Does our foreign partnership file W-8IMY or certify for the partners?
It depends on whose money the payment is. The intermediary certificate is used by a foreign entity receiving a payment on behalf of others, so a partnership that collects US-source income and passes it to its partners is describing itself with that form and documenting the partners behind it. A partnership receiving income for its own account is in a different position and certifies as the beneficial owner. Settle that first, because everything else follows from it, including which certificates you have to collect and what you have to tell the withholding agent.
What has to be attached to Form W-8IMY?
The certificates of the people behind you, and an allocation that tells the withholding agent how the payment divides between them. Withholding follows the beneficial owners through the chain, so the intermediary form on its own says very little: it identifies you as a conduit and then relies on the underlying documents to establish what treatment applies to each share. An intermediary form sent without its attachments tends to be held rather than rejected, and payments stop while the withholding agent waits. Collect the underlying certificates before you send anything.
Who prepares the allocation that goes with Form W-8IMY?
The intermediary does, because it is the only party that knows how the payment is split and who sits behind each share. The withholding agent applies it; it does not build it. That is also where the risk sits, since getting the allocation wrong puts the withholding agent's liability on the intermediary. So the allocation should be produced from the same records that govern the actual distribution, meaning the partnership agreement, the trust deed or the register of participants, and it should be refreshed when those change rather than rolled forward because it was accepted last time.
Do we need a certificate from every beneficial owner behind us?
For any share you want treated on that owner's own terms, yes. Withholding follows the beneficial owners through the chain, so an owner you cannot document is treated as undocumented and withheld from accordingly, and that treatment attaches to their share rather than to the whole payment. It is worth explaining this to participants in advance. The cost of one person not returning a certificate falls on that person, provided the allocation separates their share properly, and it falls on the intermediary if it does not.
What happens if our allocation to the underlying owners is wrong?
The withholding agent withholds on the figures you gave it, and the shortfall does not stay with the agent. Get the allocation wrong and the withholding agent's liability lands on the intermediary, which is the part of the arrangement most easily missed when the form is treated as an administrative step. The protection is dull but effective: reconcile the allocation to the distribution records before it goes out, keep the version you sent with the date it went, and re-issue rather than amend informally when participants change. An allocation you cannot reproduce later is a liability you cannot defend.
Does a nominee or custodian receiving US payments file W-8IMY?
Generally yes, where it receives on behalf of others rather than for itself. The form covers foreign partnerships, trusts, nominees and qualified intermediaries in a chain of US-source payments, and a nominee is a straightforward example: the payment arrives in its name and belongs to someone else. The consequence is the same as for any other intermediary. It has to hold documentation for the people behind it, tell the withholding agent how the payment divides, and stand behind that division if the figures are questioned.
What is a section 217 return and should I file one?
An election available to a non-resident receiving certain Canadian pension and benefit payments. Normally those payments suffer flat withholding and that is the end of it. Under the election you file a Canadian return and are taxed on that income at graduated rates as though resident, which produces a refund of part of the withholding where the graduated result is lower — and no benefit where it is not. It is worth modelling before electing, because the choice is annual. See the section 217 return.
How do I get a refund of TCS collected on a foreign remittance?
You claim it on your Indian return for that year. The collected amount is credited against your total tax, and if it exceeds the tax due the balance is refunded like any excess payment. Two practical conditions: the collector must have filed its statement so the credit appears in your annual tax statement, and your PAN must be correctly recorded on the remittance. A salaried remitter can also ask their employer to account for it against salary withholding. See LRS limits and TCS.
