What happens if a sno earn more than $600 USD and dose not trust Storj Labs and do not send the Form W-8BEN ?
He/she will be receive 30% less token each month ?
Also what if he/she shares the same adress with other sno-s to reduce transaction fees, but induvidually dose not reach $600 ?
Afterall we still receive monopoly money, even Storj Labs states that thay are using the token to baypass some rules: “In many countries, receiving foreign currency as a payment may be prohibited by local laws unless you are a legal entity. There are a lot of restrictions around fiat.”
And there are other project like sia where you can rent yor storage, and the are not asking any signed documents.
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This was answered above…
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I am situated in EU, run multiple nodes and received storj token value in excess of 600 USD throughout 2023. However, I did not receive this email. Is it sent in batches and my wallet id was just not processed yet, or ?
Looking forward to answers on above questions asked in this thread.
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Do you use a working email address in your node configuration ?
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Working email address in the run command and for token/identity. I receive Storj news/reports, node offline alerts, but never about this form. I made more than 600$ in 2022 and 2023. I don’t believe that they are witholding 30% of my earnings. The dashboard shows the entire earnings and I receive the entire ammounts. And I don’t know for sure, but if Storj decides to withold 30% of my earnings, I believe they will send me an email informing me about this, regardless if I recived an email about that form.
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Yes - standard M365 exchange online mailbox.
I am receiving other alerts for these nodes, newsletters etc.
The email and token address is the same for all 8 prod + 1 test nodes i run, and defined in the docker run command.
Just checked the mailbox, a total of 68 emails received in 2023, with a mix of newsletter/suspension/offline alerts matching 8 different prod nodeid’s - this is in line with the number of nodes i run.
Not sure how to progress - should i fill out the form and send it by email to “make sure” or shoud I wait for STORJ to reach out on this matter.
As a fellow SNO I would recommend 
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I’ve submitted the form by email now.
However, I would strongly recommend, that a short and easy to understand guide is provided by STORJ, on how to fill this form.
It might be simple for any native US citizen, but trawling through this:
… is not everyday trivial for private individuals outside of the US.
** I live in Denmark, and for smaller “hobby” incomes (< 50000 DKK… equaling ~ 7500 USD), you are not legally required to register for VAT/FTIN number.
So with this in mind, I have filled out the form as follows:
1 - Full Name
2 - My Country
3 - My address
4 - Blank, I receive my mail at my address
5 - Blank, I am not a US citizen
6a - Blank, I do not hold a VAT/FTIN number for my STORJ activities
6b - Tick “not legally required” **see note above
7 - Blank, to be used by STORJ
8 - My date of birth
9, 10, Blank, not really sure what it is
If I by any chance misunderstood any of the above, please feel free to correct me.
Also, TAX and VAT/FTIN rules in other countries obviously varies - be aware of local regulations!
Thanks for your help everyone - this community works!
Do you pay taxes in your country ? I believe 6a pertains to that. You would enter Denmark citizen’s Tax ID.
Yes - for my personal income as a normal employee with my employer.
But, in Denmark we do not have citizens tax ID’s - we only have social security numbers to identify individuals and secure social services like health care. Those are not used for tax related subjects.
If your income exceeds 50.000 DKK / year for any “business or hobby” like activity - BESIDES your employment as a normal worker (where tax is payed directly from the employer to the local tax authority) - you are legally required to register as a business and then you get a VAT/FTIM number.
However, you raise a good question - hence the need for a guide from STORJ on how to fill this form 
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Just to clarify, please note that form W-8BEN applies only to non US persons, i.e. just residing outside the US does not exempt US persons from having to pay US Income Tax and filing a Form-W9.
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In that case, you should check the box in Line 6b. of Form W-8BEN:
> You may check the box in this line 6b if you are an account holder as described for purposes of line 6a and you are not legally required to obtain an FTIN from your jurisdiction of residence (including if the jurisdiction does not issue TINs). By checking this box, you will be treated as having provided an explanation for not providing an FTIN on line 6a. If you wish to provide a further (or other) explanation why you are not required to provide an FTIN on line 6a, you may do so in the margins of this form or on a separate statement attached to this form.
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This is explained in the instructions for filling out the W-8BEN form:
Note.
If you own the income or account jointly with one or more other persons, the income or account will be treated by the withholding agent as owned by a foreign person that is a beneficial owner of a payment only if Forms W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E are provided by all of the owners. If the withholding agent or financial institution receives a Form W-9 from any of the joint owners, however, the payment must be treated as made to a U.S. person and the account treated as a U.S. account.
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Great - thanks!
All done correct then
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And the $600 rule how applies in this case ?
Also from sec.gov
Requesting Form W-8
Request a Form W-8 from any person to whom you are making a payment that you presume or otherwise believe to be a foreign person. You should request the form before making a payment so that you have the form when you make the payment.
if I understand correctly, Storj Labs should request W-8 from all non US sno ?
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I am not a tax accountant, please wait for an official response from our CFO.
W-8BEN is for people with non US citizenship who receive $600 or more from Storj in one calendar year
Thanks!
And why only a few of them get the email ?
This is a question for the Accounting Team
It is possible and likely that only the nodes who received $600 or more payout for 2023 received the email
Are you needing to submit the forms or not sure if you need to?
Are you reporting an error that you did not receive the email?
How can I help?
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SNOs who are required to fill in the W-8BEN form should follow the instructions given with the form, only if your country does not issue Tax ID numbers as another SNO mentioned earlier, should you check the box in 6b, otherwise, you should enter your country´s tax ID number in 6a. Please do not put false information in the form. Storj has a privacy policy which is closely followed.
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