First of all, let me say that none of the following will delay the release of The Any yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book in spiral binding or downloadable pdf. This will only delay the publication of the perfect bound paperback and release through Amazon.com. You'll still be able to buy the spiral bound and pdf versions through lulu.com as soon as I have my ISBNs and have purchaed a test copy.

<RANT>

I live in Australia where we have a relatively simple tax system for everyday folks. One form, everybody fills in the same one. Businesses get a bit trickier but as long as you've kept decent financial records everything will be apples. As most fibre artists in Australia who manage to eek out a minor living in their field, I'm listed as a sole trader so my personal and business taxes are done together as a single form and as long as I remembered to pay my taxes in the first place it's usually painless (even if I have to spend today going through my receipts. Note to self: If you have a decent refund spend some on MYOB so you don't have to do this next year).

BUT!

Then I met the US Internal Revenue Service and realised why most people in the US seem to wait until the last minute to do their taxes.

Since I purchased a distribution package for the perfect bound edition of my book, I need to register to pay tax in the US as part of a tax treaty between the US and Australia. If I register 5% of my royalties are held to pay tax in the US, if I don't register then 30% of my royalties are held. Fill in form W-8ben with an ITIN and you'll be right, says Lulu.com

OK, that seems simple enough, even though I don't know what an ITIN is at this stage.

Hmmm, the IRS says I have to apply for an ITIN as a non resident alien. So I download that form as well. It says to send along some photo ID and other things with your application and we'll think about it for 6 weeks and if you never hear from us you can ask what happened. Crap. I don't drive and I don't have a passport so I don't have any photo ID.

Getting my passport is out of the question because a British passport costs AUD$310 and I don't have that kind of money lying around. Next option: A national ID card. OK, I can get one of those for $50 and the cost of photos (whatever that's going to be). So I send off an email to get the forms to apply for one of those. But I'll still need a second form of ID. A Civil birth certificate is an option. I have a birth certificate but I don't know what a "civil" birth certificate is. Crap. I thought Americans spoke English. So now I have to look up whether "civil birth certificate" refers only to a US birth certificate or whether I can use my UK birth certificate. I get 2,441 results from the IRS database. Hmmm. I search google instead. OK, apparently it just means the most official version of your birth certificate and not birth records. OK, I have that.

Now I just have to spend the next 2 weeks gathering all this stuff, getting photos taken, get my keypass ID card, copy everything, get the copies witnessed by a justice of the peace, send them all off to the US to maybe get an international tax ID number so I can fill in the w-8ben, send that to lulu.com, then I can purchase a test copy of the perfect bound edition of my book and if that's OK I can release it for sale and then a month or two later it should turn up on Amazon.com and then I get to put my details in and maybe people will see it.

Now does that seem rather complicated in order to sell a book or am I just terribly naive?

</RANT>

Now here's something that's challenging but not at all confusing.

Four more squares for my suffolk puff/yo-yo coverlet.

Now I'm off to sort out my receipts and finish doing my taxes...