Is it possible to die of bureaucracy?

[desperance]

I've just filled in (I think?) a one-page form to do with the tax regime of a Foreign Power. This form - which asks for nothing more than my name, address, nationality and tax details - comes with seven pages of notes.

Random para:

[do not use this form if] You are a disregarded entity with a single owner that is a US person and you are not a hybrid entity claiming treaty benefits.

Uh, okay, then...

Seven pages of that. Much of which I entirely do not understand, although I am not actually stupid.

It's like US immigration, I think: they make it deliberately mean, just to scare you.

That works.

Comments

[jeremy-m.livejournal.com]

When I used to get the splendid W-8BEN forms for non-resident enemy aliens they came without the official instructions you seem to have, but with a guide written by someone else on how to actually fill them in, which was just the straight-forward stuff. Years later I'm still not in federal prison so it seems safe not to worry about the gibberish - it's probably too opaque for them to tell whether you're doing it right anyway.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

they came without the official instructions you seem to have, but with a guide written by someone else on how to actually fill them in, which was just the straight-forward stuff.

See, this is exactly my grumble; I knew that it must be possible to write a straightforward guide. If I know this, so must they. And yet, they have chosen to issue this terrifying document alongside the form...