# Tax interview time! (non-US authors)



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I got an email asking me to go through the tax interview.

I started on this, but

1. it makes no mention of EIN (which I have) only TIN (which I don't)
2. On this board, people said that you can enter a foreign tax ID (which I have several to choose from), but it also says that 30% tax will be deducted unless I provide a TIN

The latter is in direct contradiction with what I was assured now applies in another thread here. Many people told me that you do no longer need a personal TIN or EIN but that a foreign number will suffice. From the tax interview questions and the form I'm trying to fill out, I still don't believe this is true.

Or else, what do I fill out to make the "TIN or pay 30%" option go away, or how do I get a field to come up that gives me the option of entering my EIN?


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

I just did the interview. Came up with 0% withholding after I entered my foreign (non-US) tax identification number (AKA Canadian SIN number).

Rue


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## Jill Nojack (Mar 7, 2014)

Patty Jansen said:


> I got an email asking me to go through the tax interview.
> 
> I started on this, but
> 
> ...


If that's the createspace interview, this is in the guide:

---------------------

Your TIN (Tax Identification Number) is either your Social Security Number (SSN), Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) or your Employer Identification Number (EIN). You can find your SSN on your Social Security card. You can find your ITIN on the CP565 notice from the IRS that assigned your ITIN. You can find your EIN on the CP575A notice from the IRS that assigned your EIN. Be sure to verify that the TIN you enter is your correct TIN.

If you are a single-member LLC, enter the owner's SSN or EIN. Do not enter the disregarded entity's EIN.

-----------------------------------------------

It sounds to me like you enter your EIN in the TIN field.

Or maybe not


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## Tasman (Oct 29, 2012)

Patty Jansen said:


> I got an email asking me to go through the tax interview.
> 
> I started on this, but
> 
> ...


I've just completed my form. I have an EIN, but there is no longer any mention of it, and apparently it is no longer required to receive your tax treaty withholding tax rate. I used my New Zealand tax ID only (I've never had a TIN) and the form confirmed the W/T rate would be 5%. Try continuing completing the form to see what the result is (tax-wise) ...you can ditch the form at any stage and start over if it tells you your tax rate will be 30%.

Hope that helps!


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

On page one, say NO you are not a US person. On page two, enter your country of residence. Then select NO to being an agent of an intermediary. Make sure your address is up-to-date and then at the bottom select: I have a foreign (non-U.S.) income tax identification number. On the next page, enter your Australian tax number (whatever you guys call it). Then hit Save and Next and it should tell you right at the top that your withholding has been reduced (you guys pay 5%, right?).

Hope that helps!

Rue


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Mine says "complete". I'm assuming I don't have to do anything further?


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

I got the tax interview email -- and I am a U.S. author. My account says my tax information is complete. I've never got the email before. I'm confused. Do I have to do anything?


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## I&#039;m a Little Teapot (Apr 10, 2014)

YodaRead said:


> I got the tax interview email -- and I am a U.S. author. My account says my tax information is complete. I've never got the email before. I'm confused. Do I have to do anything?


Ditto.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

SevenDays said:


> Ditto.


I sent the help desk an email laying out the information and requesting guidance. I'm not sure when they'll email back.


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

Mine said complete, but Amazon said they wanted it updated before December 31st, so I updated it.



> To avoid delays in receiving your year-end tax forms at your address, make sure to update or correct your contact information in your Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) account by re-taking the tax interview on the website by December 31, 2014.





> To avoid delays in receiving your year-end tax forms at your address, make sure to update or correct your contact information in your CreateSpace account by re-taking the tax interview on the website by December 31, 2014.


Hope that helps!

Rue


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2014)

I redid the tax interview and used my Australian tax file number. It said the 5% tax rate would apply. At the end it marked my details as complete.


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## Glenna (Dec 1, 2014)

For the Canadians here, do you enter your SIN or another number if you are incorporated?


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

I used my SIN because my business is a sole proprietorship. If you're company is incorporated, then you'll want to use the tax ID associated with your incorporated company, I would think.

Hope that helps!

Rue


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## Drake (Apr 30, 2014)

I updated mine because I'd moved, but it looked like they already had the correct information.


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## Writer1000 (Jul 28, 2013)

I just updated it. I have an EIN so I ticked the box that said I have a US TIN and Foreign TIN. The next page gives you an option to say it's an EIN.

I entered both EIN and the Australian company tax file number on the appropriate fields. The Tax Information dashboard now shows 'complete' with today's date on it, and the usual 5% withholding rate.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Glenna said:


> For the Canadians here, do you enter your SIN or another number if you are incorporated?


I have an EIN, zero tax withholding


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## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

I filled it in just now, and it doesn't seem like our EINs are necessary any more. I just selected the option for putting in my foreign tax ID and entered my UK national insurance number, and ended up with the same lovely 0% tax withholding at the end.


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## BiancaRaven (Jul 26, 2014)

Patty Jansen said:


> I got an email asking me to go through the tax interview.
> 
> I started on this, but
> 
> ...


I'm in Australia too, so I understand your confusion with the Tax Interview forms. I have an EIN, but no ITIN. When I went to fill in the forms, I entered the EIN where it specified TIN.

The result was that I now get 5% tax withheld from all Amazon sales instead of 30%


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## Brevoort (Jan 27, 2014)

So, I used my Canadian tax number (the S.I.N.) with CS and Amazon and all is fine. Kobo, being Canadian required no tax information. But what about Smashwords, D2D or the others? Smashwords says nothing about foreign tax identifiers and seems to insist on a paper based ITIN procedure.

Does anyone know whether the IRS simplifications (hah!) now also apply to other distributors?


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## Glenna (Dec 1, 2014)

Rue, Quiss,  Thank you.  Seems if we incorporate, we need the EIN.  I'm reluctant to put my SIN out there.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

I got the email too. Are we supposed to complete the form every year? I completed it last month and got a 0% tax withholding by entering my national insurance (NI) number as a UK citizen.

Should I be filling in the form again?


Philip


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

I read the email to mean that they want us to CHECK the details are correct, and if not, update them so that the end of year report will be correct. I know my info is right, so I didn't do anything.


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## AlexBrantham (Feb 27, 2014)

The question at the front of the interview - are you an individual or an organisation - is important, I think. If you say you're an individual and then go on to offer a TIN, they only want an SSN or ITIN - because EINs aren't for individuals. I guess that if you want to put your EIN in, you'll have to open up by saying you are a foreign organisation.

However, as others have said, that seems not to be necessary any more, as they are accepting foreign tax IDs so you can just say you're an individual and put your own TAX ID in when they ask for it.

They say they're going to check that but it would be interesting to hear from anyone brave enough to put a random number in there just to see if they ever do!

And, for UK users, one or two people have said they're putting their NI number in there - I'm pretty sure that's not right, it should be your UTR (10 digits, no letters). You have registered with HMRC as being self-employed, right?!


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## kathrynoh (Oct 17, 2012)

> I read the email to mean that they want us to CHECK the details are correct, and if not, update them so that the end of year report will be correct. I know my info is right, so I didn't do anything.


I'm assuming that's what they meant too but it'd have nice if they'd actually said it that clearly.


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## DaniO (Oct 22, 2012)

I used my UTR when updating my info on Createspace, but I've heard quite a few people say they are using their NI number. I did ask Amazon which number to use. They just repeated that they wanted my TIN  
I guess I should update kdp too as they no longer accept EINs, but mine says complete and I don't want to mess it up by updating


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## cecilia_writer (Dec 28, 2010)

I also have an EIN but I used my UTR (British tax number) this time as it seemed possible to do it without any US numbers. It's only about 6 months since I last filled in one of these but I had trouble with receiving payments from them at some point during the year so I thought I'd better do it again just in case.
It took me 5 attempts to get through the mailing address part and when I saw the final form they had still got the address slightly wrong but as it was quite an academic error that a lot of UK companies also tend to make (Edinburgh isn't in a county but it often defaults to being in Midlothian) I just gave up and left it in the end.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

The KDP form wouldn't allow me to submit my EIN (Too many letters) So I've just entered my UK tax number (NI number). It's gone through, but I guess it remains to be seen if that's okay or not.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

cecilia_writer said:


> I also have an EIN but I used my UTR (British tax number) this time as it seemed possible to do it without any US numbers. It's only about 6 months since I last filled in one of these but I had trouble with receiving payments from them at some point during the year so I thought I'd better do it again just in case.
> It took me 5 attempts to get through the mailing address part and when I saw the final form they had still got the address slightly wrong but as it was quite an academic error that a lot of UK companies also tend to make (Edinburgh isn't in a county but it often defaults to being in Midlothian) I just gave up and left it in the end.


Oh, that's interesting, you put your actual tax number...

Mmm...


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

AlexBrantham said:


> And, for UK users, one or two people have said they're putting their NI number in there - I'm pretty sure that's not right, it should be your UTR (10 digits, no letters). You have registered with HMRC as being self-employed, right?!


I've been using my NI number up until now. I must have read it somewhere, back when I first submitted all this info. You're right though, the UTR would make more sense. Not sure how to proceed now. It's gone through fine with my NI number. (Maybe they just want a number in there so they can say they've done their bit?!)


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## shadowfox (Jun 22, 2012)

You can use either your NI number or your UTR.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

I've changed it to my UTR. *shrugs* *Goes to make coffee*


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2014)

Do you actually have to do anything?

Mine comes up with a green tick and complete even though I got an email to update my records. I just re-saved my information page.


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## cecilia_writer (Dec 28, 2010)

TobiasRoote said:


> Do you actually have to do anything?
> 
> Mine comes up with a green tick and complete even though I got an email to update my records. I just re-saved my information page.


Yes, mine came up with a green tick as well, but I am now terrified of doing something wrong in case they withhold my payment again as they did once before, so I just went through it again.


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## RomanceAuthor (Aug 18, 2014)

My tax info says "complete" and I am terrified to change anything. 

So they don't accept EIN anymore? Is that 100% sure? Because I gave my EIN before. . .


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## GTC (Dec 18, 2013)

I've been putting off sorting out an EIN because I'm a horrific procrastinator, but I just went through the form and used my NI number (UK) and it changed from 30% withholding to 0%. If only I'd done it a bit earlier I wouldn't be losing out on the $300 Amazon are withholding for this month's payment. Time to google whether it's possible to reclaim tax!


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## Ravenandblack (Jan 27, 2014)

cecilia_writer said:


> Yes, mine came up with a green tick as well, but I am now terrified of doing something wrong in case they withhold my payment again as they did once before, so I just went through it again.


Me too. Made this mistake with Allromanceebooks and had my account blocked for not updating my info, even though t was unchanged.
Better to err on the side of caution and complete the form I think.


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## darkline (Mar 30, 2014)

YodaRead said:


> My account says my tax information is complete. I've never got the email before. I'm confused. Do I have to do anything?


Same here. I asked KDP. That's what they replied:

"Thank you for contacting Kindle Direct Publishing. A jubilant holiday season, merry Christmas and a very happy new year to you!

I understand your concern about the email you received from our end regarding the tax information on your KDP account.

I see that the tax status on your KDP account shows "Valid." So, you can ignore the email we sent!

In case you want to make any edits to it, you might go ahead and update the tax information.

We sent out this email to a lot of authors and publishers just to keep our records updated."


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

AlexBrantham said:


> They say they're going to check that but it would be interesting to hear from anyone brave enough to put a random number in there just to see if they ever do!
> 
> And, for UK users, one or two people have said they're putting their NI number in there - I'm pretty sure that's not right, it should be your UTR (10 digits, no letters). You have registered with HMRC as being self-employed, right?!


I put in my UK NI number and got a 0% tax withholding status.

Like you, before I realised I could use my NI number, I thought about typing in a random number to see what would happen.

Too scared to do it though.

Philip


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## RomanceAuthor (Aug 18, 2014)

How do you guys get to the option of putting your NI in? I can't get to it at all. What do you select before?



Philip Gibson said:


> I put in my UK NI number and got a 0% tax withholding status.
> 
> Like you, before I realised I could use my NI number, I thought about typing in a random number to see what would happen.
> 
> ...


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## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

darkline said:


> Same here. I asked KDP. That's what they replied:
> 
> "Thank you for contacting Kindle Direct Publishing. A jubilant holiday season, merry Christmas and a very happy new year to you!
> 
> ...


Thank you for posting this. My Tax information is marked as "Complete" and "0% withholding rate", but I received the email, which did seem to expect me to go through the whole thing again - which I am reluctant to do for fear of it getting messed up in the process. The reply you received sounds like they are just alerting authors to ensure we make updates if needed.


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

Hi, I'm another one that freaked out.

We are currently living out of suitcases at my parents house with all our stuff in storage until April, which includes all my tax paperwork. I _really_ didnt want to call the IRS for my EIN number again so I also emailed Amazon to ask if I absolutely _had _to do something considering my details have not changed.

They have not replied yet, but in the meantime I have also had the same email from Createspace, also asking me to re-enter all my tax info.

I most certainly do not want to jeperdise my payments, but I don't want to get half way through, discover I don't have the info I need and then be unable to save....


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## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

Greenthecolour said:


> Time to google whether it's possible to reclaim tax!


It should be possible to reclaim tax withheld from the IRS - I have done so in the past. At the time I had to have an ITIN and fill out a US Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return (1040NR) and submit the 1042-S (which Amazon will send you). But that was a couple of years ago, and I don't know if the process has changed.


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## AlexBrantham (Feb 27, 2014)

RomanceAuthor said:


> How do you guys get to the option of putting your NI in? I can't get to it at all. What do you select before?


Just pick the options to say that you are an individual, resident in the UK. You'll get an option to say what kind of tax numbers you have and you pick the one that says you have a local (non US) tax number - sorry, can't remember exactly what they called it. Then you get the option to fill in the number.

It wouldn't be plausible to expect them to do any checking of the format of the number at this stage, so you could almost certainly fill in any old thing. However, there is a strong possibility that they might check down the line, so you ought to be putting a real number in there.

And, to repeat, strictly speaking your NI number is not your tax ID - that would be your UTR, which you'll have been given when you declared yourself to be self-employed, or if you've ever had to fill in a tax return.


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## AA.A (Sep 6, 2012)

I live in the UAE, I have to give 30%, great isn't it?


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Thanks for the replies. I hate filling in forms at the best of times - and especially not tax forms two days before Christmas


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## A.A (Mar 30, 2012)

darkline said:


> Same here. I asked KDP. That's what they replied:
> 
> "Thank you for contacting Kindle Direct Publishing. A jubilant holiday season, merry Christmas and a very happy new year to you!
> 
> ...


Cool - thanks for pasting that response in. Mine says 'complete' so I guess I'm good


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

A.A said:


> Cool - thanks for pasting that response in. Mine says 'complete' so I guess I'm good


Mine also said 'complete' but I filled it in again just to make sure. I did the same for the CreateSpace one, which I'd just completed in September.

I initially ticked that I had both a foreign tax number and a US tax number, but it didn't like my EIN number, so I went back and just ticked the 'foreign' tax number and that worked.


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## Dave Dutton (Sep 23, 2011)

Did anyone clarify that if the form says "complete", you don't actually have to go through the whole rigmarole again and fill it in?


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

Mine said 'complete' and they had my EIN and everything, but I went through and retook the interview anyway and put my UTR in, and it was fine. Still says 0%. I'm assuming it's just a formality, but I knew I was on shaky ground with my EIN to start with so I prefer to use my UK number if I can.


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## Lexi Revellian (May 31, 2010)

I queried and got this reply:

Hello Lexi,

I checked your account and can confirm that we did send "Update Contact Information for Year End Tax Reporting" e-mail to you on December 22, 2014. This message was indeed sent by Amazon.com. [I didn't doubt that]

Your withholding rate is set as 0%. Please note that, your 1042 form will be postmarked by March 15, 2015 and mailed to the address listed on your account at the end of 2014.

If you changed the mailing address on your account since 2014, or if you're no longer able to receive mail at address listed on your account, please sign in to your account and update your current mailing address and tax information. This is the reason, we sent an e-mail to update the contact information on your account.

If the address on your account and tax information are up-to-date, then there is no further action required from your end. If you'd like to update the contact information, please follow these steps:

1. Sign into your KDP Account: http://kdp.amazon.com

2. Click on "(Your Name)'s Account" on the top right corner of page

3. Scroll to the "Tax Information" section

4. Click on the button to "Update Tax Information" or "Complete Tax Information."

Once you update your tax and contact information, you can follow the status of your submission on your KDP Account page under "Tax Information".

If you've any issue or need further clarification, please don't hesitate to contact us. We're happy to resolve the issue for you.

I hope this helps. Thanks for using Amazon KDP.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Lexi Revellian said:


> I queried and got this reply:
> 
> If the address on your account and tax information are up-to-date, then there is no further action required from your end. If you'd like to update the contact information, please follow these steps:


Why couldn't they have put this on the email they sent!  Would have saved us all a lot of bother. But have to admit that when I filled in the form again most of the info was already there so it was quite painless .


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## Dmotley (Sep 26, 2014)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> I read the email to mean that they want us to CHECK the details are correct, and if not, update them so that the end of year report will be correct. I know my info is right, so I didn't do anything.


This is exactly how I understood it.


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## Maria Staal (Feb 1, 2011)

I don't know if there are any other Dutchies on this board, but I just did the taxs interview and instead of my EIN, filled in my Dutch BSN number (formerly sofi number). That seems to be the one to use.

Further more I found this very helpfull blogpost by Catherine Howard. 
http://catherineryanhoward.com/taxinterview/


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## SmartQuant (Mar 4, 2014)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> Why couldn't they have put this on the email they sent!  Would have saved us all a lot of bother. But have to admit that when I filled in the form again most of the info was already there so it was quite painless .


Once I saw that the email said, "make sure to update or correct your contact information in your Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) account by *re-taking* the tax interview on the website by December 31, 2014" I simply retook the interview. As Jan said, it was quite painless and took not time at all.


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## OW (Jul 9, 2014)

I have found this quite annoying as apart from the name and address, all the other information is blank. Meaning I have to hunt out and re-identify the number I already hunted out an identified a few months ago. Though this time it seems I now need to also decide whether to add my UTR or NI number.

Also, I'm not sure what to make of this?

"I have reviewed the tests that appear in Article 4 of the treaty and qualify as a resident of the country selected above for income tax purposes. Refer to the IRS website for additional information."

Does anyone know what or where these tests are that I'm supposed to declare I have reviewed please?


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

ruecole said:


> I just did the interview. Came up with 0% withholding after I entered my foreign (non-US) tax identification number (AKA Canadian SIN number).
> 
> Rue


I'm in Canada what is all this talk about interview? What interview?


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

Patty Jansen said:


> I got an email asking me to go through the tax interview.
> 
> I started on this, but
> 
> ...


I got an interview email. But when i logged in my TAX thing said COMPLETE so i didn't even click on update tax information.


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

Quiss said:


> Mine says "complete". I'm assuming I don't have to do anything further?


That is what mine said, even after getting the email. Leave it, unless it has a message saying "We are holding all your money like we do every time we do when we say we are going to pay you lol " then don't worry. ( im in canada )


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

darkline said:


> Same here. I asked KDP. That's what they replied:
> 
> "Thank you for contacting Kindle Direct Publishing. A jubilant holiday season, merry Christmas and a very happy new year to you!
> 
> ...


So there is the answer. It says ignore the email if its valid and green.


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## OW (Jul 9, 2014)

Your probably right and it does make sense. However given the wording of the original email I'm not sure I'll feel right risking it. 
I'm trying to do it now though am stuck here:

"I have reviewed the tests that appear in Article 4 of the treaty and qualify as a resident of the country selected above for income tax purposes. Refer to the IRS website for additional information."

Any ideas what this is about?


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

MirandaPCharles said:


> I just updated it. I have an EIN so I ticked the box that said I have a US TIN and Foreign TIN. The next page gives you an option to say it's an EIN.
> 
> I entered both EIN and the Australian company tax file number on the appropriate fields. The Tax Information dashboard now shows 'complete' with today's date on it, and the usual 5% withholding rate.


I ended up doing this, but no matter what I do, it keeps coming back to me with invalid tax info a couple of days later.

I'm thinking my EIN is no longer valid?


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## Writer1000 (Jul 28, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> I ended up doing this, but no matter what I do, it keeps coming back to me with invalid tax info a couple of days later.
> 
> I'm thinking my EIN is no longer valid?


I just checked mine again, Patty. It's still saying complete. Did yours say complete then changed to invalid after a couple of days? Strange, if that's the case.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

MirandaPCharles said:


> I just checked mine again, Patty. It's still saying complete. Did yours say complete then changed to invalid after a couple of days? Strange, if that's the case.


It keeps saying invalid. I've just submitted it for the third time. Then it goes to saying that the info is being reviewed. I didn't change anything the first time this happened.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Patty Jansen said:


> I ended up doing this, but no matter what I do, it keeps coming back to me with invalid tax info a couple of days later.
> 
> I'm thinking my EIN is no longer valid?


I just omitted the EIN altogether and left my foreign tax number. I didn't have any problems.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> I just omitted the EIN altogether and left my foreign tax number. I didn't have any problems.


I went through all the effort of getting the damn thing, I want to use it. *stamps foot*

Oh well, we'll see if it comes back a third time, that may be what I'll need to do.


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Patty Jansen said:


> I'm thinking my EIN is no longer valid?


I think it's not so much that it's not valid as that's not what they want any more. For furriners, they want a local tax number. That's what seems to be working nowadays.


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