When I signed up to get my books published with CreateSpace, Amazom, and then later with IngraMSpark and Smashwords, (US Companies) they all had the infamous IRS wanting to claim 30% of any royalties I made, even though I am a Canadian and Canada has a free trade agreement with the US. Originally, they all posted links to IRS and the various ITIN (International Tax Identification Number) forms I had to fill out and get approved in order to avoid this money grab.

I just so happened to be researching this topic on the web and came across Crystal Stranaghan’s website and how to make this process a whole lot simpler by getting an EIN (Employer Identification Number) in as little as 10 minutes. I called the number she had listed, and low and behold, after a 10 minute wait and a 10 minute interview, I had my EIN number.

I had no problem using it with CreateSpace and Amazon, and Smashwords will also accept it, but it needs to be in a print format. The only bug-a-boo was with IngramSpark that wanted me to get a GST (Canadian Goods and Services) number and fill out forms as if I was a retailer going to be buying books to sell. DAH! (Shaking my head) Why do they think I chose them as a POD (Print book) distributor so that they could distribute them to wholesalers or retailers globally. I write books, I don’t plan on carrying a bag of books and knocking on doors all over Canada or the world trying to sell them.

I sent them an email along with copies of the CreateSpace and Amazon approval for them to examine and maybe incorporate into their POD services. I’m waiting for their “favorable” response, as I’d hate to go through all that rigamarole just for one distributor.