many variables enter into the mix, e.g. your status back home might play an important part (individual, self-employed, business, ...) and even just mapping such local terms to the treaty terminology can be a challenge in its own right.

If you want to dig in on this, the IRS lists the treaties here:
[irs.gov...]

Argentina isn't listed in that list of the IRS, but Argentina is -AFAIK- part of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Bottom line: try to find some local expert on foreign income and taxation -if it's anywhere like where I live: it's pretty hard to find true knowledgeable help.

AFAIK, If you fill out the tax info on Adsense and claim "no US activity", Google does no withholding of taxes on your income ... Which doesn't mean you don't need to declare it locally.

[karkadan]

Paula:

I lived in Argentina (Im from South America).

If you rent a webhosting in the US, and you are from Argentina, you dont have to pay taxes to the US.

Google will then can pay you thru Western Union Quick Cash or send you a check by mail.

It is your obligation to pay taxes locally. But Google won't insist or check this requeriment.

[karkadan]

And yes, the 2 years I lived in Argentina, I changed my account to receive money there. So I know.

[paula1978]

thanks everybody! I really appreciate your time and effort helping me on this :)

[jcmiras]

You apparently have not read The Manifesto...

Lolz. That's funny.

[RonS]

I was only half kidding. What do you think is meant by closing loopholes that allow companies to send jobs out of the US?

If someone thinks that revenue generated from US advertisers targeting US consumers for goods and/or services performed and/or delivered within the US is not considered such a loophole, then they haven't "read" The Manifesto. ;)

[HowYesNo]

how can you pay US taxes if you dont live in US lol

[koan]

If someone thinks that revenue generated from US advertisers targeting US consumers for goods and/or services performed and/or delivered within the US

You assume a lot, but if it truly is the case and the OP targets US traffic, there's still a player in that cycle taking a big cut, Google, who pays US taxes to that revenue generated by a foreigner. Should Google pay taxes to other countries when the advertisers, the publishers and consumers aren't american?

[swa66]

how can you pay US taxes if you dont live in US lol

I'd not laugh too loud:
Google could be forced to do withholding on what they pay you (I think it's 30%).

[paula1978]

That's my point, isn't it somehow considered as exported services? I know my country does see it that way for Web Design services for instance. In any case, the revenue is being generated in the US (costs also since the site will be hosted there) and the income is leaving the US.