Foreign tax identifying number (FTIN): what to enter on W-8BEN

What a foreign TIN is and where it goes

A foreign tax identifying number (FTIN) is the tax number issued to you by the country where you’re a resident for tax purposes. On Form W-8BEN it goes on line 6a, just below line 5, which is for a US number. The instructions ask for the FTIN “issued to you by your jurisdiction of tax residence identified on line 3,” so it’s the country you live in for tax, not necessarily the one on your passport.

The number matters for two separate reasons.

• Treaty claims. The IRS says a reduced treaty rate applies only if you give a US or foreign TIN, except for certain marketable securities. A foreign TIN on line 6a is what lets most people claim a treaty rate without an ITIN.
• Accounts at US financial institutions. If you’re documenting a financial account held at a US office of a financial institution and you receive US income reported on Form 1042-S, the instructions make line 6a mandatory unless an exception applies.

Outside those two situations, the line is optional under the IRS rules. Payers often ask for it anyway. Upwork’s version of the form asks for “the number you use for tax reporting in your country,” and says it may verify it.

Foreign TIN by country

The table shows the number each country’s tax authority lists as its tax identification number for individuals, taken from that country’s sheet on the OECD’s tax identification number portal. We couldn’t find an OECD sheet for the Philippines, so its row comes from the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s own site, which doesn’t describe the number’s format.

A few countries need a note.

• United Kingdom. The OECD sheet says HMRC allocates a UTR to people who have to submit a tax return, while everyone living regularly in the UK has or can get a NINO, which is issued automatically to young people as they approach 16. If you’ve never filed Self Assessment, you may have only a NINO.
• Pakistan. For non-resident individuals who don’t have a CNIC, the FBR uses the passport number as the registration number.
• Nigeria. Individuals in employment get their TIN through their state’s Board of Internal Revenue (the JTB TIN). FIRS issues TINs to companies and some groups of individuals, such as members of the armed forces.
• Ghana. Non-resident individuals get an 11-character TIN directly from the Ghana Revenue Authority instead of using a Ghana Card PIN.
• Australia and Japan. Both issue these numbers, but both are on the IRS list of jurisdictions that don’t issue foreign TINs, which also covers places whose laws restrict collecting them. More on that below.

Use your personal number. Business numbers such as Canada’s Business Number, Australia’s ABN or France’s SIREN identify businesses, and a W-8BEN documents you as an individual.

Your country doesn’t issue TINs: the IRS list and line 6b

The IRS keeps a list of jurisdictions whose residents don’t have to give a foreign TIN for accounts at US financial institutions. When we checked, it named five: Australia, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Japan. If you live in one of them, you can leave line 6a blank for that purpose.

Line 6b covers everyone else without a number. The instructions say you may tick it if you’re “not legally required to obtain an FTIN from your jurisdiction of residence (including if the jurisdiction does not issue TINs).” Ticking it counts as your explanation for the blank line 6a, and you can add a fuller explanation in the margin or on an attached sheet.

Before you tick it, check that your country really doesn’t expect you to have a number. India’s OECD sheet, for example, says every individual with taxable income must obtain a PAN. Upwork’s advice to freelancers without a number is to ask their local tax authority how to get one. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing takes the other route: if your country doesn’t issue tax numbers but has a treaty with the US, it says you may apply for an ITIN.

Foreign TIN vs US TIN (ITIN): which one a payer needs

A foreign TIN works in place of a US number on a W-8BEN, but not everywhere else. The US number for an individual who can’t get a Social Security number is an ITIN; our US tax ID guide compares the different types.

The Form 8233 rule comes from its instructions, which say “you must furnish a U.S. taxpayer identification number (TIN) on this form,” and from Publication 515, which lets payers accept a foreign TIN for treaty claims except on Form 8233. The effectively connected income rule comes from the Form 1042-S instructions, which require a US TIN for those recipients.

FTIN mistakes that make a W-8BEN unreliable

Publication 515 says a payer has reason to know a W-8 is unreliable if it’s incomplete on an item relevant to your claim or contains inconsistent information. With line 6a, that usually means one of these:

• The wrong country’s number. Use the number from your country of tax residence, even if you hold a passport from somewhere else. Upwork puts it simply: “Please use your current TIN from where you live now.”
• A VAT or sales tax number. Line 6a is for your income tax number. The UAE’s OECD sheet makes the point directly: VAT numbers “may not be used in lieu of a TIN.”
• A business number on a personal form. A company or business registration number belongs on the entity’s W-8BEN-E.
• A passport number where your country issues a tax number. A few systems do use passport numbers, such as Pakistan for non-residents without a CNIC. If your country issues you a tax number, use that.
• Ticking 6b when you do have, or should have, a number. It’s a certification, and you sign the form under penalties of perjury.
• A mismatch with line 3. A line 3 address in one country and a tax number from another is exactly the kind of inconsistency Publication 515 describes.

When to get an ITIN instead

Get an ITIN when a foreign TIN can’t do the job:

• your country doesn’t issue tax numbers, or you’re not required to have one, and you want a treaty rate on income outside the listed-securities exceptions
• you’re claiming a treaty exemption on Form 8233, or your income is effectively connected with a US business
• you have to file a US tax return, for example to get back tax withheld on a 1042-S

You apply on Form W-7, and our ITIN guide for non-residents covers applying from outside the US. If you need the ITIN only so a payer can apply a treaty rate, and you don’t have to file a US return, W-7 Exception 1 can apply: you attach a signed letter from the payer confirming it needs an ITIN to pay you, instead of a tax return. The IRS says to allow 7 weeks for a decision, or 9 to 11 weeks if you apply from outside the US or between January 15 and April 30.

The IRS doesn’t charge for an ITIN. TheITINapp prepares and submits Form W-7 applications for a fee; we don’t prepare W-8BEN forms, treaty claims or tax returns.