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How I became US Tax exempt in 11 minutes…I think.

14/10/2013

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As you probably know, Amazon deducts US tax at a rate of 30% from all Amazon Kindle eBook sales, regardless of your nationality. You are then supposed to fill in a tax return to claim the money back. Filling in the tax return requires an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN), and that’s where the problems start. Apparently, getting that ITIN requires all sort of certified copies of a picture ID, which in turn requires sending passports etc. to the US or visiting the US embassy in London.

There is an alternative – instead you call a dedicated US tax office in Philadelphia and simply ask for an alternative form of ITIN called an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for a foreign entity. But wait you say, you’re not an employer. Well, it works just as well for sole traders / proprietors.

I called the US IRS on +1 267 941 1099 via Skype on my laptop and the 11 minute call from the UK cost me 20p, although I’m told that you can call for free from Google Talk. They will ask you for your phone number so be sure to give them your landline / mobile. Follow the automated options (it was 1 or 2), wait in the queue and then when answered tell them that you want to apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for a foreign entity.

The nice lady I spoke to (she even called me sir in that marvellous American way) asked if I had completed a SS-4 form. She was disappointed when I answered “no” but admitted that it was not mandatory. Then I had to spell out my information (name, address, phone number, country etc.) and confirm it when she read it back.

She then asked if it was for ‘compliance with withholding’ tax. I confirmed that it was and she asked what it was for. When I told her it was for selling eBooks she wished me luck and then read out my EIN. I made a note of it and kept it very, very safe. She said that that they would send me a conformation letter but so far I’ve not received it.

Then all you have to do is complete the Amazon on-line W8-BEN form and give them your brand spanking new EIN number, and that’s where it all went wrong for me. 

My Amazon KDP account said “Submitted. Your tax information has been submitted and is under review by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Tax information cannot be changed during this time. Your account status will be updated if further information is necessary.” They then contacted me to say that they had no record of it or I had filled the form in incorrectly or something. 

I resubmitted my info, got the above message again and waited for confirmation. Except that now I’m left in limbo, as the US government immediately stopped processing tax information due to the US Federal shutdown.

Those lovely people at Amazon saved the day by promising to withhold my royalties until my 0% tax rate had been confirmed. This means that I could go ahead and launch my sci-fi / horror anthology “Memes of Loss and Devotion”.

So, that’s how I sorted out my tax with just one 11 minute phone call. Maybe.

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Not really a blog…

9/3/2013

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This is not really a true, proper blog entry – the next one proper will come soon – instead this is a sort of diary update on what I’ve been doing since the first blog back in Oct 2012. (Was it really FIVE months ago when I last blogged? Sorry about that.)

I decide that the anthology book of my short stories should come first because I mistakenly thought it would be the least work of the two. So, I halted work on the ‘Fomalhaut’ novel to start the anthology, mainly because a new section from the book had become a short story in it its own right (“Seduction Games”), and also because a completely new story (“Death Ship”) was screaming to be written.

Back in November, the short story collection didn’t even have a name. Then one day in mid November, when driving to work, it just came to me - "Memes of Loss and Devotion". (Tell me what you think of the title!) ‘Meme’ because I hope they become mind worms. ‘Loss’ because a lot of them seem to be about loss, especially the noble agony of break ups. Finally, devotion because it took a lot of devotion to create this book and because some of the characters display it.

Around this time I created my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/darrenwhit3). Why have only 21 of you liked it? I then stupidly announced that “Memes”would be released later in November. Which at that point gave me just 12 days to write the new stories, brush up the existing 13 stories, get them edited, make a cover, create a kindle account, convert the file to .mobi etc, etc. I didn’t make it. In the next month I did write three new stories though, two of which are amongst the best things I’ve ever written…

A month later I came to the inevitable conclusion that I’d have to push the release date back into the ‘New Year’.

A month later, over the xmas break, I finally, finally completed all 15 pre edited versions of the stories. This weighed in at well over 65,000 words. Almost a novel length in its own right. I finished them then did absolutely nothing with them for over six weeks. Mainly, because I spent the whole time working the ideas behind a new short - "We Love The Legacy". It’s no exaggeration to say that the concepts and ideas from this story could possibly completely reset the context of "Memes.." and even the "Fomalhaut" novel. When will I learn to stop tinkering? So far, I’ve not made any changes to the shorts, but I will definitely make changes to the novel.

I have a vague plan to use “Legacy” as a competition entry to gain publicity for my other writing. We’ll see if it’s good enough...

At the start of February, I pulled my finger out, and decide to find an editor (more to come about that in the next proper actual blog). Twelve short days later I had an editor and they had the first two of my stories delivered to them for editing.

Just two weeks later (25th Feb 2013), the first edited story, "Hope", had been returned by the editor, covered in red pen, and I had re-written the story, revising it from the editors notes. Along the way, I’d lost 200 hundred precious, hard-fought words. It felt like killing your children but the story was better for it and every single change was fully justified. (Like I said, I’ll tell you more about how this felt and the editing process in my next blog). I even gave away the story on my website (http://www.darrenwhite.co/free-stuff.html) as a free Kindle file sample. Please let me know what you think of it. That felt like real progress, and maybe I could start to think about light at the end of a very long tunnel? Oh well, that’s one short story down, and just fourteen more to go...

At the beginning of March, I uploaded the short story "Hope" to 5 websites. (Bookrix, Booksie, FreeStoriesCenter, ShortStories101 & Wattpad – you can find links in the News section of my website - http://www.darrenwhite.co/news.html ). It had at least 60 reads in the first day alone! Which was great but it would be even greater if I could get a comment/feedback, a Facebook like or even a new mail list member from this! So far it’s had over 200 reads as per 8th March 2013. On one site the current stats are: 204 reads and 5 stars from 2 people. (http://www.shortstories101.com/science-fiction-short-stories/hope-3203.html).

I then added the Free Stuff section (freebies, downloads, samples, excerpts, etc.) to the website. (http://www.darrenwhite.co/free-stuff.html) There’s still more to come... In fact, if you look closely, there’s even an entire short film script hidden somewhere in the site…

My second edited short story ("Seduction Games") was returned by my editor at the beginning of March. Once updated, I decided that I’m going to also give this one away as a free sample in the Free Stuff page of my website, because I'm nice like that. Delayed by many changes to the website, I finally completed the re-write three days later. This is a new story and there was a lot less to correct, so ultimately it was just five words shorter at the end of the editing process. Although, I added and removed a lot more than just 5 words! I immediately posted it to my website. That’s now two down, thirteen to go... Come on editor, keep them coming!

And that’s where I’m at. Rest assured that I’m working as hard and as fast as I can to get these stories out to you as soon as possible. My next couple of blogs should also be far more ‘meaty’ and more than just a diary updates, but I wanted to let you know that I’m still working, and also how long and hard the process is.

Anyway,
I just wanted to keep you in the loop.

KEPRSURUCVXD

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 My journey to ebook author starts here...

15/10/2012

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This is where it publicly starts. It's not the start of the road but it's not the end either. I can't wait for people to start reading my stuff but I'm not quite there yet.

Let me explain. While at uni in the early 90's I started writing short stories on a house mate's PC. I'd written short stories at school and my English teacher had even suggested collecting them together.The person sat next to me liked to read them, but that was a far as it went. I've since lost everyone of those hand written stories. 

But the difference now was that I was saving them electronically, and I would never lose them again. (Although I did have to buy a USB  3.5" floppy drive to access some of them recently!). I wrote about 12 good ones in the next few years.

Fast forward a few more years to the summer that I graduated from Uni and in the 6 weeks I spent hunting for my first post grad job, I wrote a ~80k word sci fi novel, called "theFomalhautPlague". I touted it around a bit but got no where, i.e. no one wanted to publish it or represent me. So I forgot about it and instead turned to screenplay writing for the next few years (with some very, very minor success).

So, this novel languished on my hard drive for a few years, until near the end of the 90's when I picked it up again and gave it a minor re-write. Again I tried to get it published but to no avail.

I forgot all about my lifelong ambition to be a writer and concentrated on my career. Towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century I started to become aware of ebooks and that some (traditionally) unpublished writers found an audience via them. I mulled this over for (quite) a years, but did nothing.

Earlier this year (2012), I decide enough was enough. I had a finished novel which a few people even told me they liked. I'd re-written it twice. All I'd have to do is pat it on the bottom and send it out into the world as a ebook. So I started the tiny process of just 'checking it over'.

I found structural problems, a sci fi novel with dated or none existent technology, unclear themes and God awful names. So I started correcting it in the spare time when I wasn't working. Six to seven months later I'm approximately two thirds of the way through with some new scenes to write to fix a timing issue.

While fixing the novel I got my short stories together and thought they'd make a decent second ebook. I've even written a really good new one with the idea for another one driving me crazy daily. I'll have to reread and edit them too. I have no idea how long that might take.

In the meantime I started searching the internet for anything else I'd need to do  before I could finally give public birth to my (problem) child. To my dismay, I found that I'd needed a proof reader, a pro cover, a Facebook page, a website and a blog. All of this scared me half to death and I forgot it and just kept on writing.

But there it was - niggle, niggle. niggle. So this weekend I made a website  then late one night I wrote my first blog, which you're just finishing reading.

Oh, and the novel? Well, it's still months away. But this weekend I broke through two important barriers. And as I said, my journey to ebook author starts here...


I'll keep you in the loop.


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    darrenwhite - sci fi author, film buff & SAFC fam

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