Form W-8BEN: a line-by-line guide for non-US individuals

What Form W-8BEN does

Form W-8BEN tells a US payer that you’re not a US person and that you own the income it’s paying you. If your country has an income tax treaty with the US, it’s also where you claim a lower withholding rate. Its full name is Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting (Individuals).

Payers care because of how the US taxes foreign people. The W-8BEN instructions say foreign persons are taxed at 30% on many kinds of US-source income, including interest, dividends, rents, royalties and pay for services, and that the tax is usually collected by the payer withholding it. The IRS calls this kind of income FDAP (fixed or determinable annual or periodical) income.

A valid W-8BEN lets the payer do three things:

• treat you as a foreign person who owns the income
• apply a treaty rate or exemption, if you claim one in Part II
• leave you out of the backup withholding and Form 1099 reporting it applies to US people on items such as broker proceeds and bank deposit interest

You give a W-8BEN when a payer asks for one, whether or not you’re claiming a treaty rate. The instructions say to give it “before income is paid or credited to you.” Without it, the payer may have to withhold at the 30% rate or the backup withholding rate. Each payer needs its own form.

W-8BEN vs W-9, W-8BEN-E and W-8ECI

The right form depends on who you are for US tax purposes and what kind of income you get, not on where the payer is.

W-8BEN vs W-9. The dividing line is US tax status. The instructions say a US citizen uses Form W-9 “even if you reside outside the United States,” and so does a resident alien. If you become a US citizen or resident after giving a W-8BEN, you must tell the payer within 30 days, and you may need to give a W-9.

W-8BEN vs W-8BEN-E. W-8BEN is for individuals only, and the form says entities must use W-8BEN-E. One rule trips people up: if you’re the single owner of a business the US disregards as separate from you, the instructions say you complete a W-8BEN in your own name. You can put the entity’s name and account number on line 7. The exception is an entity claiming treaty benefits as a hybrid entity, which uses W-8BEN-E.

W-8BEN vs W-8ECI. Income that is effectively connected with a US trade or business goes on W-8ECI, not W-8BEN. If income you’ve covered with a W-8BEN later becomes effectively connected, the instructions treat that as a change in circumstances, and you must file a W-8ECI for it.

Pay for work. A W-8BEN can’t claim a treaty exemption on pay for services you perform in the United States; that’s what Form 8233 (or Form W-4 for employees) is for. Work you do outside the US is different: IRS Publication 519 sources pay for services to where the work is done, so it isn’t US-source income, though a US client may still ask for a W-8BEN.

What you need before you start

• Your full legal name
• Your country of citizenship, and the country where you’re a resident for tax purposes
• Your permanent home address, not a P.O. box or a bank’s address
• The tax number your country of residence issued you (your foreign TIN), or a US SSN or ITIN if you have one
• Your date of birth
• If you’re claiming a treaty rate: your treaty country, and for some income the article, rate and income type

Part I, line by line

Part I identifies you. Lines 5, 6a and 6b, the tax numbers, cause most of the confusion, so they get their own section after this one.

Line 2: country of citizenship

If you hold more than one citizenship, the instructions say to enter the country where you’re both a citizen and a resident when you complete the form. If you don’t live in any country where you’re a citizen, enter the country where you most recently lived. If one of your citizenships is US, stop: use Form W-9 instead.

Line 3: permanent residence address

This is your address in the country where you’re a resident for that country’s income tax. Don’t use a P.O. box, the address of a financial institution, or an address you use only for mail. If you’re claiming a treaty rate, you have to be a resident as the treaty defines it. Where you live without street addresses, a descriptive address that shows where you live is acceptable. If you have no tax residence anywhere, use the place you normally live.

Line 8: date of birth

Use MM-DD-YYYY. The instructions’ own example: born April 15, 1956, enter 04-15-1956. It’s required when you’re documenting a financial account you hold at a US office of a financial institution.

Line 5 or line 6a: when you actually need an ITIN

Most people filling in a W-8BEN don’t need an ITIN. Proving you’re not a US person needs no US number, and a treaty claim can usually rest on your home country’s tax number on line 6a.

The instructions require a US TIN (an SSN, or an ITIN if you can’t get an SSN) on line 5 when you:

• claim treaty benefits and don’t give a tax number from your country of residence on line 6a
• are a partner in a partnership that carries on a US trade or business, or give the form to such a partnership
• claim the exemption under section 871(f) for certain annuities received under qualified plans

Even for treaty claims, there’s no ITIN requirement for dividends and interest from actively traded stocks and debt, dividends from US-registered mutual funds, certain income from publicly offered unit investment trusts, and income from loans of those securities.

Line 6a is mandatory in a narrower set of cases than people think. The instructions require it when you’re documenting yourself as the holder of a financial account at a US office of a financial institution and you receive US-source income reported on Form 1042-S. Even then you can leave it blank if you live in a US territory, if your country is on the IRS list of jurisdictions that don’t issue foreign TINs (Australia, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Japan when we checked), or if you tick line 6b. Otherwise line 6a is optional, but it’s the number that lets you claim a treaty rate without an ITIN, and many payers ask for it anyway. Upwork’s form asks for “the number you use for tax reporting in your country.”

Line 6b is for people who aren’t legally required to get a tax number from their country, including where the country doesn’t issue them. Ticking it counts as your explanation for leaving line 6a blank. It doesn’t meet the tax number requirement for a treaty claim, though, so without a foreign TIN you’ll generally need an ITIN on line 5 to get a treaty rate.

Part II: claiming treaty benefits (lines 9 and 10)

Fill in Part II only if you’re claiming a reduced rate of, or exemption from, US withholding under an income tax treaty. The form labels it “for chapter 3 purposes only,” which covers the ordinary 30% withholding on FDAP income.

Line 9: your treaty country

Enter the country where you’re a resident for purposes of its tax treaty with the US. Citizenship alone doesn’t qualify you: you have to be a resident under the treaty’s own terms. The IRS keeps the list of US income tax treaties, and our US tax treaty guide shows which countries have one and the usual rates.

The instructions add one rule for large related-party payments. If you’re related to the payer and the payments subject to withholding exceed $500,000 in the calendar year, you’re generally required to file Form 8833, the treaty disclosure form, as well.

Line 10: special rates and conditions

Line 10 is only for treaty benefits that depend on conditions lines 9 and Part III don’t already cover. The instructions say it’s generally not needed for interest or ordinary dividends. They list four cases where you must complete it:

• royalties, when the treaty sets different rates for different types of royalty
• students and researchers claiming treaty benefits on scholarship or fellowship income
• business profits or gains that aren’t attributable to a permanent establishment in the US
• treaty benefits that depend on a remittance rule, where your country taxes you only on income brought into it

Line 10 asks for the treaty article and paragraph, the withholding rate you’re claiming, the type of income, and the extra conditions you meet. Canada is a good example of why it matters for royalties. The IRS’s treaty table lists a 0% rate for copyright royalties but 10% for film and television royalties under the US-Canada treaty, so a Canadian resident claiming the copyright rate has to say which kind of royalty it is.

The IRS tax treaty tables give the rate and treaty article for each type of income, and their income codes match the codes on Form 1042-S.

Students have two extra rules. Most treaties with a scholarship exemption require you to have been a resident of the treaty country when, or just before, you came to the US, so the instructions let a student in that position put a US address on line 3 and name the treaty country on line 9. And if your scholarship pays you for services, such as a teaching assistantship, you claim the treaty on Form 8233, not W-8BEN.

Part III: signing the form

By signing, you certify under penalties of perjury that you own the income (or are authorized to sign for the person who does), that you’re not a US person, that you’re a resident of the treaty country on line 9 if you named one, and that the income isn’t effectively connected with a US business except in the cases the form lists. You also agree to give a new form within 30 days if anything you certified becomes wrong.

Sign, date the form (MM-DD-YYYY) and print your name. Someone with a power of attorney can sign for you, in which case the power of attorney goes with the form (Form 2848 can be used) and they tick the box saying they have the capacity to sign.

Payers can accept electronic signatures. The IRS says an electronic signature has to show that the form was signed electronically by an authorized person, for example with a time and date stamp, and that “simply typing your name into the signature line is not an electronic signature.”

How long a W-8BEN stays valid

A W-8BEN is generally valid from the day you sign it until the last day of the third calendar year after the year you sign it. The IRS’s example is a form signed on September 30, 2015, which stays valid through December 31, 2018. A form you sign on September 16, 2026 lasts through December 31, 2029.

It stops being valid sooner if something on it becomes wrong. The instructions give you 30 days to tell the payer and give a new form. Common triggers:

• you move to a US address
• you claimed a treaty rate and move out of that treaty country (moving within a country, or between two non-US countries when you’re not claiming a treaty, generally isn’t a change)
• you become a US citizen or resident alien, including by meeting the substantial presence test, in which case the payer may ask for a W-9
• income you covered with the W-8BEN becomes effectively connected with a US business

Platforms enforce the three-year rule. Google tells creators their tax forms “expire at the end of the third full calendar year, after the year of signing.” Kindle Direct Publishing says a reduced treaty rate “will default back to 30% if you allow the W-8 to expire,” and Upwork says its form “needs to be refreshed every three years.”

Common W-8BEN mistakes

Publication 515 says a payer has reason to treat a W-8 as unreliable if it’s incomplete on any item relevant to what you’re claiming, if it contains inconsistent information, or if it lacks what’s needed to support a reduced rate. These mistakes lead there:

• Using a W-8BEN when you’re a US person. US citizens, including dual citizens, and green card holders use Form W-9.
• A P.O. box, bank or care-of address on line 3. Line 3 must be where you actually live.
• Countries that don’t match. The number on line 6a has to come from the country of residence on line 3, and, students aside, a treaty claim on line 9 normally names that same country.
• No tax number on a treaty claim. Without a foreign TIN on line 6a or an ITIN on line 5, most treaty claims can’t be honored, and you’re withheld at 30%.
• Ticking 6b and expecting a treaty rate. Line 6b explains why you have no foreign TIN. It doesn’t stand in for one on a treaty claim.
• Skipping line 10 for royalties when your treaty has different rates for different kinds of royalty.
• Sending the form to the IRS. It goes to the payer.
• Letting it expire. Once it lapses, the payer can go back to withholding at 30% or the backup rate.

Platform notes: YouTube, Amazon, Upwork and brokers

YouTube, Amazon and Upwork all collect the W-8BEN through an online tax tool rather than a PDF. The questions map to the same lines.

YouTube and AdSense

Google says every creator in the YouTube Partner Program must give US tax info in AdSense for YouTube, wherever they live, and that treaty claims should be made by December 10 each year. It classes Partner Program earnings as “Other Copyright Royalties” and AdSense earnings as services.

With valid tax info, Google withholds 0 to 30% only on earnings from US viewers. For an individual account with no tax info, it applies backup withholding of 24% to total earnings worldwide. Google’s own example is a creator in India who claims the treaty and pays 15% on earnings from US viewers, compared with 30% without a treaty claim. Google says it may refund over-withholding in limited cases if you give updated tax info by December 10 of the same year. Otherwise, you’d have to claim a refund from the IRS. Our YouTube tax form guide covers the AdSense screens.

Amazon, including Kindle Direct Publishing

Amazon’s tax interview collects the information for a W-9, W-8 or Form 8233. For Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Amazon says royalties on eBook sales on Amazon.com and print sales on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, Amazon.com.au and Amazon.ca are subject to 30% US withholding, reduced if your country has a treaty with the US. To get the lower rate you give your US TIN if you have one; if you don’t, “you may enter the income tax identification number issued to you by the tax authority in your country of residence.” For sellers, see our Amazon tax interview guide.

Upwork and other freelance platforms

Upwork says non-US freelancers must complete a W-8BEN (or W-8BEN-E for a company) before they can withdraw earnings. With a valid form on file, it isn’t required to withhold US tax. Without one, it may withhold up to 30% of future earnings, and it says it can’t refund tax it has already sent to the IRS. The form includes a statement that your work is done outside the US. Our freelancer guide covers Upwork, Fiverr and Deel.

US brokers

A broker uses your W-8BEN to treat you as an “exempt foreign person,” which keeps your trades out of US backup withholding and Form 1099 reporting. You qualify for a calendar year if you’re a nonresident alien, you aren’t in the US for 183 days or more that year, and you aren’t engaged in a US business that has effectively connected gains from those trades.

US dividends are withheld at 30% unless you claim a treaty rate in Part II. You don’t need an ITIN for that claim on dividends from actively traded stocks or US mutual funds. If a broker withholds too much anyway, the way to get it back is a Form 1040-NR with the Form 1042-S attached, and the 1040-NR instructions use exactly that example: a dividend withheld at 30% instead of 15%.

When getting an ITIN is worth it

For most people giving a W-8BEN, an ITIN is optional. It becomes worth getting when:

• your country doesn’t issue tax numbers, or you don’t have one, and you want a treaty rate on royalties or other income outside the securities exceptions
• you have to file a US tax return, such as Form 1040-NR to get back over-withheld tax, because a return needs an SSN or ITIN
• you’re claiming a treaty exemption on pay for US services on Form 8233, which the IRS says must show your SSN or ITIN
• you’re a partner in a partnership that carries on a US trade or business

You apply on Form W-7. Usually it goes with a tax return, but if you need the ITIN only so a payer can apply a treaty rate, the W-7 instructions have an exception for you. Under Exception 1(d), you attach a signed letter from the payer, on its letterhead, confirming that it needs an ITIN to pay you income such as royalties or dividends, and you check box a (treaty benefits) and box h on the W-7 with the treaty country and article. This exception isn’t open to you if you’re required to file a US return. Amazon says KDP authors in treaty countries who have completed the tax profile and received a US payment may be able to get an “ITIN support letter” from Amazon for their application.

The IRS doesn’t charge for an ITIN, and you can apply yourself. TheITINapp prepares and submits Form W-7 applications if you’d like help with that part. We don’t fill in W-8BEN forms, treaty claims or tax returns for you.