Sunday 13 March 2011
Amazon Kindle Sign Up for Non-US Self-Publishers
4 C O M M E N T S:
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Malignant Carp said...
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The one caveat to being a non-US resident is the IRS policy on royalties, namely that they withhold 30% of all royalties to non-resident aliens until they can prove their alien status. Personally, I think that Amazon needs to call itself a distributer to get around this nonsense.
To gain tax exemption, you need to fill out form W7 and submit it along with a notarized copy of your passport or other accepted identification and a signed document on the publisher's letterhead explaining why an ITIN is necessary. That is to say that you need to get Amazon to send you such a document. I've heard from a few people who said it's hard to get them to do so. Smashwords, on the other hand, offers it freely once you've made $10 worth of royalties.
Once you've secured an ITIN, you can submit form W-8BEN to be given the tax exemption. Smashword's royalty FAQ covers tax withholding quite well. -
13 March 2011 04:55
- Editor said...
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Thanks for those additional details, Malignant...
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13 March 2011 14:46
- ivinv said...
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I think it's important to differentiate between self publishing (by the author, of course) and vanity publishing where the company banks on your vanity.
Authopublisher's top 5 Self Publishing Supertars -
11 April 2011 19:05
- Editor said...
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Ivin,
That point has been made many, many times on the site and in various articles here. -
11 April 2011 19:14


