US music label not withholding tax or requesting W8-BEN for royalty payments - who's responsible for tax filing?

Technically, the US music distributor is supposed to request a W8-BEN from you and withhold taxes if applicable. The W8-BEN establishes that you're a foreign person and qualifies you for treaty benefits (in your case, the 0% withholding rate between Ireland and the US). Even though no tax would be owed due to the treaty, the proper documentation should still be in place. However, as a non-US resident receiving only royalty income that would be exempt under the treaty, you generally wouldn't need to file a US tax return simply because the payer failed to request proper documentation. The primary responsibility for proper withholding falls on the US payer, not you. They could potentially face penalties for failing to collect the W8-BEN and properly document the payments. That said, it might be in your best interest to proactively provide them with a completed W8-BEN form anyway, even if they haven't requested it. This protects you by documenting your treaty position, especially as your royalty amounts increase.

I went through something really similar with royalties from my photography being sold through a US agency! After hours of research that left me totally confused, I found this tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that analyzed my specific situation with international royalties. It broke down exactly what forms I needed based on my country's tax treaty with the US, and explained in simple terms that while the agency should be requesting my W8-BEN, I could proactively send it to protect myself. The site even generated a customized letter I could send to the agency explaining the tax treaty benefits I qualified for. What a relief not having to figure out all the international tax jargon myself!

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai that was mentioned above. I was really surprised by how helpful it was for my situation with music royalties from the US. I'm from Australia and it immediately identified the relevant treaty provisions that applied to my royalty income. The document analysis feature saved me hours of reading through tax jargon. It flagged exactly what I needed to do (and what I didn't need to worry about). I sent the completed W8-BEN to my distributor with the explanation letter the site generated, and they've now updated their records properly. They actually thanked me for clearing up their confusion about international payments!

If you're having trouble getting your US payer to respond about tax documentation, I've been there! After six emails to my publisher with no response about W8-BEN forms, I was at my wit's end. A musician friend recommended trying Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to actually get through to a human at the IRS to confirm my obligations. There's a demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c but basically it helped me skip the ridiculous hold times (I had tried calling myself and gave up after 2 hours on hold). I got connected to an actual IRS international tax specialist who confirmed that while the responsibility is on the US payer, I could protect myself by documenting my attempts to provide proper forms. That conversation saved me so much stress!

I need to eat my words from my skeptical comment earlier. After my frustration reached a breaking point with trying to resolve my international royalty situation, I broke down and tried Claimyr. Within 90 minutes, I got a call back and was speaking with an actual IRS international tax specialist. The agent confirmed that as a non-resident with treaty-exempt royalties, I'm not required to file a US return, but I should document my attempts to provide the W8-BEN to the payer. She even gave me specific instructions for sending a certified letter to create a paper trail of my compliance efforts. I was 100% wrong in my skepticism - this saved me from booking an expensive international tax consultation and gave me peace of mind directly from the IRS.

Anyone know if this changes depending on royalty amount? I'm getting around $2000 per year from a US art licensing company and they've never asked for any tax forms either. Been going on for 4 years now.

Just to share my experience - I submitted a W8-BEN to my US publisher without them asking, and they had no idea what to do with it! They literally emailed me back asking what department should handle it. Their accounting team finally figured it out, but it was clear they'd never dealt with international authors before even though they were distributing my work in the US. Sometimes these smaller companies just don't know their obligations.

This is such a common issue with smaller US distributors and publishers! I'm a tax professional who specializes in international artist taxation, and I see this scenario constantly. You're absolutely right that under the US-Ireland tax treaty, royalties are generally exempt from US withholding tax (0% rate), but the W8-BEN documentation requirement still applies regardless of the treaty rate. Here's the key point: as an Irish resident receiving royalty income that's treaty-exempt, you're typically NOT required to file a US tax return even if the payer fails to collect proper documentation. The filing obligation generally falls on US persons or when you have US-source income that's actually subject to tax. However, I'd strongly recommend proactively sending them a completed W8-BEN form anyway. This protects you by establishing your treaty position on record, especially as your royalties grow. Include a brief cover letter explaining that this establishes your eligibility for treaty benefits under Article 12 of the US-Ireland tax treaty. If they continue to mishandle things, keep records of your attempts to provide proper documentation. This creates a paper trail showing your good faith compliance efforts, which could be valuable if any questions arise later. The distributor could face penalties for not collecting required forms, but that's their problem, not yours!