- Download the Lulu revenue report for the month of January.
- Note that the report says “N” under the “Withholding” column.
- Remember that I haven’t submitted a W-8BEN form to Lulu. This confirms to them that I’m a “foreign entity” for tax purposes and allows them to stop withholding 30% tax on my revenue (there’s a tax treaty between UK and US, so I pay the tax in the UK not in the US).
- Look at the Lulu Knowledgebase page on tax withholding. It says nothing about how to get a completed W-8BEN form to Lulu.
- Browse and locate the Knowledgebase page “How do I get a W-9 or a W-8BEN on file at Lulu?”
- Note that this document, contrary to its title, does not explain how to get a W-9 or a W-8BEN on file at Lulu. Instead it waffles and then suggests I contact Support if I “have any questions on how to submit” my form. I do indeed have a question. My question is “how do I get a W-8BEN on file at Lulu?”
- Attempt to search the user forums for an answer to this question before I contact the maze of twisty passages all alike that is Support.
- Note that Lulu’s user forums do not have a search function.
- Sigh.
- Flip a nearby table.
- Navigate to Lulu’s support page.
- Identify which of the four options offered — “My order”, “Professional services”, “My ISBN or distribution” or “Lulu.com website” — is most likely to cover issues on tax and revenue. It’s “Lulu.com website”, of course.
- Complete a support ticket asking the question not answered by the page claiming to answer the question.
- Receive an immediate automated email response including the answer to the question.
- Wonder why this answer isn’t included in the page alleging to answer the question.
- Note that the answer says “W-8BEN form must be received in hard copy”.
- Note also that the answer says I can fax Lulu my form.
- Wonder how, in “hard copy” terms, “fax” differs in any significant way from “email a PDF that someone can print”, the latter option not being offered.
- Decide that emailing a PDF is disallowed for the same reason that faxing is allowed: “because the US government lives in the 1980s”.
- Sigh.
- Flip a faraway table.
- Decide that this is all a monstrous faff since the “Withholding” column in step 2 was “N” and I barely sell anything on Lulu anyway.
- …
- Profit!
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Following your instructions, I downloaded the Lulu revenue report for January.
It said she earned £3k in royalties for her performance on the Take That single “Relight My Fire”.
I didn’t understand the relevance of the remainder of your article.