Picture this: You’re lounging on your couch, casually scrolling through Medium, when BAM! Your first $50 payment notification lights up your screen. You’re already mentally ordering that extra-large pepperoni pizza, maybe throwing in some garlic bread… and then reality hits you like a truck full of tax forms.
Welcome to the “I finally made money on Medium but where did half of it go?” club. Grab a seat (and maybe tissues). Let’s break down where your hard-earned cash actually disappears to — but in a way that won’t make you want to throw your laptop out the window and become a monk.
🚚 Act 1: Stripe, Your “Friendly” Middleman
Before taxes even think about showing up to the party, Stripe — Medium’s payment processor — slides into your wallet like that friend who always “forgets” their card at dinner.
Here’s the breakdown on your $50:
📦 Static Processing Fee: $2.25
(Because handling digital money apparently costs as much as a latte)
💳 Payout Fee: $0.25
(The "thanks for clicking that withdraw button" tax)
🔬 Percentage Fee: $0.125
(0.25% of $50-the crumb they sweep off the table)
───────────────────────────────
💰 Total Stripe Cut: $2.63Your $50 is now $47.37. And taxes haven’t even started yet.
Think of Stripe as the delivery driver who brings your pizza, smiles warmly, and then says, “Oh by the way, that’ll be $2.63 for gas, wear and tear on my car, and emotional labor.” You can’t argue — you need that pizza (I mean, money).
🎮 Act 2: The 30% Tax Monster (Boss Fight)
Now comes the villain arc. If you don’t enable treaty benefits, the U.S. tax system transforms into Pac-Man’s evil twin and goes “WAKA WAKA WAKA” straight through 30% of your earnings.
The math of misery:
- Original earnings: $50
- 30% tax: $15.00 (yes, FIFTEEN DOLLARS)
- After Stripe already took their cut: $47.37
- After tax monster chomps: $32.37
You just lost $17.63. On $50.
That’s not just numbers on a screen — that’s your pizza money, your coffee budget, your “I deserve a treat” fund… GONE. Vanished. Thanos-snapped into the tax void.
💭 Fun fact: You could’ve bought 3 fancy coffees with that $17.63. Now? You’re back to instant coffee and tears.
And from based on my experience, I was paying almost 8–9$ one my 20$ payout which almost seemed like, Thanos snapping half my work and reward.
🦸♀️ Act 3: The Hero Appears — Treaty Benefits to the Rescue!
But wait! There’s a secret weapon hiding in your settings: tax treaty benefits. If you’re in India (or many other countries with U.S. tax treaties), you can activate this magical shield that tells the tax monster: “Chill out, buddy. Take half your usual bite.”
By enabling “Royalties on Copyrights” under treaty benefits, your tax rate drops from highway robbery (30%) to reasonable toll booth (15%).
The new, improved math:
- Stripe still wants their $2.63 (delivery drivers don’t negotiate 😅)
- Tax is now: 15% × $50 = $7.50
- Your final payout: $47.37 — $7.50 = $39.87
You just saved $7.50! That’s:
- ✅ A legit coffee shop visit instead of instant powder
- ✅ Two whole burritos from Chipotle
- ✅ A month of Spotify Premium
- ✅ Your dignity as a writer
📊 The Side-by-Side Truth Bomb
Let’s put this in perspective because numbers alone don’t hurt enough:
Scenario 1: WITHOUT Treaty Benefits 😭
- Your $50 earning
- Minus Stripe fee: -$2.63
- Minus 30% tax: -$15.00
- Final payout: $32.37
- 💸 You lost: $17.63 (that’s 35% gone!)
Scenario 2: WITH Treaty Benefits 😊
- Your $50 earning
- Minus Stripe fee: -$2.63
- Minus 15% tax: -$7.50
- Final payout: $39.87
- 💸 You lost: $10.13 (only 20%)
The difference: $7.50 saved per transaction.
On $50, that might not seem life-changing. But imagine you earn $500 this month. That’s $75 saved. At $1000?
$150 back in your pocket. Suddenly we’re not talking coffee money — we’re talking “I can actually pay a bill” money.
🎯 How to Actually Enable This Magic
Step 1: Go to your Medium Partner Program settings
Step 2: Find “Tax Information” (it’s hiding, but it’s there), click on review and select all the values same as before and Claim of treaty benefits section is the boss we are looking for
Step 3: Select your country
Step 4: Enable “Treaty Benefits”
Step 5: Choose “Royalties on Copyrights” (this is the key!)
Step 6: Fill out the W-8BEN form (yes, it sounds scary, but it’s just a fancy “I’m not American” form), and check all the options in the final form.
Step 7: Submit and celebrate 🎉
Here you can select the country which the treaty is applicable and save 15% on your taxes.
Pro tip: Do this BEFORE you earn money. Future-you will send past-you a thank-you card.
💡 Real Talk: Why This Actually Matters
Look, I get it. When you’re just starting on Medium, $7.50 seems like pocket change. But here’s the thing:
Writing is hard. You pour your soul into these articles. You edit at midnight. You rewrite that opening paragraph seventeen times. You agonize over the perfect analogy. And then to watch 35% of your earnings evaporate because you didn’t click a few buttons?
That’s not just money — that’s respect for your craft.
Every dollar you save is validation that your words have value. It’s proof that you’re not just writing into the void. It’s the difference between “this is a hobby that costs me money” and “this is a side hustle that actually pays.”
🚀 The Bottom Line
Without treaty benefits:
- You’re giving away 35% of your earnings to fees and taxes
- That’s like working 7 hours but only getting paid for 4.5
- Your pizza has one-third missing (the GOOD third with extra cheese)
With treaty benefits:
- You keep 80% of what you earn
- Stripe takes their reasonable cut, taxes take less
- You can actually afford the pizza you mentally ordered
The moral of the story? Enable treaty benefits. Protect your earnings. Stop letting the tax monster eat your pizza.
Because honestly? Losing $17.63 on every $50 isn’t just bad math — it’s a tragedy. And unlike Marvel movies, there’s no time stone to bring that money back. But there IS a simple form that takes 10 minutes to fill out and saves you thousands over time.
Your future self (and your coffee budget) will thank you. ☕✨
📚 TLDR Cheat Sheet
✅ Stripe always takes ~$2.63 (it’s the delivery fee, deal with it)
✅ Without treaty: 30% tax = you lose $17.63 on $50
✅ With treaty: 15% tax = you lose $10.13 on $50
✅ Savings: $7.50 per $50 earned
✅ Enable treaty benefits = literally free money you already earned