question

Ocal Sonmez asked Nov 23, '12

Withhold taxes for international developers

A friend of my filled the w-7 form and sended to IRS, and it is almost 1 year and he still didn't get the ITIN number (he is from Netherlands), this situation is really irritating. shutterstock already solved this problem: A friend of mine who also makes money online is a shutterstock submitter and recently the same tax withholding issue was raised there and resolved. Naturally there were plenty of non-US individuals who were not too happy with 30% being witheld and especially going through the expense and time to obtain an ITIN left many upset and bewildered. Shutterstock in consultation with the IRS came up with a solution. If you are a foreign national, you do not need an ITIN to claim your countries tax treaty. Just submit W-8BEN! http://www.mystockphoto.org/shutterstock-tax-center/ For the most of the contributors – that are submitting to Shutterstock as an individual and are resident of a country that has a tax treaty -, it’s easy to submit Form W-8BEN online without Tax ID # Shutterstock solved this problem for their international developers why can't Amazon do this? So that we only need to fill W-8BEN form without Tax ID (ITIN)

amazon appstore showcase

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Henderson@Amazon answered Nov 23, '12

Hello gulstar3, We have received your inquiry, and we apologize for any inconveniences the issue may have caused. While we investigate, we invite you to supply additional information through our Contact form: https://developer.amazon.com/help/contactus.html You can expect to receive a message shortly via the email address listed in your developer account.

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Brilliant Brains answered Jan 15, '13

You are right in saying that ITIN is not required and only W8-BEN is enough. I have accounts with Apple and other stores where I receive the royalty and they do not require an ITIN. I wonder why is Amazon making it difficult for international developers by asking for an ITIN or withholding the 30%. Amazon should get this cleared as soon as possible as its very frustrating.

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Sachin@Amazon answered Jan 16, '13

Hi Sangeetha, Thank you for your feedback/suggestion. Can you please raise a ContactUs ( https://developer.amazon.com/help/contactus.html) for this issue so that we can forward it to the concern team?

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Brilliant Brains answered Jan 16, '13

Done. BTW, I am "withholding" submitting my highly popular paid apps on Amazon store until the tax issue gets resolved. Thanks and good luck!

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