W-8BEN for USA withholding tax query

W-8BEN for USA withholding tax query

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I am completing a Form W-8BEN for an author client about to do a book deal in the USA. The instructions for form W-8BEN imply that if you don't have a US taxpayer reference (SSN or ITIN) you can provide your own home country tax reference. Is this correct? W-8BEN section 6 asks for the "Foreign tax identifying number" and I wondered if this was the UTR or the NINO (or either?). Also in section 10, do I have to enter the Article number at the end of the first line?

Does my client just have to hand this to her client rather than send it to the IRS? Out of interest does anyone know what the client does with it? Is it sent to IRS or just held in records for checking if audited?

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By Paul D Utherone
14th Jan 2016 12:03

I use the UTR

Your client completes the W8 and provides it to the US payer. They hold that as proof that they did not need to deduct for the IRS

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