Riley
Support · AI agent
Riley is an AI agent. She can look things up, email you details, and pass anything she can’t finish to a person.
List the authors you paid royalties to in 2026. For each one you'll see whether a 1099-MISC or a 1042-S is due, the withholding rate for authors outside the United States, which W-9s and W-8BENs are missing, and every deadline. It takes a couple of minutes, and nothing you type about your authors is stored.
On Start a Press, your agent collects these forms and prepares them every January.
It asks each author for the W-9 or W-8BEN, applies the right withholding to every royalty statement, and has the 1099-MISC and 1042-S forms ready for you to check.
Talk it over with Bo, 20 minutes Apply to be a founding licenseeThis checker applies the IRS's own instructions for 2026 payments (sources below). It is general information, not tax advice, and we are not accountants: confirm anything unusual with yours.
| Author | Form to collect | Year-end form | Withholding | Due for 2026 payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US author paid $10 or more in royalties | W-9 | 1099-MISC, box 2 | None, unless no taxpayer ID was given (then 24% backup withholding) | To the author by Monday 1 February 2027; to the IRS by Monday 1 March 2027 on paper or Wednesday 31 March 2027 electronically |
| US author paid under $10, paid as a corporation, or paid through a payment network | W-9 | No 1099-MISC from you (a network reports on 1099-K) | None | Nothing to file |
| Author outside the US, valid W-8BEN claiming a treaty | W-8BEN, Part II completed | 1042-S, income code 12, plus Form 1042 | The treaty rate for copyright royalties (table below) | Monday 15 March 2027 |
| Author outside the US, no W-8BEN, an expired one, or no treaty | W-8BEN | 1042-S, income code 12, plus Form 1042 | 30% | Monday 15 March 2027 |
The rate applies only when the author gives you a valid W-8BEN claiming the treaty. Every other country is 30%.
| Armenia | 0% |
| Australia | 5% |
| Austria | 0% |
| Azerbaijan | 0% |
| Bangladesh | 10% |
| Barbados | 5% |
| Belarus | 0% |
| Belgium | 0% |
| Bulgaria | 5% |
| Canada | 0% |
| Chile | 10% |
| China | 10% |
| Cyprus | 0% |
| Czech Republic | 0% |
| Denmark | 0% |
| Egypt | 15% |
| Estonia | 10% |
| Finland | 0% |
| France | 0% |
| Georgia | 0% |
| Germany | 0% |
| Greece | 0% |
| Iceland | 0% |
| India | 15% |
| Indonesia | 10% |
| Ireland | 0% |
| Israel | 10% |
| Italy | 0% |
| Jamaica | 10% |
| Japan | 0% |
| Kazakhstan | 10% |
| Kyrgyzstan | 0% |
| Latvia | 10% |
| Lithuania | 10% |
| Luxembourg | 0% |
| Malta | 10% |
| Mexico | 10% |
| Moldova | 0% |
| Morocco | 10% |
| Netherlands | 0% |
| New Zealand | 5% |
| Norway | 0% |
| Pakistan | 0% |
| Philippines | 15% |
| Poland | 10% |
| Portugal | 10% |
| Romania | 10% |
| Slovak Republic | 0% |
| Slovenia | 5% |
| South Africa | 0% |
| South Korea | 10% |
| Spain | 0% |
| Sri Lanka | 10% |
| Sweden | 0% |
| Switzerland | 0% |
| Tajikistan | 0% |
| Thailand | 5% |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 0% |
| Tunisia | 15% |
| Turkey | 10% |
| Turkmenistan | 0% |
| Ukraine | 10% |
| United Kingdom | 0% |
| Uzbekistan | 0% |
| Venezuela | 10% |
From IRS Tax Treaty Table 1, the copyright royalties column. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are covered by the older US-USSR treaty. Trinidad and Tobago: 0% for literary and artistic works, 15% for scientific works.
Checked against these documents on 27 October 2026.
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Riley is an AI agent. She can look things up, email you details, and pass anything she can’t finish to a person.