Albertogblog

OK, so I am selling some books! Both from Amazon and CreateSpace. Numbers are very (very!) low, but still some royalty is being generated. I still did not receive any payment, but those should be due one of these says...

Officially I will be paying income taxes on those royalties - and this is what this post is about. 

Both Amazon and CreateSpace are American companies, and they will retain a 30% (Thirty!) as income tax from the royalties, unless I do something. 

So this brings us to some old posts, when I spoke first about ITIN and W8-BEN.

The trick is that you do not need to pay these initial taxes, if you declare it in your current country. In my case, I am living in Germany now. Germany has a general agreement with the U.S. to avoid double taxing, and all I have to do is to request being included in that treaty. 

Well, not so simple. 

First, I need to have an ITIN (Income Tax Identification Number) in the USA, which I do not have. So I have to request it through the W-7 form, together with a certified copy of my passport. 

Most tricky thing was to get the certification for my passport - I had to go to an US Consulate  in person to get it. If you think airport security is extreme, you should go to an US Consulate...

I have to send both documents per post (the old good way), then I will receive back my ITIN some time in the next weeks. 

Then, I will have to request the inclusion in the treaty, which is done through the W8_BEN form, also to be sent per post, together with a letter from my "employer" confirming the origin of my income...

After acceptance of the W8-BEN (important: one request for Amazon, another one for CreateSpace), I will not be retained any income tax in the US. 

More on this when I have some situation change...