Friday, March 18, 2016

Hellooooo GLITCH!!

Cover by Anima Black
Hi Peeps! Remember awhile back, I published this beautiful picture and proclaimed it my brand new cover? For my brand new novella? Due out before the end of February? Yeah, hold that thought...

I was all set to launch, I pretty much just had to set a date. But wait...What's this?  An alert on my Createspace dashboard? It's about TAXES. Oh, goodie.

Turns out, that since I am a Canadian, (Non-US Resident) I require a host of different rules from the average American citizen. They're important too. I could be taxed twice  Who would want that?

I mean, with piracy, glutted markets, and limited marketability it's hard enough for writers to make a buck. Let's throw a roll of red tape in there, shall we?

Fortunately, and thanks to Google, this isn't going to be as hard as it sounds. Even I was able to figure out what to do.If you're a Canadian writer, you might want to pay attention.

First of all, go here:How to get an ITIN

From there, you need to get your passport certified. I had to google that too. See Here: Passports Canada, and go to "Find a Form". Near the bottom of the page is a link called "Request for a True Certified Copy of Your Travel Document." It will give you a form to print and fill out. You take that, and your passport to your local Passport Office. (The ones in Edmonton are GREAT! I've never seen such efficient government workers!)

Then you take your Createspace letter, your certified passport and your W-8, and mail it off to the IRS. Voila!

Or so it would seem...I'm still waiting. When that letter comes in, I'll have more information. Until then, I'm still writing.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the information, Donna. I'm sure more Canadian writers can benefit from this. In the meantime, you're doing the "write" thing.

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    1. Thanks Kathy. All I can say, is thank God for Google. Otherwise, i'd still be struggling with the W-8. Turns out there's instructions on how to fill THAT out too!

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  2. Great info! Very kind of you to share it!

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  3. My pleasure! We need to help each other all we can. If it wasn't for than link to the ITIN that someone ELSE wrote, I would have been so lost. Mine is just an update.

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