{"id":2143,"date":"2013-06-11T16:59:16","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T20:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/?p=2143"},"modified":"2013-06-11T16:59:16","modified_gmt":"2013-06-11T20:59:16","slug":"business-and-tax-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/business-and-tax-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Business and Tax Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I first began freelancing for the Plattsburgh Press Republic in the United States, no special documentation was required. I invoiced the paper for my work and they paid by cheque. That\u2019s not the case now.<\/p>\n

Canadian writers who work for American publications now require two things: an ITIN and a W-8BEN. The process allows us to identify ourselves to a friendly foreign tax entity.<\/p>\n

An ITIN is also known as an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. The nine-digit number takes the place of a Social Security Number that U.S. residents or citizens use. The Internal Revenue Service distributes ITINs and the number remains a property of that service. I got mine by paying a fee and filling out a form at a U.S. federal services office in Burlington in a very pleasant day trip that included a visit to my favourite Vermont restaurant. A few weeks later, my ITIN card arrived in the mail.<\/p>\n

\"W8BEN\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The W-8BEN form is also called a \u201cCertificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding.\u201d I got a copy from the IRS website. Now, every time I work for an American company, I just send them a copy of my W-8BEN. (Note: Here\u2019s a link to the form: http:\/\/www.irs.gov\/pub\/irs-pdf\/fw8ben.pdf<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The process stems from a tax law passed on January 1, 2001. As of that date, any company must withhold 30% of payments to foreigners as potential tax due. Canada\u2019s tax treaty with the U.S. enables Canadian citizens to be exempt from this practice as long as they identify themselves to the IRS, which is what properly filling out the two forms does.<\/p>\n

Given that Canada\u2019s Income Tax Act (ITA) takes priority over all other pieces of legislation in our country as well, I\u2019m curious to know whether we have a similar process for American writers. If you know whether this is the case, please let me know via the comments below.<\/p>\n

Thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I first began freelancing for the Plattsburgh Press Republic in the United States, no special documentation was required. I invoiced the paper for my work and they paid by cheque. That\u2019s not the case now. Canadian writers who work for American publications now require two things: an ITIN and a W-8BEN. The process allows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journalism","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2buQs-yz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":209,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/209\/","url_meta":{"origin":2143,"position":0},"title":"Recent Study Confirms Local News Importance","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"April 14, 2012","format":"quote","excerpt":"Investigators in the U.S. phoned 2,251 households in January 2011 to get a handle on the importance of local news for a report released two days ago by the Pew Research Center\u2019s Project for Excellence in Journalism and Internet & American Life Project. Two quotes stand out for me: Nearly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Communications"","block_context":{"text":"Communications","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/services\/communications\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1466,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/federal-tax-agents-must-identify-themselves\/","url_meta":{"origin":2143,"position":1},"title":"Latest Move to Cut Red Tape for Businesses: Federal Tax Agents Must Identify Themselves","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"January 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the many irritants for the LaSalle resident who was charged for a basement that doesn\u2019t exist is the seeming lack of accountability by the municipal tax employee in charge of his file. Taxpayers at the Federal level have also complained of the same thing. That\u2019s why employees with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics That Matter"","block_context":{"text":"Politics That Matter","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/cultural-identity\/politics-that-matter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1365,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/lasalle-passes-2013-service-tax-rate\/","url_meta":{"origin":2143,"position":2},"title":"LaSalle Passes 2013 Service Tax Rate","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"December 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Property owners in LaSalle will be will be charged service taxes of 0.1149% on property values next year, in addition to borough taxes, water supply reserve taxes, investment taxes, a water-use fee and a waste-management fee. LaSalle set its rates on December 13 when two bylaws passed at the December\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LaSalle"","block_context":{"text":"LaSalle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/lasalleposts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1484,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/montreal-business-costs-lower-than-toronto-and-vancouver-but-retailers-dont-benefit\/","url_meta":{"origin":2143,"position":3},"title":"Montreal business costs lower than Toronto and Vancouver, but retailers don\u2019t benefit","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"February 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Verdun bookstore owner Philippe Sarrasin wasn\u2019t wrong to question his commercial taxes. A study conducted by KPMG last September compared overall commercial tax burdens in 55 cities within 113 countries around the world. While Canada fared well as a country, Montreal\u2019s had the highest labour costs of the 16 Canadian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics That Matter"","block_context":{"text":"Politics That Matter","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/cultural-identity\/politics-that-matter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"LibrairedeVerdun","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/LibrairedeVerdun.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16537,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/legion-pays-taxes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2143,"position":4},"title":"Legion buys a few months\u2019 peace","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"April 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, Joanne Proulx, Fred Jennings and Joseph Pugliese took a cheque for $52,880.80 to the LaSalle borough office. The payment covered Royal Canadian Legion Branch 212 property taxes for 2013 and 2014, half of the organization\u2019s water taxes for 2015, and a $45 Federal express charge for delivering a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Journalism"","block_context":{"text":"Journalism","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/writing\/notable-nonfiction\/journalism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"WP_20150415_001","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WP_20150415_001-337x600.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1368,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/laval-completes-triennial-tax-evaluation\/","url_meta":{"origin":2143,"position":5},"title":"Laval Completes Triennial Tax Evaluation","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"December 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Laval\u2019s new triennial tax evaluation was submitted by the Service de l'\u00e9valuation on October 31, 2012. It goes into effect on January 1, 2013 and continues until December 31, 2015. Laval\u2019s tax bills and assessment roll have also gone digital. Any member of the public who wants to look up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hundred Mile Circle"","block_context":{"text":"Hundred Mile Circle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/hundredmilecircle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2146,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions\/2146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}