Canada has a treaty with the U.S. for taxation purposes. Before I begin the process of publishing an iBook, I would like to know how Apple's royalty process works. Can I submit a W8-BEN form to them and prevent the usual tax withholding of 30% to the U.S. government so that I only need to pay Canadian taxes?
You may stand a chance of a related reply to your ibooks ebook
question by contacting Apple directly (see main page, contact)
Also a discussion path to the ibook-ebook area
follows (not notebook computer) along this line:
Apple Support Communities > iBooks Author > Sign-up / iTunes Connect > Discussions
•iOS iBooks: http://www.apple.com/support/ios/ibooks/
•Mac Apps: iBookshttp://www.apple.com/support/mac-apps/ibooks/
•iBooks Author: http://www.apple.com/support/mac-apps/ibooksauthor/
Apparently submitting a request to change the location of your post
so it would appear in a more applicable discussion area - has failed.
Consider looking into the "More Like This..." on the right side of the post area.
Example: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3988813?answerId=18515933022#18515933022
Good luck & happy computing! 🙂
Apple requires all none USA resident applicants for a paid book account to submit an EIN, valid bank and credit card details.
They do not make exception to these requirements for individuals- ie lets assume the Dan Brown and Stephen King would have their publisher do all this stuff.
1-267-941-1099 USA IRS Telephone - ( you may need to sort your own country dialling code.)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf Downloadable Application form in PDF form.
https://itunesconnect.apple.com/WebObjects/iTunesConnect.woa/wa/bookSignup
http://www.apple.com/itunes/working-itunes/sell-content/books/book-faq.html
This is not my question. I already have an EIN and a valid bank and credit card. These can all be provided to Apple when I create an iBook. This book has already been produced through CreateSpace and I have provided them with my EIN. But they also will process a W8-BEN form, so that when I earn royalties they do not withhold 30% for the U.S. government. As a Canadian, I will have to pay taxes on these royalties to the Canadian government. Canada and the U.S. have a treaty agreement allowing citizens to only pay taxes once to their own government. But, as a Canadian, I need to provide a W8-Ben form to whoever I will be earning royalties from. So, my question again is - does Apple accept and process this form so that I will not have 30% withheld for U.S. taxes? If I decide to move forward in producing an ibook version of my book, I do not wish to find out later that I will have to pay taxes to two governments.
It is the answer to your question - it states Apple requirements - which does not include W8-BEN.
Had you searched the iBookis Author discussion group - there are a great many threads dating back two years and all ask the same question and all get the same answewrs.
You can also get the asnwer you were looking for, if you look at the bottom link I included.
If you open iTunesConnect and check out the Contracts and Banking section - and you can fill in the sections, if you do you will also fined that England, Canada and Australia have additional requirements. Australia,s are required to hold an ABN ( Australian Business Number) and English/UK are required to supply an iBAN from their bank. ( it is with regard to Apple sending money US - UK its an anti money laundering thing and not sure which country implemented it) BUT as the Canadian requirement was not relevant to any of my applications.. I dont know what it is.
To expand on the W8-BEN - I have two online accounts with "print on demand" websites, Tee Shirts Mugs etc,.
Both accepted the W8-BEN from UK/Australia residents until about 6 months ago and sent out notices that we would need to supplpy an EIN.
The links and application process explain the tax situation and much depends on what - if any - Canada and USA have any reciprical agreememnts on their nationals having income from the countrie they are not nationals!
IF you were in a situation whereby Apple deducted 30% of your income in tax, you can includes the totals in your ( Canadian) annual tax return and should have your due amount reduced accordingly.
As with all things relevant to income taxes, any doubts should be discussed with your tax advisor.
Use the links provided or simply Google your questions and I am sure teh relevant Apple pagees will pop up.. also you can contact iBooks support and pose your questions.... they will add to your collection of links to plough through!
Have you checked any I and others have supplied to you?
My suggestion would be to simply apply to the US tax office for an EIN number and submit it with your account application.
Thank you for this information. I am just beginning the process for an Apple format for my book, so haven't checked many links as yet. I did look at the ones you supplied and have also seen them previously. Thanks.
Initially I began by doing what you've suggested - I tried to Google the answer and it brought me right up to this discussion link, so I began here. I checked a few of the discussions, but the ones I found didn't really answer my question.
A while ago, I briefly did look look at the iTunesConnect Contracts and Banking section, but didn't want to begin the process until I was fully informed.
I have already applied and received my EIN number from the US tax office. I can supply the ISBN that they require and any other relevant information.
So, I will take your suggestion and contact iBooks support directly to see if they will accept the W8-BEN form after I have filled out the information in the Contracts and Banking section.
Thanks.
When your post originally appeared in a portable computer forum,
I sought first to have it moved to the ibooks author or related one;
and then it did not get moved. So I answered the post where it was
in the iBooks (G3/G4) notebooks computer discussions area.
Then it was moved. Since it was moved after I provided links to
several places most likely to have a similar answer or link you
to ask of the question more directly, I am glad someone was able
to see your post more effectively after an ASC Host finally moved it.
Good luck & happy computing! 🙂
Hi K Shaffer:
Thank you very much for all your trouble. That was very kind of you to try to have my post moved to a more relevant spot. I am very new at these discussion boards and just happened upon what seemed to be the right spot through a Google search. With any luck, a representative in the Customer Service department will be able to answer my question definitively. Thanks again.
Just an added thought, if you intend to use iBooksAuthor, its better to use its own discussion group.
At the top look for the Apple communities link, click it and scroll down to teh iBooks icon and select the iBooksAuthor group.
This group is OK,, but not as helpful for iBA users.
If you are using an app that creates ePub format, there is a user group for that as you will see.
Thank you very much for this info.
Yes, I do intend to use iBooksAuthor, so I will ensure in future that I go to it's own discussion group. I had no idea these groups were separate.
Thanks
A lot of help, advice and information can be found using most of the groups under the "iBooksAuthor" section of the Apple Support Communities. it's a good idea ..if you have time... To read a few of the threads as you set out on your project. It will help if read the Help files in iBA.
I suggest you do not set out on a serious project at first.. Better to have a dummy run with any template.
open every drop down menu and check out the functions, it's really helpful to understand how to customise a template.
during your dummy run...hit a problem....do a search of the group and it's odds on you get a thread which helps...if not post your questions.
Have fun, don't panic if it goes wrong...and get into the habit of saving a back up version of any serious project.
This sounds like great advice. I have 2 finished projects that should be on Amazon within the month. Just ironing out logistical issues with them such as hardcover versus paperback.
But I definitely want them in ebook format as well and as an Apple lover would love to make these books available in this format. But, as you suggest, it is a great idea to get really familiar with the process. It was a steep learning curve with CreateSpace and I expect this to be so as well. But I'm enjoying (for the most part) the learning process. Sometimes it can be frustrating.
You have given me some wonderful suggestions on how to proceed. Thanks ever so much!
Don't forget, myself and many others more knowledgable than I... are here to help however and whenever we can.... and we have allprogressed through the learning curve.
The real clincher is learning how to edit the free templates and change colours, fonts etc, to your own idea's and make the book yours and not just a filled in templete like a thousand others.
Its a bit like plaiting sawdust - difficult untill you know what sticks it all together!
Oh, dear! I hope there are blank templates that I can just upload my files to. I hired a graphic artist who did a marvelous job - far better than anything I could have done myself. My first 2 books are picture books for children with wonderful pictures on every page. I just want to upload the existing files and not change a thing.
Depends how your other books were created, if you have an ePub, you still need an image of the book cover, up to five screenshots of pages and either allow iTunesProducer to take a chapter as a preview or create your own consisting of at least 16 pages.
cover image should be 1400px minimum width in Portrait 1400x1830 or so is typical
screen shots can be 2048x1536 or half that size
Right now, I only have the cover PDF file and the interior PDF file that my Graphic artist created for my books. They meet CreateSpace's specs, so I'm not sure how different the specs will be for the iBook. This will all be part of the learning process. But if need be, I'll hire my Graphic artist again to modify the files to meet the iBook Author requirements.
Can a Canadian publishing an iBook submit a W8-BEN form so that 30% tax is not withheld for the U.S. government?
