Quote:
Al Capone did not go to jail for murder or extortion , he went in jail because of unpaid taxes
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Personally, I think he did go to jail for murder and extortion. The authorities just couldn't manage to make an accusation stick in that area, so they went hunting for tax loopholes and then slammed him with the highest penalty feasibly possible. You can bet the judge was not feeling particularly magnanimous on the occasion.
Within the US, I do not believe it's possible to legally get paid for your fiction without having the distributor pay tax withholding on your behalf. The US is very tax-grabby, and any income associated with a US trade or business (including ebooks) is taxable, even if the author is not a US resident. However: the last time I checked the IRS doesn't care a whit about anything as long as they get their tax withholding. You don't have to file US tax returns unless you want to try to recoup the withheld taxes.
In other words, you don't have to give the IRS any of your personal info as long as you're content to let them take about 30% of your earnings.