Okay, so I drag my feet when it comes to officialdom – Eighteen months ago, I published The Khekarian Threat with CreateSpace (Amazon) and Kindle, then I learned that I needed to provide proof that I was not a USA citizen, or they would automatically withhold 30% of all moneys for US tax. That meant I would be paying full tax in America and full tax here in Australia, too.

Listen, guys, you don’t get good money from writing. You make maybe $2 a sale. We all want millions of sales, but there are millions of writers and millions of books for readers to choose from, that means the sales count for new writers crawl up S-L-O-W-L-Y. We can’t afford to pay double taxes out of it.

No probs – I sent off a copy of my Australian driver’s license and birth certificate, as asked for, unfortunately my birth certificate was not in my current name, which – shock-horror! – got changed when I married. Back it came, rejected. They’re keeping the money. The dastards!

Okay, okay – the only way I could prove it was to get a passport. I’ve had a passport. I’ve had two passports, but they are way too old and not in my married name anyway.

That meant start again, from scratch. That meant getting a copy of my birth certificate and official copies of every change of name from there to here. That covered two countries and disappeared some money.

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