[Retailer] All Romance eBooks, LLC / OmniLit

Captcha said:

You have a book available on Amazon, though? Did they not require an ITIN?

Are they withholding 30% tax off your sales? You can get that back if you file a US tax return after you get your ITIN...

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As I recal Amazon doesn't require it as they have a Canadian presence/business office. The author will be required to pay income tax however so records of earnings should be kept.

michael_b said:

You need to fill out a W8 BEN form and send it and proof of identity to the US IRS. My understanding is that--usually--they'll have you use your Canadian Tax number but the form still needs to be sent in.

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This doesn't sound right to me - do you have personal experience with this? What's the basis for this information?

As a Canadian who publishes in the US, I have been asked to send the W8-BEN to withholding agents (the people who send me royalties and who would, without the W8-BEN, withhold 30% of my income), not to the IRS, and this is supported by the IRS website's W8-BEN instructions.

There's a spot on the W8-BEN that asks for the ITIN and the instructions say:

If you do not have an SSN and are not eligible to get
one, you must get an individual taxpayer identification
number (ITIN). To apply for an ITIN, file Form W-7 with
the IRS. It usually takes 4-6 weeks to get an ITIN.

I don't see any allowance for using a foreign tax withholding number. I don't think it's a good idea to expect the IRS to be flexible/understanding, based on my limited experience with them.

So OP, unless Michael can clarify, I'd stand by my original post. You need to get an ITIN through the process I described. With an ITIN you can receive income from American sources, but they'll take off 30% of your income and send it to the IRS. (That's why you need an ITIN, to be sure the money they withhold is credited to your account - if you tried to use your Canadian SIN instead of the ITIN, I don't think you'd be able to get the money back!). You can file a US tax return to get that back or, much more easily, you can file a W8-BEN and send it to the withholding agent (pubisher/distributor) to tell them NOT to take that money off in the first place.

Hi,

Thanks for the info. So basically there are 4 pay periods a year is what I'm seeing???

Would it be something like this?

Jan - March - Paid 45 days later, so basically towards the end of May?

Then April - June - paid somewhere in the end of July, etc?

Thanks!

michael_b said:

As I recal Amazon doesn't require it as they have a Canadian presence/business office. The author will be required to pay income tax however so records of earnings should be kept.

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Yes, this exactly. Which is why I had/have no clue about this whole US tax ID thingie.

OK, stupid question of the day: does this retailer require self-publishers to submit an actual hard copy of a W8-BEN? I've registered with the site as a self-publisher and supplied my EIN, but at no point did it ask me to print and mail a hard copy of my W8-BEN. I can't seem to find any instructions about this and they seem happy with my EIN, but I don't want to wake up and find that the IRS have taken 30% of my royalties. Anybody?

Parametric said:

OK, stupid question of the day: does this retailer require self-publishers to submit an actual hard copy of a W8-BEN? I've registered with the site as a self-publisher and supplied my EIN, but at no point did it ask me to print and mail a hard copy of my W8-BEN. I can't seem to find any instructions about this and they seem happy with my EIN, but I don't want to wake up and find that the IRS have taken 30% of my royalties. Anybody?

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This link should have all the tax info you need. You have to register as a publisher, not author, even when self publishing.

michael_b said:

This link should have all the tax info you need. You have to register as a publisher, not author, even when self publishing.

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Thanks, Michael. I've already registered as a publisher using that form, including supplying my EIN. But other ebook retailers (Amazon and Smashwords) have specifically requested a hard copy W8-BEN form mailed to their offices in the US. This was never mentioned during the ARE signup process, so I'm trying to figure out whether I need to mail them a hard copy W8-BEN form as well as the details I provided in their signup form.

Thanks a ton, Captcha - that's super helpful. I thought it had to be a requirement.

I should just have emailed, shouldn't I?

Thus speaketh the retailer:

We do not need a paper copy of the W-8BEN, the online version you've already completed is all we need.

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So there is no further requirement after completing the publisher signup process.

All Romance Ebooks ARe, Closing Down

Not sure this goes here, please move accordingly

ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS


To Whom It May Concern:


It is with great sadness I announce that we are winding down the operations of All Romance eBooks, LLC. For the first year since opening in 2006, we will be posting a loss. The financial forecast for 2017 isn't hopeful and we've accepted that there is not a viable path forward.
We are grateful for the opportunity to have worked with you. On midnight, December 31, our sites will go dark and your content will cease to be available for sale through our platforms. This includes any content you are having us distribute to Apple. If you wish to inactivate your content sooner, you can do so by logging into your publisher portal.


We will be unable to remit Q4 2016 commissions in full and are proposing a settlement of 10 cents on the dollar (USD) for payments received through 27 December 2016. We also request the following conditions:


1. That you consider this negotiated settlement to be “paid in full”.
2. That no further legal action be taken with regards to the above referenced commissions owed.


If you are willing to accept the offered amount and the terms proposed, please hit the reply on this email keeping the history intact. Change the subject to “Publisher Settlement Acceptance” and copy/paste the acceptance statement below into your email, filling in the fields.


Upon receipt of the signed agreement, I will authorize payment of the settlement amount in full by 28 February 2016 via the method stipulated in your publisher account.


It is my sincere hope that we will be able to settle this account and avoid filing for bankruptcy, which would undoubtedly be a prolonged and costly process.


I appreciate that you may have questions. Unfortunately, we will be operating with limited staff as we prepare for closure. We will do our best to respond to the extent possible and will do so in the order received. Our priority over the next few weeks will be processing settlement requests. At this time, there is no additional information to share.


I thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.


Sincerely,

Lori James

All Romance Ebooks, LLC

I have never made much income from ARe, but that $0.10 on the dollar thing is...well, ridiculous.

mrsmig said:

Oy. It's too bad the company is going to fold, but the fact that they're doing this with less than a week's notice and stiffing their authors out of their rightful final quarter's earnings into the bargain is just wrong.

When will these publishers realize that their authors' royalties are sacrosanct? That their portion of their books' earnings belong to them, and are not to be used to defray the operating expenses of the publisher? That using those royalties to cover the publisher's expenses is, in fact, stealing?

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This x infinity.

Plus, they were selling ad space for 2017 as of last week. How much do you want to bet that the authors who locked in for 2017 never see a penny refunded? And they've already set themselves up for not responding to those emails.

I appreciate that you may have questions. Unfortunately, we will be operating with limited staff as we prepare for closure. We will do our best to respond to the extent possible and will do so in the order received. Our priority over the next few weeks will be processing settlement requests. At this time, there is no additional information to share.

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mrsmig said:

Oy. It's too bad the company is going to fold, but the fact that they're doing this with less than a week's notice and stiffing their authors out of their rightful final quarter's earnings into the bargain is just wrong.

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I got the notice they sent out to readers, and I was flabbergasted. Flummoxed. Annoyed. Even though I didn't buy many books, the idea that they are giving me less than four full days to download them is crazy.

Then I came over here to see if there was any discussion, and my gast was truly flabbered. They're telling authors... what?!

mrsmig said:

When will these publishers realize that their authors' royalties are sacrosanct? That their portion of their books' earnings belong to them, and are not to be used to defray the operating expenses of the publisher? That using those royalties to cover the publisher's expenses is, in fact, stealing?

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It's ... astounding to say the least. And not in a good way.

And their Facebook page's on fire.

It ain't pretty, especially since there's no mention anywhere about the closing. You have to go directly to the main website for any information or, if you're an author selling through them, you've received the final terms. Or, if you're brave enough, read the Facebook comments (HINT: )

If you have anything you need to download, people are reporting inordinate hang times and even crashes.

I had some plans to go wide there after my books were up with KU, there goes that plan. I cannot imagine the authors who are owed some real money from them. Their offer turns thousands into hundreds...I can't even imagine the stress those authors are going through.
Add that to the fact that they are still up in terms of sells, shady business for sure.

According to a FB thread I'm following, customer credits have been deleted, so they're screwing over readers, too.

It took me a while to finally get logged in to my publisher account to inactivate my 2 titles selling at more than $0. As a publisher, I never sold much there so I probably am out no money directly. However, my indie publisher, Evernight Publishing, did quite a bit there and I suspect I will lose some $$ that route.

A shame really because ARe (and Bookstrand) were erotica-friendly whereas Amazon often was not and tended to bury adult books.

The ARe sight is extremely slow the moment. It took me about an hour to deactivate less then a dozen book. But I did hear that authors would not be paid for anything sold between now and the closing day (I can not confirm that). So I recommend taking the time and deactivating your books on the site now. I recieved errors repeatedly before the first book went through finally.

I've read a notice somewhere that they won't be refunding readers who have paid for books ahead of publication. I'm pretty sure that if credit cards or Paypal were used to pay for those purchases, people can put in a claim for a refund with their credit card company or with Paypal. I might be wrong, but it's worth saying.

I'm so sorry to see yet another company screwing writers. This just is not fair.

Screwing writers AND readers. I'm glad I wasn't working with them and have all sympathy for those who were.

Pleased to be able to say Evernight (with which I have one novel) has stated it will pay the authors in full for ARe sales despite ARe's stipulations. So sorry for other authors and publishers taking this hit.

zmethos said:

Pleased to be able to say Evernight (with which I have one novel) has stated it will pay the authors in full for ARe sales despite ARe's stipulations. So sorry for other authors and publishers taking this hit.

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How incredibly commendable. Speaks very highly of Evernight.

Goodness, what a mess. I have no idea how they managed to make this much of a loss. They were a huge online retailer and probably second only to Amazon when it came to erom sales.

Less Than Three Press have also said they'd pay authors the full amount owed from ARe sales.