US Tax Numbers for publishing in the US

[InklingBooks]

In her “Nail Your Novel” blog, the lovely Roz Morris describes the secret and mysterious process for getting an ITIN or US Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. It’s what you need if you live outside the US and want to publish on Smashwords, Amazon’s Kindle, and perhaps the through the iBookstore. It keeps our IRS from taking a heftier slice of your income than they do out of Bill Gates’s billions.

Here’s her remarks about the process:

The problem is, the IRS is incredibly pedantic and doesn’t tell you half the things you need to know. So to protect your blood pressure and stop you spending unnecessary money, I’m going to tell you how to do it.

No one who doesn’t live here should have to deal with all the hassles our IRS throws up. Every year, come mid-April, they grab an entire day out of my life.

You can find her blog posting here:

nailyournovel.wordpress.com/2011 … on-number/

The Queen should give her a medal for going through what she had to go through to get that information.

You might want to tell your author friends about this most helpful link. Note too the posting from a Catherine who describes how to make the passport requirement easier.

–Michael W. Perry, Seattle

[PJS]

@InklingBooks

No one who doesn’t live here should have to deal with all the hassles our IRS throws up.

True. And neither should those of us who do live here…

ps

[perryw]

The process is also pretty slow.

I was surprised that they declined me - but I read on hoping for some advice. AHA! they declined my application because I already had an ITIN (can’t remember applying) and they even gave me the number.

So communication isn’t their specialty either.

Good luck