ETA 01/27/2024: Since writing this post, I have actually changed to eCheck. I previously mentioned it doesn’t suit my needs as a non-U.S. person, however as a non-U.S. person I can still use eCheck and I’ve found more success with that in fact! The international fee is much lower, meaning more money in my bank when I cash out, plus a receipt for tax purposes.
Congratulations on being able to use DevEx for the first time. Disclaimer that I’m an adult living in Canada so my answers may not be accurate to the situation in the United States (we’re a lot more straightforward when being paid by Roblox both via DevEx and internships):
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The exchange of Robux into real currency delivered to your Tipalti portal account requires you to be 13 years of age or older as listed on the page. It may be a different story regarding withdrawing funds from the Tipalti account based on your selection. I don’t know how it is for the United States or those under 18 since 18 is when I made my first exchange.
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Roblox doesn’t get your tax information, in fact they explicitly request that you don’t send them it. When you’re invited to register for a Tipalti portal account, you are taken through the process of picking out a form and filling it out online on the website itself. This tax form is for informational purposes only; filing your taxes is a different matter. That being said, you may need to pay tax on DevEx payouts. I’ve personally justified my Roblox payments as self-employment income when I filed taxes. I strongly recommend touching down with a parent, accountant or another financial or tax advisor for this. Don’t do it alone if you’re in the dark. I still get help from time to time on filing.
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You are responsible for reviewing and making sure the tax information submitted to the Tipalti portal account is current and valid yourself, Roblox will not and cannot do this for you (and again, they request you don’t submit any tax or personal information to them). If any details on you change - name, address, status, etc - you need to update it yourself. Filling out the tax information is very easy since you can just find the appropriate form and fill out the fields yourself via the website. No real paper or signing involved in them. More on this below.
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Tax is not imposed on the payout because every participant’s tax situation differs and Roblox cannot assume what your tax situation is nor do they keep a file of it on hand. When you exchange you get the exact monetary value you exchanged for in USD. If you exchange 50K R$, you will accordingly see $175 USD in your payout history. You have to pay tax on that payout if applicable. Good rule of thumb is to never spend your entire payout unless you have money set aside to cover for any taxes owed. Payouts may, at the very least, be subject to currency adjustments or service fees when withdrawn (e.g. payout to PayPal and then withdrawing your PayPal balance). Obviously if you’re in the United States there’s no adjustment to be made - 350 USD is coming in as-is unless there’s a deduction involved in the withdraw (again, service fees).
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You have five choices on how you want to be paid. Roblox will deliver the money to the Tipalti portal account and in turn the Tipalti portal will check what payment method you selected and process the withdraw automatically. You are asked this on register. There is no wrong choice (except one in my opinion, more on that below), you can always change it later.
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The information you submit on the portal account is expected to be your own; that is, the information of the owner of the Roblox account. This means that all the details on the form should be about you; your name, your address, your bank account information, so on. There are no signatures involved however you may need to make some certifications (done with a checkbox). For example, I had to certify that I’m not a U.S. person and do not perform U.S. activities.
Regarding updating tax information: You’ll be prompted about your submissions every time you log in, so if you ever forget then you have that time to review, remember and update if needed. Generally you won’t be logging in after registering except to update or look at your payout history so you will need to keep changes to your personal information in mind to know when it’s time to update.
This is what it looks like for me as I log in:
There’s a four step check, the same one you go through when you’re registering. When your account is new you won’t have any of this filled out and will need to do so but logins after that will present the same four steps but with information you’ve submitted. You can then check it over and see if it needs any updates (there’s an edit button on each stage) or confirm they’re still valid and move on.
Regarding payout options: You have five choices on how you want to be paid. This will tell Tipalti how to process money when Roblox pays your Tipalti account:
- eCheck or Local Bank Transfer
- Wire Transfer
- Check
- PayPal
- Hold My Payments
Of these, I don’t have any information on eCheck or Check but they didn’t suit my needs as a non-U.S. person and I prefer it being done digitally. I think that it’s worth talking about Wire Transfer, PayPal and Hold My Payments since those are the most likely options that developers are going to pick out of this list. I can’t speak domestically but certainly internationally.
Here are my personal takes on each method of withdraw:
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Wire Transfer: This is a digital payment directly to your bank account. You will be required to fill out some details on your bank account to use this option. This is the method I always recommend and have received all my own DevEx (except one which I received through PayPal) and internship payments with a Wire Transfer.
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PayPal: I strictly only recommend this option if you are unable to make use of any of the other options for any reason (eCheck, Check or Wire Transfer). PayPal is a strong and widely recognised payment processor but it’s really only good for making payments, not receiving them. PayPal is a horrible company overall with a long history of locking accounts and stealing funds under the guise of “damages”. You should never be holding any money in a PayPal account. There are a lot of cases where it’s unavoidable but where it is avoidable, try not to. Simple DevEx payments typically won’t trigger this case but other larger cases (higher values or more frequency) they tend to trigger. I would sooner have Tipalti Hold My Payments than use PayPal - luckily I can do Wire Transfers so not an issue for me.
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Hold My Payments: Says it on the tin. If you pick this option, Tipalti won’t perform any withdraws for you and will hold the money in your portal account. Whenever Roblox pays your Tipalti account the money will stay safe and secure in your account. You can make your decision at any time to choose a method of withdraw (any of the other 4 methods); when you do, Tipalti will then send the money via your selected withdraw method. For example: I may have $350 USD in my portal account that stays there. A few weeks later I update my payment method to Wire Transfer. That money will now be wire transferred to me.
The methods are always automatic and the only reason you will need to log into your portal account is to update personal, tax or payment information or check your payout history. Every subsequent DevEx will come in the same way based on your chosen method of withdraw. Roblox pays your Tipalti account, the account checks what method you selected, sends the money that way.
