MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

DMSmillie · 12-16-2010, 08:37 AM

It's a long-running frustration for non-US indie authors publishing for the Kindle via Amazon's DTP website - Amazon simply refuses to provide the required letter for the IRS.

There are a couple of alternatives though.

Last I heard, Smashwords and Createspace provide the necessary letter without any problem, so if you publish via either of them, you could get the letter from them to accompany the W-7 form for the IRS. Once you've got your ITIN, you can then use it on the W8-BEN form to Amazon (and to any other US company who pays you royalties) to claim exemption from tax withholding. Although Smashwords seemed hopeful a few months ago that they had reached an agreement with the IRS that they didn't have to withhold taxes for non-US authors and publishers, I believe it hasn't gone quite as they'd initially thought, and I think they're still having to do all that stuff, and so are still willing to provide the required letter for the IRS. It's a while since I checked on that, though, so I might be wrong there.

The second option is to file a US tax return at the end of the financial year, accompanied by your W-7 form. That will a) get you your money back from the IRS (assuming you want to claim it back and pay tax on it in your own country instead), and b) get you an ITIN, which you can then use on the W8-BEN form to enable Amazon to stop withholding further taxes from your payments.

Oh... and just a note re having to obtain certified copies of passports, etc, to accompany your W-7 form: if you're able to go to the US Embassy in London or Paris (possibly a couple of other countries, but those two definitely) and wait in a queue, those two embassies have an IRS office that is able to receive W-7 submissions over the counter - you can present your actual passport, driving licence, etc, have it checked and copied by the IRS staff there and handed back to you, and they then send your W-7 form with the certified copies they made of your accompanying documentation to the appropriate IRS office in the US for processing. If you live near enough to London or Paris to make that a viable option, you can phone the US Embassy to check. I believe that service is also available in the Beijing US Embassy, but there you have to make an appointment beforehand - with the others, you can simply walk in and wait in line, as far as I know.

12-16-2010, 08:37 AM	#18
DMSmillie Enquiring Mind Posts: 562 Karma: 42350 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: London, UK Device: Kindle 3 (WiFi)	It's a long-running frustration for non-US indie authors publishing for the Kindle via Amazon's DTP website - Amazon simply refuses to provide the required letter for the IRS. There are a couple of alternatives though. Last I heard, Smashwords and Createspace provide the necessary letter without any problem, so if you publish via either of them, you could get the letter from them to accompany the W-7 form for the IRS. Once you've got your ITIN, you can then use it on the W8-BEN form to Amazon (and to any other US company who pays you royalties) to claim exemption from tax withholding. Although Smashwords seemed hopeful a few months ago that they had reached an agreement with the IRS that they didn't have to withhold taxes for non-US authors and publishers, I believe it hasn't gone quite as they'd initially thought, and I think they're still having to do all that stuff, and so are still willing to provide the required letter for the IRS. It's a while since I checked on that, though, so I might be wrong there. The second option is to file a US tax return at the end of the financial year, accompanied by your W-7 form. That will a) get you your money back from the IRS (assuming you want to claim it back and pay tax on it in your own country instead), and b) get you an ITIN, which you can then use on the W8-BEN form to enable Amazon to stop withholding further taxes from your payments. Oh... and just a note re having to obtain certified copies of passports, etc, to accompany your W-7 form: if you're able to go to the US Embassy in London or Paris (possibly a couple of other countries, but those two definitely) and wait in a queue, those two embassies have an IRS office that is able to receive W-7 submissions over the counter - you can present your actual passport, driving licence, etc, have it checked and copied by the IRS staff there and handed back to you, and they then send your W-7 form with the certified copies they made of your accompanying documentation to the appropriate IRS office in the US for processing. If you live near enough to London or Paris to make that a viable option, you can phone the US Embassy to check. I believe that service is also available in the Beijing US Embassy, but there you have to make an appointment beforehand - with the others, you can simply walk in and wait in line, as far as I know.