Support for Indie Authors discussion

God help you if you change a tax ID number on your KDP account. Earlier this year, I changed the tax ID number on what had been a KDP account named ARK Stories. My daughter and I formed the ARK Stories partnership in 2009, but she is no longer interested in writing books, so we dissolved the partnership on May 31 of 2020, but kept the same Amazon ID because we have a lot of books, and to separate them according to author would have meant setting up new account IDs, resubmitting all the books under the separate accounts, and losing all the reviews we'd accrued over the years. We had a business account where the royalties for the partnership were deposited. I waited until the last deposit was made to the business account before changing the tax ID to my personal social security number on June 1. When I got the 1099s for the business and my personal account, the figures were off by the last deposit made to the business account. Instead of it being credited to the ARK Stories tax ID, the last royalty for the partnership wasn't included in the 1099 for the partnership and was instead attributed to the 1099 under my Social Security number. I contacted KDP about it, foolishly thinking that it would be a simple matter. I supplied a copy of the business bank statement showing where the deposit had been made. Amazon customer service keeps telling me there is no mistake, that everything is my fault, and they are refusing to correct the mistake. I asked to speak with someone in their tax department and was told they don't take phone calls. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT? Instead, I keep getting customer service representatives who can do nothing except tell me that I'm wrong and they're right. I wouldn't care, but I had already submitted the final partnership return to the IRS using the figures from the business account to arrive at the total income for the first five months of the year. I'm so frustrated right now and just had to vent.

I get the venting. Sometimes it's easier to let things slide, go with the flow and accept that you can't change stupid. Check with a tax person to know what to do since the 1099 is what they will go by. The other option is to send an actual letter to KDP and see what happens. Good luck on getting it straightened out.

B.A. wrote: "I get the venting. Sometimes it's easier to let things slide, go with the flow and accept that you can't change stupid. Check with a tax person to know what to do since the 1099 is what they will g..."

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I received another email today from someone who might be able to help. If not, I'll just resubmit the partnership papers TO THE IRS with the incorrect amount so it will match what KDP sent. I'll figure out how to offset the wrong amount on my personal social security number. I'm tired of arguing with people who apparently came unequipped with brains.

I wonder if you can get the Amazon KDP folks to help you switch the titles over into a new Amazon KDP account in bulk instead of you trying to argue with them over tax docs. While the tax/accounting department is likely TOTALLY separate from them, asking them to move the books is likely in their wheelhouse. So while it sounds like a massive undertaking ... may actually be easier for the KDP support folks to do.

And you'll want to fix this problem before next year rolls around & you have the same issue again...

I already asked about that, but the answer was if I wanted to create a new account, I would have to upload all the books again and would lose all the reviews accrued over the years. You would think they'd help with that, but no.

I won't have the same issue next year, as the only problem is they put one payment under the wrong tax ID when there were two tax IDs. Now there's only the one.

I'm going to handle it by letting the IRS know when I file my taxes. It really pisses me off that I have to go through this. It isn't rocket science. I provided proof to them and they keep insisting they're right and I'm wrong.

Ugh. Sorry to hear that.