Nigeria

[Erictus_maximus]

Hi, I'm Eric from Nigeria. I'm a Voice-Over Artist based in Nigeria. Due to the sanctions by my country on International payment Services, I cannot receive money through PayPal. I have a cousin who recently immigrated to the US and was using his PayPal account to receive my payments from Voices.com which he withdraw and sends to me by Western Union. Recently I was lucky to get 2 payments come in within weeks. However his account has been placed on hold. Unfortunately as his status in the US hasn't been completed, he hasn't been issued a Tax ID. Now I have my money trapped in his PayPal account and he's been threatened of a 24% removal of my money. If I knew his PayPal had a limit, I would have told Voices.com to wire the payments directly. This is money I worked for and I'm in Nigeria. How do I get it out?

[sharpiemarker]

@Erictus_maximus 

It’s up to your cousin. Your cousin has 60 days grace period to provide a tax ID number to release tax ID hold. Otherwise, PayPal will deduct the 24% backup withholding and make the rest available to your cousin to withdraw and forward to you. To claim back the 24% backup withholding from the US and State government, your cousin has to file a tax return with his tax ID number and if they get a tax refund, return the applicable amount to you. They’ll have to consult a tax adviser licensed in their state of residence to make sure the tax return is filed correctly.

You cousin can apply for an ITIN.

Please read the FAQs: Tax Holds | Backup withholding | PayPal US

Another less complicated option is to forfeit the 24% of the payments your cousin already received and get the 76% upon release and from now on use another way to get paid from Voices.com