like others mentioned, once you earn 100 dollars, they can send you your money either through a physical check I believe or how most people do it and that is with direct deposit into your banking account. you can set that up in your adsense account I'm fairly certain (it's been awhile since I did that).
as far as tax implications, Google/Youtube will send you a physical 1099 tax form usually starting at the beginning of the year so don't be alarmed if you don't receive it till late January or even early February. they have tons of users so it will take time. if you don't receive it by March, I'd contact them.
however and this is an important part that I don't think anyone mentioned, you don't have to report your earnings until you earn a total of 500 dollars per year. now, they may have changed the policy but the last time I heard, that was their threshold until you have to report your earnings through a 1099. and that would make sense b/c it would be a wast of time for someone to report for example 24 bucks a year; it's too small of an amount to deal with.
so if you're under 500 bucks yearly total, don't expect any 1099 form. anything above 500, and you'll have to report the earning to Uncle Sam. hope that helps.