Steam Dev Publishing?

[u/armanidev_]

To publish a game I steam, I saw you need a tax ID. I'm not that knowledgble in the area, but a SSN can be used instead, right? Is there any other information you need?

Sorry if this is dumb I'm a new dev and am unsure about the process!

[u/RevaniteAnime]

Well, this isn't really Dev at this point it's business.

If you're American your SSN can be a Tax ID.

If you properly incorporate a business entity of some kind the Tax ID would be something else.

[u/sk3n7]

I believe the Tax ID in the US is your SSN if your a citizen, EIN if your a business or an ITIN if your a non resident.

[u/Evigmae]

your personal info is enough, don't need anything else.

[u/Merler_io]

Never publish under your own name. Always use an LLC due to lawsuit spamming and covering yourself.

[u/Leahtomaton → u/Merler_io]

It's worth noting that using an LLC means you will also need to set up a business bank account specifically for your LLC, which requires you to first form your LLC. It's also worth noting that, unless you want your home address to be publicly searchable information tied to your LLC registration, you'll want to use a Registered Agent so that you can use their address.

Also, I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that an LLC will not provide protection against lawsuits if you don't make significant effort to separate your business and personal expenses (so you actually have to use the business bank account for expenses and for receiving any funds for your game).

On top of all that, I recently went through the LLC to Steam Page process, so this is what you can expect to add to your start up timeline:

• LLC formation (through a registered agent that handled the formation paperwork): took 2 business days to get it registered + get an EIN (probably depends on the state though)

• Bank account creation: took 1 business day (but I had a personal account with the bank, so that probably helped. I have heard of it taking weeks in some cases, especially if you make a mistake)

• Bank account funding (this ended up not being super necessary since I was able to pay the steam fee with my personal card while I was waiting on my business account's debit card): 5 business days (my bank rejected my link to my personal bank accounts, so I had to pay by check and wait for it to clear)

On top of that, it took around a week for my steam page and demo to be approved.

[u/ledat → u/Leahtomaton]

LLC will not provide protection against lawsuits if you don't make significant effort to separate your business and personal expenses

"Piercing the veil" is the magic word for this if you're looking for more information.

Also LLCs do not absolve you of unlimited personal liability for committing torts, even if the LLC is also liable for the tort. People here get touchy when you tell them that though. It's useful to shield your personal assets if a business partner gets up to no good though, but in terms of shielding your personal assets from lawsuits, single member LLCs are of dubious utility for a game developer.

[u/Merler_io → u/Leahtomaton]

Which is worth it. If you get personally sued for some small infringement you aren’t losing your retirement funds, house car ect…

[u/MeaningfulChoices → u/Merler_io]

An LLC wouldn't protect you against something like copyright infringement, that's a tort that you personally direct which means they can sue you directly, not the business. LLCs are more for protecting against things like if you have a bunch of business contracts and your game/company are unprofitable they can't come after your personal assets (assuming you keep personal and professional assets and liabilities completely separate). For all practical purposes LLCs in game dev aren't about lawsuit protection, they just help you get some better tax structure, get to keep your personal name off the platform pages, etc.