Monday 30 November 2009

Free e-day tomorrow

Just a reminder that tomorrow, 1 December 2009, is Free e-day - the celebration of free writing, art and music on the internet. Details of the participating writers, artists and musicians, and details of the events, both physical and virtual, can be found at http://freeeday.wordpress.com

See you there!

Sunday 22 November 2009

A second retail outlet

I am delighted to announce that Albion Beatnik, Oxford's trendiest bookshop, situated in Walton Street, Jericho, is now stocking 'The Octogenarian Ski-jumper'. Many thanks to Dennis Harrison of Albion Beatnik!

Wednesday 18 November 2009

First retail outlet signs up!

I am delighted to announce that The Octogenarian Ski-jumper is now stocked at Daisy Chain, the greeting card shop in Windmill Road, Headington. Many thanks to Louise Ryan of Daisy Chain!

Wednesday 11 November 2009

New website for book reviews

If you like books, you'll love www.booksquawk.com. It's a website run by professional writers, and offers daily book reviews. It's less than a week old - you heard it here first. Maybe.

Friday 6 November 2009

At last

The Octogenarian Ski-jumper has now been published. It's been a long time coming, but I took delivery of the first copy earlier this week. The book is now available through the publishing company, and can be purchased by clicking here. It will take several weeks for it to be available through the likes of Amazon and WH Smith, but I will update this site when it starts to show up.
If you aren't sure, feel free to download some of the sample chapters for free by clicking on the links to the right. And if you like what you read, I'd be delighted if you forward the downloads to others you think would enjoy them.

Sunday 1 November 2009

Planning ahead - paying tax in the right country

I am a UK citizen and resident. However, I intend to sell The Octogenarian Ski-jumper in the USA as well. And lulu (and, I assume, other US-based organisations) have to withhold tax on US sales at 30%. There is, however, a way to get your US-sale royalties paid without this deduction of tax (didn't somebody once say 'no taxation without representation'?) In this post I describe what I did to achieve this. I should preface it by saying that I am not an accountant or tax adviser - I'm just recording what I did.
The steps are (1) get an International Tax Identification Number (ITIN) from the IRS (the US government's tax department), and then (2) record that information with lulu. The first step requires the completion of the W-7 form, and the second step requires completion of a W8-BEN form. Both forms can be downloaded from the IRS website at www.irs.gov.
the W8-BEN form is pretty straightforward. The W-7 has boxes to complete which vary from the trivial (you do know your name and address, don't you) to the arcane. And there are lots of stories on the internet of people submitting forms only to have them rejected three months later.
I am fortunate in that I live within striking distance of London, and there is an IRS office at the US Embassy. I opted for this route since the instructions on how to get an ITIN by post require not only the form but also either the submission of your passport, or notarised copies of various documents. I tried really hard to understand these instructions, and didn't get anywhere - if you have to follow this route, I recommend telephoning the IRS to determine precisely how to get the acceptable copies of your passport or other information.
Anyway, to the W-7 form itself.
  1. For most lulu authors for whom this is relevant, you are trying to get an ITIN so that you can avoid the 30% withholding tax on US sales. I was, so I was concerned about withholding tax on royalties. Therefore, I checked boxes A and H in section 1. Next to H I wrote 'Exception 1d-royalties'. My treaty country is 'United Kingdom', rather than 'England' or 'Scotland', for example.
  2. For the treaty article number - I wrote 12 for royalties. You can read the actual text of the treaty at http://www.treas.gov/offices/tax-policy/library/uktreaty.pdf, and there is a summary of treaties between the US and other governments which can be found at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p901.pdf. Table 1 in this document (on p39 in the 2009 edition) indicates that column 12, and therefore number 12 applies for royalties.
  3. The form's written instructions do tell you to write 'N/A' for 'not applicable', rather than leaving any boxes blank.
  4. I used by passport for ID - I asked what I should put for 'Issued by' and was told that 'UK' was fine.
  5. If you are going to the office in person as I did, you will need ID (e.g. a UK passport), and you should NOT bring anything electronic (so no mobile phone, no iPod - I was even asked if I had electronic car keys). Leave stuff like that at home - you don't want to be turned away and have to make another trip.
  6. I had to queue up in the 'Citizen Services' queue at the US embassy in London in order to get into the IRS office.
I was told that it would take about three months to get the ITIN.