Hi. Because the forum is a US company and the forum paid you more than $600 this year, I must provide the US Internal Revenue Service with information about how much you were paid. To do so, I need some information from you. Please send me the required information as soon as possible, definitely before January 20th.

I will send you your copy of Form 1099-MISC before the end of January. In all of the below cases, please tell me whether it's OK to email it to you (this is preferred) or if you want me to send it via postal mail.

If you are a US citizen, fill out form W-9, scan it, and send it to [email protected]. You can encrypt it to my PGP public key if you want. You can register for a free EIN online so that you don't have to give me your SSN. You don't need to actually be an employer to get an EIN.

If you are not a US citizen, fill out form W-8ECI, scan it, and send it to [email protected]. You can encrypt it to my PGP public key if you want. You need to register for a free EIN online here. You are a "beneficial owner" of US-sourced income -- you fill out part I with your own info. If you send me this form, you will be responsible for filing a US income tax return and paying any required US income tax on your mod payments by April 15th. In most cases, you will be able to deduct most/all of this tax from your country's taxes so that you are not taxed twice. (Google for "foreign tax credit [your_country]".) Because you are seen as (almost) working within the US in this case, tax treaties do not apply. For 2014 only, the forum will pay any additional tax that you need to pay due to this (within reason). Send me a detailed request for reimbursement sometime before mid-2015. But please try your best to reduce your tax as much as possible. In most cases, there should be no additional tax.

If you must remain anonymous, send me the following statement: "Michael Marquardt sent me a request for my taxpayer identification number related to my moderation of bitcointalk.org, but I am refusing to provide it." If you do this, your future mod payments (excluding this December) will be reduced by 28% so that the forum can pay your US income tax for you. (This is called "backup withholding".) This is undesirable because your income will be taxed twice. Additionally, the forum might have to pay this tax on your 2014 mod payments, which would be a significant expense. So it's much better if you can fill out one of the forms above, but I'll understand if you need to remain anonymous.

If you don't have a scanner, you can mail things to me here:
Michael Marquardt
PO BOX 620391
MIDDLETON WI 53562
USA

Thanks for your moderation work in 2014, and have a nice 2015!