Tax ID# Question

Are you not American? I know that if you're not American and you have an American literary agent, you are required to get a Tax ID number, in this case referred to as an ITIN for international taxation purposes. Both my wife and I had to do this for our respective agents because we're both Canadian, but our agents are in the USA. Usually if you're American, your social security number should be sufficient for accounting/financial purposes, isn't that the case?

Otherwise, if you want to avoid an expensive consultation with a tax attorney, if you have an account, you can try asking your accountant, or if you can call the IRS and ask them if it's required for your specific business purpose.

Kathl33n said:

I have a publisher who sent me a contract. Yay!

Years ago, I had to have a Tax ID# for selling jewelry. So, this publisher has requested that I get a Tax ID# for when I am paid royalties. I asked the legal person I've been emailing back and forth about this Tax ID# - is it limited to only one thing? Can I use it for this, too, since it's still me?

The response I received was pretty much along the lines of "we're fine with that, but if you want to know for sure, you may want to hire a tax attorney."

Does anyone know the answer so I don't have to pay big bucks to an attorney to find out the answer?

Many thanks. I did do a search under "Tax ID#," but the search results were something like my search was too broad of a subject and I didn't get anything else, so I do apologize if this has been asked before.

Thanks again.

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Is the publisher not in the US, or are you not American? You should just need your SSN unless you're not I think, but I dunno about if the publisher is someplace else. I'd think it wouldn't matter for your purposes and you'd just use your SSN like regular.

If your publisher is also in Maryland, I wonder if they aren't talking about a Maryland business license which is a state tax ID.

My SSN is my tax ID. Unless I incorporate (usually a Chapter S inc for small businesses) I don't need an EIN (employer identification number), but you can get one regardless. The EIN would be my tax ID if I wasn't using my SSN. I'm registered as a sole proprietor rather than a corporation.

I've been self employed for ~35 years. I have a state business license (WA). You need to check Maryland law. It was free but they send me notices to pay B&O (business and occupation) taxes every year. If you don't make much you won't owe anything.

Then I have 3 city licenses for cities I do business in, but there are dozens of cities I do business in that do not require licenses. Two of the licenses require an annual fee, the other only wants taxes if I make a lot of money.

Oh yeah, and with USAPatriot Act, you won't be able to cash checks in your business name unless you get that business license: Jane Doe DBA Bookgal.

But if the checks are in your name rather than your business, there's no problem.


Your tax ID for selling jewelry sounds like a state thing. If I sold retail which sales tax was owed on, I would still pay under my B&O filing under the Master Business License (MBL) I have. That is the state license and does have an identifying number.

In this state if I change businesses, I still use my original MBL. I have changed businesses once, I didn't change my MBL.



There, I'm done editing now.

Your Tax ID# for selling jewelry...was that so you could collect sales tax? If so, that's not what you need for a royalty-paying book contract. As others have noted, if you're American, you just need an SSN so that the publisher can properly remit 1099s to the IRS indicating your US taxation ID (the SSN for most people). There is no sales tax for you to collect, so any sales tax ID you obtained in order to sell jewelry shouldn't have anything to do with this.

Tax ID's for business purposes are tricky, and a lot of it has to do with liability as well as fiduciary solvency - I know a lot of photographers back in the 90's and early 2000's who did not incorporate or form an LLC and just threw up sites literally collecting paychecks but not withholding taxes or anything, and reported nothing to the IRS. Eventually the Feds found out, came calling, and the ones who did not have a separate business Tax ID were personally liable and had their own taxes withheld until the shortfalls were fully recouped.

All that said, and the above advice considered, the famous phrase of IANAL applies and if you really want to do it right, you pony up the bucks to hire a Tax Attorney and get professional consultative services. Usually an initial meet n greet to discuss options is less than $250 (ymmv). Talk to them - they're the ones who went to school for it, and they should be the ones to advise you - not writers on an online writer forum...

What Jason said. Locking this.