It’s pretty much the standard around the world where as long as you earn an income, you’ll need to declare it to your local tax agency. How much you get taxed will vary from country to country, but taxes are something which is pretty much inescapable. However, it can get a bit complicated if you earn money in another country but stay in a different country.
In the case of YouTube, it seems that the company has announced that they will soon start to automatically deduct US taxes from the revenue that non-US based creators earn. They will, of course, also deduct taxes from US creators, but the deduction from non-US creators is an interesting one.
According to the email that is being sent out to creators, “We’re reaching out because Google will be required to deduct U.S. taxes from payments to creators outside of the U.S. later this year (as early as June 2021). Over the next few weeks, we’ll be asking you to submit your tax info in AdSense to determine the correct amount of taxes to deduct, if any apply. If your tax info isn’t provided by May 31st, 2021, Google may be required to deduct up to 24% of your total earnings worldwide.”
It might sound a bit complicated, but YouTube has put together a video which explains what they intend to do. If you are a YouTube creator that makes a living from the platform, then this might be something you’ll want to watch. More information can also be found on YouTube’s support page.