Creator Tax Addendum

Effective date: September 28, 2026

The short version

• Before we can make your first Program Payment, you give us a Tax Form: IRS Form W-9 if you are a US Person, or Form W-8BEN (individuals) or W-8BEN-E (companies) if you are not. No form, no payment. Nothing is lost while you wait: your Earned Sparks stay on your ledger and keep building up.
• A Program Payment is what Summer pays you for the license you grant us to host, run, distribute and commercialize your Game. For US federal tax purposes we treat it as a royalty. If you are a US Person we report it to the IRS on Form 1099-MISC; if you are not, on Form 1042-S. Section 7 says when you get your copy.
• If you live outside the United States, US tax is withheld only on the part of your payment that came from US players (your US-Source Share), at 30 percent, or at your treaty rate if your W-8 makes a valid treaty claim. Earnings from players outside the United States are not withheld on. Every statement shows the gross amount, the withholding and the net paid. Give us your W-8 before your first payment: it sets your rate. We give at least 30 days' notice before any change to how we withhold, unless the law forces a faster one.
• If you are a US Person and your taxpayer identification number is missing or does not match IRS records, the law makes us hold back 24 percent of each payment. We cannot refund it afterwards; you claim it on your own tax return. Keep your details current.
• W-8 forms expire at the end of the third calendar year after you sign them. If yours expires and you do not renew it, your payments pause (they are not lost) until you do.
• Your taxes are your responsibility. We cannot give you tax advice, and we never ask for Tax Forms or tax numbers by email.
• Player terms, privacy and refund policies live at summer.games.

1. About this Addendum

1.1 Who we are. This Creator Tax Addendum (this "Addendum") is issued by Summer Labs, Inc., a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business at 2810 N Church St, STE 89812, Wilmington, DE 19802, United States ("Summer", "we", "us", "our"). Summer Labs, Inc. is the sole payer of every Program Payment and the sole withholding agent and payer of record for US tax purposes. No Summer affiliate, including Summer Engine ApS, makes any payment to a Creator or has any obligation under this Addendum.

1.2 What this Addendum covers. This Addendum sets out the tax documentation, tax withholding, tax reporting and related obligations that apply to Program Payments made under the Summer Creator Program (the "Creator Program"). It applies to every form of Program Payment: delivery to your Payout Account through the Payout Provider, platform credit under Section 5.4 of the Creator Program Terms, Network Share amounts under the Network Share Schedule, any Program Award Summer offers, any Program Payment delivered under the Stablecoin Payout Addendum if that addendum is activated and you elect it, and, if Summer operates the Engagement Pool under the Fee and Rates Schedule, Program Payments that convert Engagement Pool allocations at the Creator Rate (reserved; this form has no effect until the Fee and Rates Schedule lists the Engagement Pool as active). It forms part of, and is incorporated by reference into, the Creator Program Terms. It does not cover transaction taxes on Players' purchases of Sparks, which are described in the Fee and Rates Schedule and the Refund and Billing Policy: on Summer's web checkout they are Summer's as Merchant of Record; for an App Store Purchase Apple bills the Player under Apple's terms, issues the receipt, collects tax where Apple collects it for the Player's Storefront and decides refunds, while Summer licenses the Sparks; and it does not cover the Paid Games lane (Section 14).

1.3 Order of precedence. If this Addendum conflicts with the Creator Program Terms or any other Summer document on a matter of tax documentation, tax withholding or tax reporting, this Addendum controls as to that matter. On the nature of Program Payments, Section 5.3 of the Creator Program Terms controls and Section 2 of this Addendum is read consistently with it.

1.4 Defined terms. Capitalized terms not defined in this Addendum have the meanings given in the Summer Dictionary and the Creator Program Terms. In this Addendum:

• "Program Payment" has the meaning in the Creator Program Terms and includes platform credit under Section 5.4 of those Terms at its US dollar value, Network Share amounts, Program Awards, any stablecoin delivery and, if the Engagement Pool is active, Engagement Pool allocations converted at the Creator Rate (reserved). "Engagement Pool" and "Qualifying Playtime" have the meanings in the Summer Dictionary; until the Fee and Rates Schedule lists the Engagement Pool as active, no Engagement Pool exists. "Payout" means a Program Payment under the Creator Program Terms; the two words are interchangeable in this Addendum and in any document that cross-refers to it.
• "US Person" means a United States person as defined in section 7701(a)(30) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"). "Non-US Creator" means a Creator who is not a US Person.
• "Tax Form" means IRS Form W-9, a form in the IRS Form W-8 series, or any successor form. "Valid Tax Form" means a Tax Form that is complete, signed under penalties of perjury, within its period of validity under Section 4, and that has passed validation under Section 3.7 (status Validated).
• "TIN" means a taxpayer identification number: for US Persons a Social Security number, individual taxpayer identification number or employer identification number; for Non-US Creators a foreign taxpayer identification number issued by the country of tax residence or a US TIN.
• "Withholding Determination" means Summer's written determination, made on the advice of Summer's US tax adviser and recorded in Section 5.2, of the rate of US withholding under chapter 3 of the Code that applies to the US-Source Share of Program Payments to Non-US Creators under the US federal tax treatment stated in Section 2.1, the method by which the US-Source Share is apportioned under Section 13, and the reporting forms that follow.
• "US-Source Share" means the part of a Program Payment attributable to Eligible Earned Sparks that arose from Qualifying Spend by Players whose Player Country at the time of the spend was the United States, computed under Section 13. For Earned Sparks credited under Section 6.6 of the Asset Library License Terms (a Library Asset acquired for Sparks), the spender is the Acquirer rather than a Player; the country recorded on the Sparks Ledger for the Acquirer at the time of the spend applies in place of Player Country, with the billing country of the Purchase Lot that funded the spend as fallback.
• "Player Country" means the country Summer records for a Player at the time of a Qualifying Spend, determined from the Player's billing country at purchase, with location derived from the Player's IP address as fallback, as Section 13.1 describes; for an App Store Purchase the Storefront country of the purchase is the billing country. "Player Location Record" means the ledger record that carries the Player Country and the recorded fallback fields for each Qualifying Spend under Section 13.1.
• "Information Return" means a return Summer files with the IRS or a state tax authority in respect of Program Payments (including Forms 1099-MISC, 1042-S and 1042, any other Form 1099 the law requires, or successors). "Payee Statement" means the copy of an Information Return, or the statement, furnished to you.
• "Reporting Year" means the calendar year in which a Program Payment is made (Section 2.6).
• "Tax Service Provider" means a third party Summer engages as its agent to collect or validate Tax Forms, match TINs, compute withholding, or prepare, file or deliver Information Returns and Payee Statements.
• "Identity Verification Provider" and "Payout Provider" have the meanings in the Creator Program Terms (at drafting Persona and Stripe using Stripe Global Payouts). If either provider changes, only this parenthetical and the matching parentheticals in Sections 3.5 and 7.6 change; the payer-of-record and withholding-agent statements in Sections 1.1 and 7.6 do not depend on the identity of either provider.

1.5 Acceptance. You agree to this Addendum by enrolling in the Creator Program through the separate affirmative acceptance described in Section 1.5 of the Creator Program Terms. Submitting a Tax Form, making a Payment Election or making the platform-credit election is further evidence of acceptance. Acceptance is never by receipt of a Program Payment.

1.6 The Withholding Determination in effect. Section 5.2 records the Withholding Determination in effect on the Effective Date: Program Payments are treated as royalties for US federal income tax purposes and US withholding applies to the US-Source Share. Sections 7.1 and 7.2 carry the matching reporting text. The Determination changes only under Sections 5.10 and 12.2.

2. Nature of Program Payments for tax purposes

2.1 Characterization. A Program Payment is Summer's own obligation to you under the Creator Program, paid from Summer's own funds, in consideration of the license you grant Summer to host, run, distribute and commercialize your Game, as stated in Section 5.3 of the Creator Program Terms. For US federal income tax purposes Summer treats Program Payments as royalties for the license of your Game and related content. Section 5.3 of the Creator Program Terms is the single characterization text for every Summer document; this Addendum does not restate or vary it, and every reference in this Addendum to the nature of a Program Payment is a reference to that Section.

2.2 What Program Payments are not for tax purposes. A Program Payment is not wages, salary or other compensation for services performed for or at the direction of Summer, and Summer does not withhold or pay employment taxes (including FICA, FUTA or their state equivalents) on Program Payments, other than the withholding this Addendum expressly describes. A Program Payment is not a payment by or on behalf of any Player, and is not a share of, commission on or pass-through of any amount a Player paid Summer. The US federal tax treatment stated in Section 2.1 is a tax characterization only and does not make a Program Payment a pass-through of any Player's payment. No amount is held by Summer or the Payout Provider for you at any time, and a Program Payment is not the return of a deposit, of stored value or of any amount held for you. Nothing in the Creator Program creates an employment, agency, partnership, joint venture or franchise relationship between you and Summer, and you are not entitled to any employee benefit.

2.3 Consistent treatment. You agree to report Program Payments for tax purposes consistently with Section 2.1, including its US federal tax treatment, and with the Withholding Determination in effect when the Program Payment was made, unless a final determination of a taxing authority with jurisdiction over you requires otherwise. If you believe a different treatment is required, you must notify us at support@summerengine.com before taking an inconsistent position. Summer may change its own reporting position on the advice of Summer's US tax adviser under Sections 5.10 and 12.

2.4 Network Share amounts and Program Awards. Where a Program Payment includes a Network Share amount under the Network Share Schedule, Summer pays each participating Creator (the Original Creator and each Modder) directly, and each Creator is treated as receiving, and is reported as receiving, only that Creator's own amount. No Creator is a withholding agent, paying agent or reporting party with respect to any other Creator's amount. Summer records Network Share amounts under a separate ledger reason so that, if Summer's US tax adviser concludes they must be reported on a separate line, Summer can do so without recomputing any other Program Payment. If Summer offers Program Awards under the Creator Program Terms, they are Program Payments for every purpose of this Addendum. [Reserved: if Summer operates the Engagement Pool under Section 4 of the Creator Program Terms and the Fee and Rates Schedule, Engagement Pool allocations are Earned Sparks that convert at the same Creator Rate as spend-based Earned Sparks, are Program Payments for every purpose of this Addendum, and are recorded under a separate ledger reason, as Network Share amounts are, so that a separate reporting line is possible without recomputing any other Program Payment. Until the Fee and Rates Schedule lists the Engagement Pool as active, no Engagement Pool exists.]

2.5 Platform credit is a Program Payment in kind. Platform credit you elect under Section 5.4 of the Creator Program Terms is a Program Payment made in kind at its US dollar value on the date it is credited. It is reported at that gross US dollar value, and any withholding that applies is handled under Section 5.6.

2.6 Which rules apply to a Program Payment (payout-date rule). The Withholding Determination, tax rates, Tax Form requirements, reporting forms and thresholds in force on the date a Program Payment is made govern that Program Payment. The date a Program Payment is made is the date Summer initiates the payment through the Payout Provider or, for platform credit, the date the credit is posted to your Account. The date the underlying Earned Sparks accrued or matured, the date of any Payment Request and the Batch Cut-Off are not relevant to which tax rules apply, with one exception: for a change to the Withholding Determination that is not required by law, Section 5.10 gives a pre-change payment window, and Summer bears the cost of honoring it as Section 5.10 describes. A change under Section 5.10 never applies to a Batch already approved or a Program Payment already made.

3. Tax Forms you must give us before your first Program Payment

3.1 No documentation, no Program Payment. Summer will not make any Program Payment, including platform credit, until you have provided the Tax Form required by this Section 3 and Summer or its Tax Service Provider has validated it. Until then your Earned Sparks remain on your ledger, continue to accrue and mature, and are included in the first Batch after validation; no interest accrues on them and nothing is forfeited. A hold under this Section is never a reversal under Section 9 of the Creator Program Terms.

3.2 US Persons: Form W-9. If you are a US Person you must complete and submit IRS Form W-9. For US federal tax purposes a US Person includes an individual who is a US citizen or US resident alien; a partnership, corporation, company or association created or organized in the United States or under the laws of the United States; any estate other than a foreign estate; and any domestic trust. You provide your legal name, business name if any, federal tax classification, permanent and mailing address and TIN (Social Security number, individual taxpayer identification number or employer identification number), and the certifications on the form, including whether you are subject to backup withholding. A single-member limited liability company that is disregarded for US tax purposes provides its owner's name and TIN. A US citizen or lawful permanent resident (green-card holder) who lives outside the United States is still a US Person, provides Form W-9 rather than a W-8 series form, and cannot claim treaty benefits under Section 5.4.

3.3 Non-US individuals: Form W-8BEN. If you are an individual who is not a US Person you must complete and submit IRS Form W-8BEN, certifying your non-US status and stating your permanent residence address, your date of birth, and your foreign TIN (or a US TIN if you have one). If you wish to claim a reduced rate of withholding under an income tax treaty, you complete the treaty claim in Part II; without a valid treaty claim, withholding on your US-Source Share is at 30 percent (Section 5.2). By signing you certify under penalties of perjury that you are not a US Person. This form is required before your first Program Payment because it documents your non-US status and carries the treaty claim that sets your rate (Section 5.9). If you move to the United States, become a US resident for tax purposes, or begin performing your Creator activity in the United States, Section 4.3 applies.

3.4 Non-US entities: Form W-8BEN-E or other applicable form. If you are an entity that is not a US Person you must complete and submit IRS Form W-8BEN-E, including your chapter 4 (FATCA) status and, where you claim treaty benefits, the limitation-on-benefits certification in Part III, or such other form in the W-8 series as applies to you: Form W-8ECI for income effectively connected with a US trade or business, Form W-8IMY for intermediaries and flow-through entities (with the withholding statement and documentation for each beneficial owner), or Form W-8EXP for certain exempt organizations and governments. Summer will not treat any Program Payment as effectively connected income without a Valid Form W-8ECI and review by Summer's US tax adviser.

3.5 How Tax Forms are collected. Tax Forms are collected electronically through the Creator dashboard (Finances, then Taxes) or through a flow operated by Summer's Tax Service Provider [TAX SERVICE PROVIDER, TBD] and linked from the Creator dashboard. The Payout Provider collects your Payout Account details and the identity fields it needs to send a payment, but, as of the Effective Date, it does not collect Tax Forms and does not prepare or deliver Information Returns or Payee Statements for Summer; if that changes, Section 7.6 applies and the Payout Provider acts for those functions as a Tax Service Provider and Summer's agent. Identity verification is a separate step performed by the Identity Verification Provider (currently Persona) under Section 3.3 of the Creator Program Terms. You agree that an electronic signature or electronic submission of a Tax Form has the same effect as a signed paper original, to the extent IRS rules permit, and you consent to electronic collection of your tax information.

3.6 Your certification; no nominees. Tax Forms are signed under penalties of perjury. You must provide your own information. The Tax Form must be in the name of the Enrolled Payee for your publishing Account and must match your verified legal name (or registered entity name) and the name on your Payout Account. You may not provide another person's tax information, submit documentation on behalf of an undisclosed beneficial owner, or use a nominee, intermediary or third-party account to receive Program Payments that are beneficially yours, except through a properly documented intermediary arrangement (Form W-8IMY) Summer approves in writing. A Program Payment obtained by misrepresenting your tax status, residence, location, age or eligibility, or by routing through other Accounts, may be denied, adjusted or reversed under Section 9 of the Creator Program Terms.

3.7 Validation, TIN matching and status. Summer or its Tax Service Provider validates the name and TIN you provide against IRS records (including through the IRS TIN Matching Program) and against third-party verification services, and reviews each W-8 series form for completeness and internal consistency (for example, a US address, US telephone number or US place of birth on a W-8 requires an explanation or documentary evidence). Your tax documentation status is shown in the Creator dashboard as one of: Not started; Under review; Additional information needed; Failed; Validated. Summer validates most submissions without human involvement; where a submission needs a person to look at it, Summer completes that review and then tells you by email that it has finished. Only a Tax Form with the status Validated is a Valid Tax Form. A name and TIN combination that does not match IRS records is treated as a missing TIN for the purposes of Section 6 until you cure it.

3.8 Information you need. Before you begin, gather the following.

3.9 Submit only through Summer, never by email. Submit all tax information through the Creator dashboard or the Tax Service Provider flow linked from it. Summer never asks you to send a Tax Form, a TIN or bank details by email, chat or direct message, and never asks you to reply to an email with tax information. Legitimate Summer messages about tax information come from support@summerengine.com. If you are unsure whether a message is genuine, go directly to the Creator dashboard or contact Summer through the Platform.

3.10 Help note on US taxpayer identification numbers. This Section is informational only and is not part of the operative terms. A Non-US Creator who wants to claim treaty benefits generally needs either a foreign TIN issued by their country of tax residence or a US TIN. A US individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) can be applied for on IRS Form W-7; applying for an ITIN in order to claim treaty benefits does not by itself require filing a US tax return. An employer identification number (EIN) is available to entities and to individuals acting as sole proprietors on IRS Form SS-4. Processing times differ, and the IRS is the only authoritative source. Summer does not provide tax advice (Section 10).

4. When Tax Forms expire and when we ask again

4.1 Form W-9. A Form W-9 remains valid indefinitely, unless and until a change in circumstances makes any information on it incorrect.

4.2 W-8 series expiration. A form in the W-8 series is valid from the date it is signed through the last day of the third succeeding calendar year, unless a change in circumstances makes any information on it incorrect. For example, a Form W-8BEN signed on any date in 2026 expires on December 31, 2029. Where IRS rules allow a W-8 series form to remain valid indefinitely for a particular purpose and Summer's Tax Service Provider applies that rule, Summer will tell you.

4.3 Change in circumstances. You must notify us within 30 days of any change in circumstances that makes any information on a Tax Form you provided incorrect, and you must submit a new, corrected Tax Form. Changes in circumstances include: a change of legal name or of entity classification; a change of permanent residence address to a different country; moving to or from the United States, or becoming or ceasing to be a US Person; a change in treaty eligibility or country of tax residence; a change in chapter 4 (FATCA) status; beginning a US trade or business to which Program Payments are effectively connected; a change of beneficial ownership; and a change of the Enrolled Payee for your publishing Account.

4.4 Re-solicitation and pause. Summer will ask you to renew a W-8 series form at least 60 days before it expires, by notice in the Creator dashboard and by email. If Summer does not have a Valid Tax Form on file when a form expires or becomes invalid, Program Payments pause. A pause is a hold, not a forfeiture: your Earned Sparks remain on your ledger, continue to accrue and mature, and Eligible Earned Sparks are included in the first Batch after you cure. Because Summer does not make Program Payments to undocumented payees, Summer does not apply the IRS presumption rules (under which an undocumented payee is generally treated as subject to 30 percent withholding if presumed foreign or 24 percent backup withholding if presumed a US Person) unless a payment must nonetheless be made or reported by law, in which case those rules and Sections 5 and 6 govern that payment.

4.5 Re-verification after dormancy. Before making a Program Payment to a Creator whose Account has had no authenticated session for 24 months or more, Summer requires re-verification of identity, tax documentation and Payout Account under Section 13.2 of the Creator Program Terms. A Tax Form that is still within its period of validity under this Section 4 need not be re-signed but will be re-validated.

5. US withholding for Non-US Creators

5.1 Withholding only where required. Summer will withhold US tax from Program Payments to Non-US Creators only to the extent required by chapter 3 or chapter 4 of the Code, as determined under the Withholding Determination in effect on the date of the Program Payment (Section 2.6), applied to the US-Source Share (Section 13) at the rate your Valid Tax Form supports.

5.2 The Withholding Determination. As of the Effective Date, Summer's Withholding Determination, made on the advice of Summer's US tax adviser, is as follows. (a) For US federal income tax purposes Summer treats Program Payments as royalties for the license of your Game and related content (Section 2.1). (b) If you are a US Person, Summer requires a Valid Form W-9 before your first Program Payment, files Form 1099-MISC annually where the IRS threshold is met (Section 7.1), and applies 24 percent backup withholding if no Valid Form W-9 is on file (Section 6). (c) If you are a Non-US Creator, Summer requires a Valid Form W-8BEN (individuals) or W-8BEN-E (entities) before your first Program Payment; Program Payments to you are US-source fixed or determinable annual or periodical income to the extent of the US-Source Share computed under Section 13, and US withholding under chapter 3 of the Code applies to the US-Source Share at the statutory rate of 30 percent, reduced to the rate of an applicable income tax treaty where your form makes a valid treaty claim under Section 5.4; Summer files Form 1042-S annually and remits withheld amounts to the IRS (Section 7.2). (d) The US-Source Share is the portion of your Eligible Earned Sparks that arose from Qualifying Spend by Players whose Player Country at the time of the spend was the United States; Player Country is determined from the Player's billing country at purchase, with location derived from the Player's IP address as fallback, and for an App Store Purchase the Storefront country of the purchase is the billing country (Sections 1.4 and 13.1). Earnings from Players outside the United States are not subject to US withholding. (e) Withheld amounts are not a Summer fee; every statement shows the gross amount at the Creator Rate, any withholding and the net paid, and the Creator Rate is a gross rate before any legally required withholding (Sections 5.5 and 7.8). (f) You remain responsible for your own taxes in your country of residence, and Summer gives no tax advice (Sections 9 and 10). Summer will notify you at least 30 days before any change to this Determination takes effect, except where a shorter period is required by law, as Section 5.10 describes.

5.3 US-Source Share. The US-Source Share of every Program Payment is computed under Section 13 and is the base to which the withholding in Section 5.2 applies. Network Share amounts and Program Awards take the sourcing of the Qualifying Spend from which they derive. [Reserved: Engagement Pool allocations, if any, derive from no single Qualifying Spend and are sourced pro rata to the Player Location Records of the paying Players whose Qualifying Playtime generated the allocation, as Summer's US tax adviser confirms; Section 13.2 states the same rule.]

5.4 Treaty relief. If you validly claim treaty benefits on Form W-8BEN (Part II) or Form W-8BEN-E (Part III), stating your country of tax residence, the treaty article and paragraph, the rate claimed and the type of income, providing a TIN (US or foreign) and, for entities, the limitation-on-benefits certification, Summer applies the reduced treaty rate to the US-Source Share prospectively from the date Summer validates your claim. Summer keys treaty eligibility to the country of tax residence you certify. If your country of citizenship or incorporation differs from your permanent residence country, or your form carries US indicia (a US address, telephone number or place of birth), your claim is routed to manual review and Summer may request documentary evidence such as a certificate of tax residence; it is not denied automatically. Summer may decline a treaty claim it cannot validate and must then withhold at 30 percent on the US-Source Share until you cure. Summer does not apply treaty rates retroactively to Program Payments already made, except as Section 5.7 describes.

5.5 Mechanics; what withholding attaches to; no gross-up. Any withholding is computed by Summer before each Program Payment on the US dollar amount of that Program Payment, deducted from it, remitted to the IRS, and treated for all purposes as paid to you. The Payout Provider receives and sends only the net amount. Summer will not gross up, reimburse or otherwise compensate you for withheld amounts, except as Section 5.10 provides for the pre-change payment window, and withholding is not a fee: it is your US income tax paid in advance on your behalf. The Creator Rate is a gross rate before any legally required withholding, and your statement shows the gross amount at the Creator Rate, the withholding and the net paid (Section 7.8). Withholding never attaches to Earned Sparks, to the split of a Sparks spend under the Fee and Rates Schedule, to any Sparks balance or to Purchased Sparks, and Summer never removes Sparks or Earned Sparks from any ledger on account of tax. Withheld amounts are reported on your Form 1042-S.

5.6 Platform credit. If withholding applies to a Program Payment you have elected to receive as platform credit, Summer withholds from the US dollar value of the Program Payment and posts credit equal to the net amount; the gross US dollar value is the reported amount. You may instead change your election to Payout Account delivery for that Batch before the Batch Cut-Off. Withholding on the US-Source Share under Section 5.2 applies to platform credit elected by a Non-US Creator in the same way as to any other Program Payment.

5.7 Over-withholding and under-withholding. If too much tax was withheld, Summer may make an administrative correction and refund the over-withheld amount if IRS procedures permit and only within the same calendar year; otherwise your remedy is to claim a refund or credit directly from the IRS (for example on Form 1040-NR or Form 1120-F) using the Form 1042-S Summer furnishes. Summer does not refund withholding already remitted because you later provided a TIN, a treaty claim or a corrected Tax Form. If too little tax was withheld because your documentation was false, incomplete or not updated under Section 4.3, Summer may deduct the shortfall from future Program Payments and Section 11.3 applies. If too little tax was withheld because of Summer's own error or a change in Summer's Withholding Determination, Section 11.4 applies and nothing is recovered from you.

5.8 FATCA (chapter 4). The Tax Forms described in Section 3 are also used to establish your status under chapter 4 of the Code (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act). Entity Creators must certify a chapter 4 status. Where chapter 4 requires withholding, chapter 4 withholding applies in place of, not in addition to, chapter 3 withholding, to the extent applicable regulations provide. Summer is a US withholding agent and is not a foreign financial institution.

5.9 A W-8 series form is required before your first Program Payment. A Valid Tax Form in the W-8 series is required before any Program Payment to a Non-US Creator because it documents your non-US status, carries the treaty claim that sets the rate of withholding on your US-Source Share, and supports Summer's Form 1042-S reporting. Without it Summer cannot apply a treaty rate, and no Program Payment is made (Section 3.1).

5.10 Changes to the Withholding Determination. Summer may change the Withholding Determination only on the advice of Summer's US tax adviser or because a change in law, regulations or IRS guidance requires it. Summer gives at least 30 days' notice before the change takes effect, by email and by notice in the Creator dashboard, stating the new Section 5.2 text and a plain explanation of what it means for you. The change is prospective only under Section 2.6. Eligible Earned Sparks on your ledger on the date of the notice are paid under the pre-change Determination if they are included in a Batch, or a Payment Request for them is received, before the change takes effect. Where the law nonetheless requires Summer to withhold on a Program Payment made inside that window, Summer withholds as the law requires and makes you whole by paying, as an additional Program Payment in the same Batch, the amount needed so that the net you receive equals what you would have received under the pre-change Determination; that additional amount is itself a reportable Program Payment, and it is Summer's cost under Section 11.4, never recovered from you. Batches already approved and Program Payments already made are never recomputed. Where the law requires withholding sooner than 30 days, Summer applies it when the law requires, tells you as soon as reasonably practicable, and Section 11.4 governs any exposure for the notice gap.

5.11 State withholding (reserved). Summer applies no state income tax withholding to Program Payments at launch. If Summer's US tax adviser concludes that California nonresident withholding under Revenue and Taxation Code section 18662, or the law of another state, applies to Program Payments to Creators outside that state, Summer will apply it prospectively under Section 5.10 and this Section will state the rate, the threshold and the forms.

6. Backup withholding for missing or incorrect TINs

6.1 When 24 percent backup withholding applies. Summer is required to withhold 24 percent (or the then-current statutory backup withholding rate) from reportable Program Payments to a US Person if: (a) you fail to provide a TIN; (b) the TIN you provided is obviously incorrect (for example, the wrong number of digits); (c) the IRS notifies Summer that the name and TIN combination you provided does not match its records (a "B-Notice"); (d) the IRS notifies Summer that you are subject to backup withholding because of underreporting of interest or dividends; or (e) you fail to certify on Form W-9 that you are not subject to backup withholding, where that certification is required. Backup withholding also applies to a payee who has provided no tax information at all, and to a Non-US Creator whose Tax Form is inconsistent in a way that suggests US residency and who does not cure the inconsistency (Section 6.4). Because Summer makes no first Program Payment without a Valid Tax Form (Section 3.1), the situations in (a) and the no-information case arise only after a first payment, through later invalidation. Backup withholding applies to the full US dollar amount of each Program Payment to which it applies, not only to the US-Source Share; the US-Source Share limits only the chapter 3 withholding on Non-US Creators under Section 5.

6.2 Curing backup withholding. Backup withholding stops prospectively once you cure the triggering condition, for example by submitting a corrected Form W-9 with a TIN that matches IRS records. After a second B-Notice within three calendar years, IRS rules require validation of your TIN directly from the Social Security Administration (for Social Security numbers) or the IRS (for employer identification numbers) before backup withholding can stop, and a corrected Form W-9 alone is not sufficient. Summer begins backup withholding from the first Program Payment after the date the IRS notice requires and tells you when it starts and how to cure.

6.3 Withheld amounts are not recoverable from Summer. Amounts withheld under this Section 6 are remitted to the IRS and treated as paid to you. Summer cannot refund backup withholding after it is remitted. You may claim withheld amounts as a credit against your US federal income tax on your return, using the Payee Statement Summer furnishes under Section 7.1.

6.4 Non-US Creators presumed to be US Persons. If a Non-US Creator's Tax Form fails validation or becomes invalid and the IRS presumption rules would require Summer to treat the payee as a US Person, backup withholding at 24 percent applies to the full Program Payment until you cure. Summer will first pause under Section 4.4 where the law permits, so that this Section applies only to a payment that must nonetheless be made or reported.

7. Tax reporting

7.1 US Persons. For each Reporting Year, Summer (or its Tax Service Provider as agent) files with the IRS and furnishes to each US Person Creator Form 1099-MISC reporting Program Payments as royalties in Box 2 where the total for the Reporting Year equals or exceeds USD 10, or the then-current statutory threshold, and in any Reporting Year in which any backup withholding was applied, regardless of amount. Payments to corporations may be exempt from Form 1099 reporting under IRS rules; Summer applies any exemption according to the federal tax classification certified on your Form W-9 and makes no promise to any Creator that no Information Return will issue.

7.2 Non-US Creators. For each Reporting Year, Summer (or its Tax Service Provider as agent) files with the IRS and furnishes to every Non-US Creator who received a Program Payment a Form 1042-S reporting the US-Source Share and the tax withheld, regardless of amount and whether or not any tax was withheld, files the annual Form 1042 with the IRS, and remits withheld amounts to the IRS. Summer reports Program Payments to tax authorities outside the United States only as Section 7.9 describes.

7.3 State reporting. Summer may report Program Payments to state tax authorities through the IRS Combined Federal/State Filing Program or by direct filing, as applicable state law requires. No state income tax is withheld at launch (Section 5.11).

7.4 Delivery deadlines. Summer furnishes Payee Statements for Form 1099-MISC (or any other Form 1099 the law requires) by January 31, and for Form 1042-S by March 15, following the Reporting Year, or by such later dates as applicable law provides, including any extension.

7.5 Corrections. If you believe a Payee Statement Summer furnished is incorrect, notify us at support@summerengine.com with the specific error, where possible within 60 days after it was furnished so the correction can be made before Summer's filing date. If Summer agrees, it files and furnishes a corrected Information Return and Payee Statement under IRS procedures. Summer is not responsible for errors caused by inaccurate or outdated information you provided.

7.6 Role of Summer, the Payout Provider and Tax Service Providers. Summer Labs, Inc. is the payer of record and the withholding agent for every Program Payment. Program Payments are made by Summer from its own funds through the Payout Provider (currently Stripe, using Stripe Global Payouts; payments powered by Stripe). As of the Effective Date the Payout Provider does not collect Tax Forms, does not compute withholding, and does not prepare, file or deliver Information Returns or Payee Statements for Summer. Summer may engage a Tax Service Provider as its agent to do any of those things, and if the Payout Provider or any other third party later performs any of them for Summer it does so as a Tax Service Provider; in every case the acts of that agent are Summer's acts under this Addendum, and Summer remains payer of record and withholding agent. You have no account with, and no relationship under this Addendum with, the Payout Provider or any Tax Service Provider.

7.7 Form 1099-K. Program Payments are payments by Summer of its own obligation under the Creator Program Terms. They are not payment card or third-party network transactions in which a Player pays you, because Players pay only Summer, and no third-party settlement organization relationship exists between the Payout Provider and you, because you hold no account with the Payout Provider. Summer therefore does not expect Program Payments to be reportable on Form 1099-K. If applicable law or IRS guidance requires different reporting, Summer will comply and this Addendum will be read accordingly.

7.8 What your statements show. Every Program Payment statement under Section 7.6 of the Creator Program Terms shows, for that Program Payment: the gross US dollar amount at the Creator Rate; the US-Source Share computed under Section 13; the withholding rate and amount applied under Section 5; any backup withholding under Section 6; the treatment of Payout Provider fees under the Fee and Rates Schedule; and the net amount sent or credited. Year-end totals on your Payee Statements reconcile to the sum of these lines. Per-payment withholding is always visible in the Creator dashboard and never only in the Payout Provider's systems.

7.9 Reporting to other countries. Summer reports Program Payments to tax authorities outside the United States only where applicable law requires it, including any platform-reporting regime (such as Council Directive (EU) 2021/514, known as DAC7, or the OECD Model Reporting Rules for Digital Platforms as a country implements them) that Summer determines applies to it. If Summer becomes a reporting platform operator for your country, it will tell you what it reports and when. Summer makes no promise that Program Payments to you are not reported to the tax authority of your country of residence.

8. Electronic delivery of Payee Statements

8.1 Your consent. By checking the electronic delivery box at enrollment you affirmatively consent to receive every Payee Statement Summer furnishes to you (including Forms 1099-MISC and 1042-S, any other Form 1099 the law requires and any corrected statement) exclusively in electronic form, instead of on paper. You give this consent electronically, in the same manner in which the statements will be delivered, which demonstrates that you can access them.

8.2 How electronic delivery works. Summer makes each Payee Statement available as a PDF in the Creator dashboard (Finances, then Taxes) and emails you when a statement is available. Statements remain available in the Creator dashboard for at least the current Reporting Year and the six preceding Reporting Years; earlier statements are available on request. You are responsible for keeping your email address and other contact information current.

8.3 Duration of consent. Your consent applies to every Payee Statement Summer furnishes until you revoke it.

8.4 Revoking consent; paper copies. You may revoke your consent at any time by written notice to support@summerengine.com or through your Account settings. Revocation takes effect for statements not yet furnished and does not affect statements already delivered electronically. After revocation, Summer furnishes statements on paper to the mailing address on your Tax Form. You may also request a free paper copy of any statement furnished electronically without that request being treated as a revocation of consent.

8.5 System requirements; changes. To access electronic statements you need internet access, a current web browser, software capable of viewing PDF files, and a valid email address. If Summer changes its systems in a way that creates a material risk that you cannot access your statements, Summer will notify you of the new requirements, and you may revoke consent at that time without consequence.

8.6 If you do not consent. If you do not consent to electronic delivery, or you revoke consent, Summer furnishes statements on paper. Paper delivery never delays or suspends a Program Payment.

8.7 Security of statements. Summer never sends a Payee Statement, or any document containing your TIN, as an email attachment or in an email body; statements are retrieved only from the Creator dashboard after sign-in. Section 3.9 applies.

9. Your responsibility for your own taxes

9.1 Your taxes are yours. You are solely responsible for determining, reporting and paying all taxes that apply to your Program Payments and to your activities as a Creator, including federal, state and local income taxes, self-employment taxes, estimated taxes, franchise and business taxes, and any tax imposed by a jurisdiction outside the United States. You must report your Program Payments to the tax authority of your country of residence whether or not Summer reports them there.

9.2 Estimated taxes. Program Payments are made without deduction for income or self-employment taxes, other than the withholding expressly described in Sections 5 and 6. If you are a US Person you may be required to make quarterly estimated tax payments on your Program Payment income.

9.3 Indirect taxes; self-billing. Program Payments are computed as set out in the Fee and Rates Schedule and are exclusive of any value-added, goods and services, sales, use or similar indirect tax. Summer charges no indirect tax on a Program Payment. Where the law of your country requires an invoice or a self-billing document for a Program Payment, you authorize Summer to issue a self-billing statement on your behalf in the form Summer specifies, and you agree to tell Summer if you cease to be entitled to self-billing treatment or if your indirect-tax registration status changes. If any indirect tax applies to a Program Payment and Summer is required by law to collect, self-assess or withhold it, Summer may deduct that amount from the Program Payment or require you to provide documentation supporting an exemption. Transaction taxes on Players' purchases of Sparks never attach to a Creator: on Summer's web checkout they are Summer's as Merchant of Record; for an App Store Purchase Apple bills the Player under Apple's terms and collects tax where Apple collects it for the Player's Storefront, and Summer licenses the Sparks.

9.4 Age. The Creator Program pays only Creators who are at least 18 years old, as the Creator Program Terms state. Creators aged 13 to 17 may accrue Earned Sparks but receive no Program Payment and no Payee Statement until they enroll at 18, after which their Program Payments are reported to them as the enrolled adult. Nothing in this Addendum extends payment to minors.

9.5 Misrepresentation of tax status or location. Summer may deny, adjust or reverse a Program Payment obtained by misrepresenting your tax status, tax residence, location, age or eligibility, or by routing Earned Sparks through other Accounts, under Section 9 of the Creator Program Terms. Misrepresented location also corrupts the US-Source Share and any treaty claim, and you are responsible under Section 11.3 for any tax, penalty or interest that results.

10. No tax advice

10.1 No tax advice. Nothing in this Addendum, in the Creator Program Terms, on the Platform, or in any communication from Summer, the Payout Provider, the Identity Verification Provider or any Tax Service Provider is tax, legal or accounting advice. The descriptions of tax rules in this Addendum are summaries for convenience, may not reflect your circumstances, and may become outdated as the law changes. The Creator dashboard routes you to the appropriate Tax Form based on the information you enter, but it does not decide your tax status for you. You should consult your own tax adviser about the consequences of participating in the Creator Program.

11. Cooperation, records and responsibility for inaccurate information

11.1 Records and sharing. Summer retains the Tax Forms you provide, Player Location Records, and records of Program Payments, withholding and reporting for as long as applicable law requires and in any event for at least 7 years after the Reporting Year, consistent with the Data Retention and Deletion Policy. Summer may share your Tax Forms and Program Payment records with the IRS, state tax authorities, tax authorities outside the United States where legally required (Section 7.9), the Payout Provider (payment data only), the Identity Verification Provider and Summer's Tax Service Providers, as the Summer Games Privacy Policy describes.

11.2 Additional documentation. You will provide, within 30 days of a request, any additional documentation Summer reasonably needs to comply with tax law, including certificates of tax residency, treaty-eligibility and limitation-on-benefits documentation, entity classification and beneficial ownership documentation, and proof of TIN. If you do not, Program Payments pause under Section 4.4 until you do.

11.3 Responsibility for your inaccuracies. If any taxing authority imposes taxes, withholding, penalties, interest or additions to tax on Summer because the documentation or information you provided was false, inaccurate, incomplete or not updated as Section 4.3 requires, you are responsible for those amounts. Summer recovers them by deducting them from future Program Payments (netting) and, only where they are attributable to your own fraud or self-dealing under Section 9.1(a) or (b) of the Creator Program Terms, by any other lawful means. Summer will not deduct from your Purchased Sparks or remove Virtual Content you own. This obligation survives the end of your participation in the Creator Program.

11.4 Summer's own errors and changes of position. If tax was under-withheld or a Program Payment was misreported because of Summer's own error, or because Summer's Withholding Determination is later changed or is later determined to have been incorrect, the resulting tax, penalties and interest are Summer's cost and are not recovered from you, and Summer files any corrected Information Return. A change to the Withholding Determination is never a ground to recompute a Program Payment already made.

11.5 Cooperation with inquiries. If the IRS or a state tax authority inquires about your Program Payments, you will cooperate reasonably with Summer's response, and Summer will tell you about the inquiry where the law permits.

12. Changes in law and changes to this Addendum

12.1 Changes in law. Tax law, IRS forms, rates and thresholds change. Summer may apply any change in withholding or reporting that the law requires immediately and without prior notice, and doing so is not a breach of this Addendum or of the Creator Program Terms. A change in law applies to Program Payments made on or after the date the law requires (Section 2.6), and Section 11.4 governs any exposure for a period before Summer could give notice.

12.2 Changes to this Addendum. Summer may amend this Addendum as the Creator Program Terms describe, including to reflect changes in law, IRS guidance, its service providers or its Payout Provider. For material changes that are not required by law, Summer gives at least 30 days' notice by email and in the Creator dashboard before the change takes effect; changes to the Withholding Determination follow Section 5.10. Your continued participation in the Creator Program after the change takes effect is acceptance of the amended Addendum. If you do not agree, you may end your participation and receive your final Program Payment as Section 15.5 of the Creator Program Terms describes.

12.3 Survival. Sections 2, 5 to 9, 11, 12 and 13 survive the end of your participation in the Creator Program and closure of your Account, to the extent needed for tax compliance.

13. Player Location Records and the US-Source Share

13.1 What Summer records. For every Qualifying Spend that creates Earned Sparks, Summer's ledger records, at the time of the spend, the Player Country: the billing country of the Pack purchase that created the Purchased Sparks lot that funded the spend or, where no billing country is available, the location derived from the Player's IP address at purchase, together with the purchase country and the Player's Account country as recorded fields (together, for each Qualifying Spend, a "Player Location Record"). For an App Store Purchase, the Storefront country of the purchase, as Apple reports it to Summer, is recorded as the billing country of the Pack purchase, because Apple does not disclose the Player's billing country to Summer. Player Location Records are created for every Qualifying Spend from the first day the Sparks economy is live. Summer does not record precise geolocation for this purpose and never discloses any Player's identity or individual location to any Creator.

13.2 How the US-Source Share is computed. The US-Source Share of a Program Payment is its gross US dollar amount multiplied by the ratio of (a) the Eligible Earned Sparks included in that Program Payment that derive from Qualifying Spend whose Player Country is the United States, to (b) all Eligible Earned Sparks included in that Program Payment, rounded to the nearest cent using half-up rounding; any withholding computed on the US-Source Share is itself rounded to the nearest cent half-up, and the net paid equals the gross minus the withholding, as Section 11.2 of the Fee and Rates Schedule states. A Qualifying Spend whose Player Location Record shows no Player Country is treated as United States. Network Share amounts and Program Awards take the sourcing of the Qualifying Spend from which they derive. [Reserved: Engagement Pool allocations, if any, derive from no single Qualifying Spend and would otherwise fall under the no-country sentence above; they are sourced pro rata to the Player Location Records of the paying Players whose Qualifying Playtime generated the allocation, as Summer's US tax adviser confirms. Until the Fee and Rates Schedule lists the Engagement Pool as active, no Engagement Pool exists.] The US-Source Share is shown on your statement under Section 7.8.

13.3 Use of the US-Source Share. The US-Source Share is the base to which the withholding in Section 5.2 applies and is the amount reported on Form 1042-S. Earnings from Qualifying Spend by Players whose Player Country is outside the United States are not withheld on.

13.4 Location integrity. Players' misrepresentation of their location is handled under the Summer Games Terms of Service. You may not induce or encourage Players to misrepresent their location, and a Creator who does so is subject to Section 9.5.

13.5 Retention and privacy. Player Location Records are retained under Section 11.1, are processed under the Summer Games Privacy Policy for the purpose of determining the US-Source Share of Creator earnings for tax withholding and reporting, as necessary for compliance with legal obligations, and are shown to you only as the aggregate ratio in Section 13.2, never as individual Players or purchases.

13.6 Not a fee, not a Sparks rule. Nothing in this Section 13 changes the split of a Sparks spend, the Creator Rate or any Sparks or Earned Sparks balance. It only measures an existing Program Payment for tax purposes.

14. Paid Games lane (reserved; not in effect)

14.1 Paid Games settlements are outside this Addendum. Payments to a Seller in the Paid Games lane are settlements of the Seller's own sales proceeds through Stripe Connect under the Paid Games Terms. They are never Program Payments, are outside this Addendum, and carry their own tax terms, including responsibility for Form 1099-K and for the Seller's own transaction taxes, to be stated in the Paid Games Terms or a lane 2 section of this Addendum when that lane opens. The US federal tax treatment in Section 2 and the withholding in Section 5 do not apply to the Paid Games lane, where the Creator is the seller of record through Stripe Connect and the tax picture is different. A Creator who holds both a Payout Account and a Seller Account has two separate tax relationships that never merge for reporting.

15. Contact

15.1 Contact. Questions about this Addendum or your Tax Forms: support@summerengine.com, or by mail to Summer Labs, Inc., Attn: Legal (Tax), 2810 N Church St, STE 89812, Wilmington, DE 19802, United States. Summer will never ask you to send a Tax Form or TIN in reply to an email (Section 3.9).