Form W-8BEN-E for UK limited companies
Bit of a dry blog today, if you want entertainment you should look elsewhere. But I was trying to help a few people on Twitter with this earlier today, and thought it would be useful to have somewhere to point to.
The subject matter is the oh-so-fascinating US tax form W-8BEN-E, which has taken what used to be a 1 page form and turned it into a terrifying 8 page monster.
The good news is that you can [probably] ignore all the newly added questions! You just need to fill in Part I (Identification of Beneficial Owner), Part III (Claim of Tax Treaty Benefits) and Part XXIX (Certification).
What is it for?
If you are a company in the UK getting paid by a company in the US, you need to fill in this form to avoid the US government withholding 30% of your income.
If you are an individual in the UK getting paid by a company in the US, you need to fill in the simpler W-8BEN form, which is a lot less scary. You still need to get an EIN, as described in the next section. That EIN is your answer to section 5 of the W-8BEN (U.S. taxpayer identification number), and you can leave blank sections 6 (foreign tax identifying number), 7 (reference number) and 10 (special rates and considerations). The rest of it should be self-explanatory.
What do I need first?
You’ll need a company, but I’m assuming you already have that part sorted.
You’ll also need an Employer Identification Number (EIN). To get this, you have to phone the IRS and give them the details of your company.
You’ll need to fill in a copy of form SS-4 and have it in front of you. Then phone (+1) 267-941-1099. They’ll ask you the questions from that form and then give you your EIN immediately.
I used Google Hangouts to dial this number over the internet without paying international calling fees. I think you can do this from Gmail or from the iOS Google Hangouts app, but not the Android app.
W-8BEN-E Part I: Identification of Beneficial Owner
Now we can start filling in the W-8BEN-E:
Fill in sections 1 (name of organisation) and 2 (country of incorporation).
Ignore section 3 (name of disregarded entity).
Fill in section 4 (chapter 3 status), hopefully ticking Corporation. If you are not a corporation, why are you following this guide?
Definitely ignore section 5 (chapter 4/FACTA status), it’s this bit which is adding all the extra pages to this form.
Fill in sections 6 (permanent address) and 7 (mailing address).
In section 8 (US taxpayer identification number), put your EIN.
Ignore section 9 (GIIN/foreign TIN) and 10 (reference number).
W-8BEN-E Part III: Claim of Tax Treaty Benefits
You should be able to say that the beneficial owner is a resident of The United Kingdom. If you can’t say that, nothing I’ve said so far is necessarily relevant to you.
Tick boxes 14) a) and b).
Leave section 15 (special rates and conditions) blank.
W-8BEN-E Part XXIX: Certification
This is the easy bit! Skip to the last page and sign it.
Disclaimers
I am not an accountant: if in doubt you should contact yours.
All section numbers mentioned here are referencing the February 2014 version of the form (look in the top-left corner of the first page). If it changes again, all bets are off.
Thanks to Damian Flannery for a blogpost about the previous version of the form. I found it useful in the past and used it as a reference for some parts of this article.
If you want to know how much time I just saved you, go to the last page of the IRS guidance for this form: