My US broker is asking for a W-8BEN, do I have to give one?
If you are a non-resident individual receiving US-source dividends, interest, royalties or other reportable payments, the certificate is how you tell the payer you are foreign and claim a treaty rate instead of the full statutory withholding. It is not a return and it is not filed with a tax authority. It is given to the payer, and it only works if they hold a valid one before the payment is made. Declining to give it does not make the payment untaxed. It means the payer withholds at the full rate and you are left to claim the difference back.
What happens if my W-8BEN expires and I do not renew it?
The payer stops holding a valid certificate, so the payment is treated as one to an uncertified recipient and withholding goes to the full statutory rate. Nothing is charged to you as a penalty, but the money is gone from the payment. Recovering the difference then means filing a US return and claiming it back, which is a far longer route than sending a replacement certificate would have been. The practical discipline is to renew ahead of the next payment date rather than at the point the withholding changes.
Do I file Form W-8BEN with the IRS or give it to the payer?
You give it to the payer. It is a certificate of foreign status held by whoever is making the payment, and it is their record that matters when they decide how much to withhold. Two consequences follow. There is no filing receipt to rely on, so keep your own copy and a note of when you sent it and to whom. And if you have several payers, a broker, a licensee, a former employer's plan, each one needs its own, because one payer's certificate tells another payer nothing at all.
Can I claim a treaty rate on payments already withheld in full?
Not through the certificate. It works prospectively. The payer must hold a valid one before the payment, so a certificate sent afterwards does not reach money that has already been withheld and remitted. The route back for the earlier payments is a US return claiming the excess, which is slower and needs the payments and the withholding reconciled to the payer's own statements. Send the certificate now so the next payment is right, and treat the earlier ones as a separate exercise with its own evidence.
Do I need a US tax number before I can give a W-8BEN?
It depends on what you are claiming. A certificate that simply establishes foreign status is a lighter document than one claiming a treaty rate on a payment where the payer wants the recipient identified. Where a number is required and you do not have one, the application for an individual taxpayer identification number becomes the first step and everything else waits behind it. Ask the payer what they need in order to accept the claim before you complete anything, because their requirement is what decides whether the withholding is actually reduced.
I moved abroad but still get US dividends, who signs the certificate?
The individual who beneficially receives the payment signs it, in their own name. That is the point of the document. It certifies the status of the person entitled to the income, so an adviser, an agent or a family member holding the account cannot supply it for you. If the account is held jointly or through a nominee, the payer will usually want a certificate for each person entitled to a share. Check whose name the payment records show before completing anything, because a certificate in the wrong name has the same effect as none.
What is Form 1042-S and what do I do with it?
The statement a US payer issues to a non-resident showing US-source income paid and tax withheld — the non-resident counterpart to a 1099. Use it two ways. In your own country it evidences the US tax paid for credit purposes. And where the rate withheld was higher than your treaty entitlement, or the income was not taxable at all, the way back to the money is a US non-resident return claiming the refund. Check the income and exemption codes before assuming the rate was right. See Form 1042-S.
What is Part XIII withholding tax in Canada?
Part XIII is the Canadian charge on certain amounts paid to non-residents — rent, dividends, interest, royalties, pensions and similar passive income. The payer withholds and remits it, and it is a flat charge on the gross payment rather than on profit, which is why a non-resident landlord can be withheld on far more than the net rental result. Treaties reduce the rate and elective returns recover the excess. See the section 216 return.
