I finally got around to setting us up an account on the Windows Phone 7 marketplace and thought I’d share some of the experience as it might help others and i’ll update this post if i’ve done something incorrectly.
I mainly followed the following blog posts:
http://codejoker.com/2010/08/06/windows-phone-developer-account-guide/
There’s some good points to note in these to help you not have to do this process twice.
For me I got stuck on the SWIFT number. For years my bank gave me a 9 digit number that I’ve given to people to pay us from overseas. When I entered this on the site I received a “Incorrect Format” error. Thanks to Nial, it’s apparantly just your normal BSB number. So I tried that and it seemed to like that much better. Only when I build an app that costs money and get paid will I know if this is correct 
I set our account up as Tax Entity Type : Business and when I looked at the other forms needed for the W8-BEN it seemed that the ITIN form was only for individuals. After consulting twitter I was pointed to the EIN forms to complete for a business. After reading stories from others on the cost and effort it took them for this step I almost submitted the form and was content to lose the 30%. When I read a bit more about the EIN, the process for this seems, at the moment, to be fairly simple.
- Download and fill out the SS-4 form: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf
- As we’re outside the US there’s a dedicated number to call: +1 267 941 1099 which is DIFFERENT to the number stated on the instructions http://www.irs.gov/instructions/iss4/ch01.html
- The first time I called this number I was on hold for an hour only to be told that the people that could help me were on training all day. Luckily I was using Skype so it didn’t cost me that much
- The 2nd time I called I was told to complete the form and fax it..they don’t accept it by post or email. After having a bit of a whinge about not having a fax machine I discovered they can fill it out for you over the phone if you’re prepared to spell (literally) out the form to them. The lady I got was pretty good considering for some reason I usually have trouble with Americans understanding my Aussie accent but here’s a few tips for completing the form:
- a. Stick to the basics..after I got off hold and was given the ladies name, operator number etc. I opened with Hi, how’s your day going…which is normally what i do when phoning call centres to refocus my anger of being on hold away from that person. This completely stumped her. “Do you have a tax question” was her response. Fair enough, she has a script she must stick to..so forget the pleasantries apparently.
- b. Spell letters like you’re American. So for me, spelling my last name as Zed, A, N, D, E got a bit tricky. “Is that like a Zee”?
- c. Spell each letter out. When I spell/give out numbers that have duplicates I say double <insert item here>. So for Queensland when I spelt it “double E”, she had no idea what I was talking about and wanted to know what key that was. So had to remember to just spell it letter by letter.
- You get your EIN number there and then which you can then put straight on your w8-ben form to send off. The official paperwork takes about a month so see how we go with that.
Let me know if I’ve done something wrong or you’ve set yours up differently