Dear IRS – Does applying for an ITIN really have to be this hard?

This is a Canadian Indie Author’s journey to getting an Individual Tax Identification Number (“ITIN”)… to stop the IRS from taking 30% of my book sales, when there’s a treaty that says they should get 0%!!
FIRST: I must tell you that if you’re planning on self-publishing soon, you should make your application to the IRS immediately!! I waited until after I hit the publish button with Amazon for my debut novel, Twisted, and quickly learned that, though an ITIN isn’t required, Amazon withholds 30% of your sales and remits it to the IRS.

I was surprised to sell 1,000 books within the first month of publishing, so needless to say I became more than a little disappointed to hand my money over to the IRS. There is a treaty between Canada and the United States that grants 0% withholding, but that isn’t effective and applied to your KDP account unless you file your W-8BEN with Amazon. You need an ITIN before you can file that form.
Here’s my gift to new self-published authors across Canada.