I just received an email "[Action Required] Important 2018 Tax Information" is a Fake?

Hello, sorry if this is not the place to post this.

I have received an email from "publisher_inquiry@unity3d.com" to take a tax interview on https://unity3d.taxidentity.com/, i dont know if is a fake or not.

[ HERE THE EMAIL CONTENT ]

Hello Unity Publisher,

Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

We are required by US law to obtain documentation prior to making certain payments, including payments to a foreign entity or individual. We have developed an user-friendly online tax interview that will help guide you to provide us with your tax information.

Please access the tax interview using the link below and complete the tax interview by December 31, 2018. Please note that, as per the Asset Store Provider Agreement, any and all future payments may be suspended if we do not receive your correct tax information by this date.......

//---------

Thank you in advance

 

Got same email I'm wondering if is fake too.

 

It's real.

https://forum.unity.com/threads/sol...ng-scam-seeking-tax-info.508761/#post-3322144

 

I just saw it but thats from 2017 and I don't get any Ads revenues so, Am I even obligated to fill out this information? Unity should take care of this before sending emails at last minute from weird domains and 3rd party forms...

 

I am wondering the same thing and would like to get a clear answer about this

 

TaxIdentity did not become a haven for criminals overnight and the source email is from Unity's domain.

 

https://support.unity3d.com/hc/en-us/articles/205930085-How-can-I-join-the-Unity-Publishers-Forum-

 

This is for Publishers on the Asset Store, not for Ads.

This is pretty standard. They've neglected to track this in the past, and are now requiring it for 2019 and on.

 

Just submitted the form, but I had to repeat the process several times because seems to be broken (overlayed paragraphs, addresses changed magically, etc). Said that, I don't even know what I agreed with. I'm not from USA neither English is my native language.

I did

 

You agreed to give your soul to Uncle Sam

 

damn it

 

So at the end this email is a fake or not?

 

not sadly

 

If you make money through Unity, you have to adhere to the tax regulations Unity is a part of.

This isn't any different from selling something on Steam.

 

ok guys, so do I compile their form?

 

Reading the email and instructions would be a good start.

 

Though I am EU registered company working with EU registered Unity3d, how in the hell is US involved??

 

Hmmm.. anyone else getting a 403 Forbidden : Access denied ?

 

I think, this is needed for unity. You should fill the w-8ben (then you don't need to pay us-tax (but unity have to do this because of "San Francisco, United States"), and unity can said "hey Donald, this is the money from s23DRT-com388, and we are not going to pay tax for that, instead he can do it in his country).
Ok, I am not the lawyer, just the idea how this can work.

 

So just read in another thread for this..."We only need to collect tax information from you if you received Ads payout from us. If you did not receive Ads payout from us, please ignore the message." This was written directly by Unity staff. Ugh so I just went through that for no reason. I don't use any ad products at all.

 

We've all been asking that question since the end of WWII. There are no satisfactory answers.

 

They can show them invoices for the payouts. I don't sell anything in US so this form is nonsense.
We did fill those for US based companies but in this case completely irrelevant.