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neilmarr · 05-28-2010, 05:14 AM

Hope you find your brother well on Monday, Wilson. I've been a frequent guest in the operating theatres and rooms of both the Princess Grace Hospital and the Cardiothoratique clinic in Monaco over the past ten years (last time, just last month). I can assure you that he'll be well looked after.

You're right about lax customs duty in France. I often buy pipe tobacco online from the US. The packages are clearly and honestly stamped with their taxable contents, but I've never once been asked to pat tax on them. Shhhhhhhh...

When it comes to the witholding of US tax at source by ebook retailers, the trouble is that it's unjust. Sure there's the choice of paying tax in your home country, but the stumbling blocks in the way are difficult to overcome.

My own house will deal with it because we must. We have a relatively large current catalogue and use many retail outlets in the US. But the independent author, whose earnings are likely not to reach a taxable level at home, will either just have to eat it or withdraw his/her work in protest. Establishing treaty status is just not worth the bother for someone with one or a half dozen books out there.

As for Kindle's loading. That is arbitrary and quite unfair -- especially to a US resident with a US-registered Kindle buying with a US credit card from his own US account ... and who is still charged the loading if he happens to be on holiday or a business trip abroad. Sure, there are some genuine red tape issues. But it's up to the big players to overcome that.

They won't, of course, why should they? The major publishers have the tax situation already in hand, and Amazon doesn't give a damn because simply slapping a couple of bucks on 'foreign' downloads makes life awful easy for them. It would be interesting to hear the mechanics of how Amazon actually PAYS the taxes it claims it is collecting for foreign governments, though.

Best. Neil

05-28-2010, 05:14 AM	#19
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,215 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	Hope you find your brother well on Monday, Wilson. I've been a frequent guest in the operating theatres and rooms of both the Princess Grace Hospital and the Cardiothoratique clinic in Monaco over the past ten years (last time, just last month). I can assure you that he'll be well looked after. You're right about lax customs duty in France. I often buy pipe tobacco online from the US. The packages are clearly and honestly stamped with their taxable contents, but I've never once been asked to pat tax on them. Shhhhhhhh... When it comes to the witholding of US tax at source by ebook retailers, the trouble is that it's unjust. Sure there's the choice of paying tax in your home country, but the stumbling blocks in the way are difficult to overcome. My own house will deal with it because we must. We have a relatively large current catalogue and use many retail outlets in the US. But the independent author, whose earnings are likely not to reach a taxable level at home, will either just have to eat it or withdraw his/her work in protest. Establishing treaty status is just not worth the bother for someone with one or a half dozen books out there. As for Kindle's loading. That is arbitrary and quite unfair -- especially to a US resident with a US-registered Kindle buying with a US credit card from his own US account ... and who is still charged the loading if he happens to be on holiday or a business trip abroad. Sure, there are some genuine red tape issues. But it's up to the big players to overcome that. They won't, of course, why should they? The major publishers have the tax situation already in hand, and Amazon doesn't give a damn because simply slapping a couple of bucks on 'foreign' downloads makes life awful easy for them. It would be interesting to hear the mechanics of how Amazon actually PAYS the taxes it claims it is collecting for foreign governments, though. Best. Neil Last edited by neilmarr; 05-28-2010 at 05:19 AM.