Reduce your Withholding Tax on Author Commissions from Amazon for Australian Authors

Amazon, being a US company will withhold extra tax from you. To mitigate this, just sign up for a US tax ID.  Sounds complicated, but it's not.

You can get an EIN (Employer Identification Number also known as a Federal Tax Identification Number) in your business name, or if you do not have a registered business name, in your own name.

If you call the IRS on 267-941-1099 and ask for an EIN they can issue it over the phone. It takes about 10 minutes and you will need your Australian Tax File Number.

Use a service like Skype to make the call so you can do it cheaply.

Once you have that you just fill out a W-8BEN form and send it to CreateSpace, KDP, iTunes, etc.

Instructions about form: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw8ben.pdf

Form: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf

The tax treaty between the US and Australia is Article 12.

This allows you to pay only 10% withholding tax on book royalties.

For the reason you are using the W-8BEN form you put "Australian author self publishing via US distributor".

You only need to get an EIN once.

BAM! You're on Amazon, earning commission cheques within a week!