>You only need a social security number if you're doing it as a personal account...

vitovito · on Aug 21, 2014

Except if you're a foreign entity. Quoting from the domestic instructions probably won't help the original poster.

"IF the applicant...

Is a foreign person needing an EIN to comply with IRS withholding regulations

THEN...

Complete lines 1–5b, 7a–b (SSN or ITIN optional), 8a, 8b–c (if applicable), 9a, 9b (if applicable), 10, and 18."

Note "SSN or ITIN optional." That's per the SS-4 form. Per a sibling post, the IRS will also issue foreign entities an ITIN if necessary.

jorgecurio · on Aug 21, 2014

Say you are a Canadian, you have a company incorporated in Canada.

How do I get on Amazon Turk? What are the exact steps I need to take?

vitovito · on Aug 21, 2014

I have no idea, as I've never been a Canadian with a Canadian company who has to get on Amazon MTurk after next week.

But this is part of your core competency as an entrepreneur. You're supposed to be able to figure this stuff out. All the pieces are in this thread: get an EIN, maybe get an ITIN, maybe that means you have to petition at your local US Embassy, maybe get an address in the US, maybe that means a UPS Store box, maybe that means a registered agent.

And then when you do figure it out, write a long blog post about it that details the "exact steps I need to take" so people in your position in the future can learn how to do it. Do it on your company blog so future clients can see that if you're going to be this diligent about figuring out how to take care of your own business, maybe you'll be that diligent in taking care of theirs.

Sorting this stuff out is your job, all the programming stuff is ancillary.

jorgecurio · on Aug 24, 2014

that was very inspirational. You are absolutely right this is something an entrepreneur must figure out on his own. This is why entrepreneurship is great.

gamblor956 · on Aug 21, 2014

If Amazon is no longer letting foreign companies use Mechanical Turk, the obvious solution is to incorporate a US company (or a US branch of your foreign company) and then sign up for MT.

Seriously, it's not rocket science. Incorporation can take as little as a 5 minutes using a service like LegalZoom, and acquiring an EIN (which is part of the incorporation process) can be done online in a minute or two. Then you open up a US bank account, which may require you to physically show up at a US bank. Once you have the EIN and bank account, you sign up for Mechanical Turk.