How to Fill Out Form W-8BEN for Nonresident Aliens

To fill out Form W-8BEN, confirm you are a nonresident alien individual receiving US-sourced passive income, then complete Part I with your legal name and foreign tax-home address, Part II with the specific treaty article and reduced rate you are claiming (if any), and Part III with your signature under penalties of perjury. The signed form goes to the US bank, broker, or other payer sending you income — not to the IRS. Get it right and withholding drops from the default 30% to your treaty rate, often 15%, 10%, or 0%.

Is the W-8BEN the Right Form for You?

The W-8BEN is for one situation: you are a nonresident alien individual who is the beneficial owner of US-sourced income that is not connected to a US business. Beneficial owner means you are the person who actually earns the income. Typical income types include dividends from US stocks, interest from US bank accounts, and royalties from US intellectual property.

If your situation is different, a different form applies:

Foreign corporations, partnerships, and trusts use Form W-8BEN-E.¹
Income effectively connected with a US trade or business uses Form W-8ECI. Simply trading stocks through a US broker does not count as running a US business.²
Wages and personal service income from work performed in the United States use Form 8233 (if claiming a treaty exemption) or Form W-4 (if not).³⁴

Confirm You Qualify as a Nonresident Alien

The W-8BEN is not available to US citizens, green card holders, or foreign nationals who meet the substantial presence test. You are treated as a US resident for tax purposes if you were physically present in the United States for at least 31 days during the current year and at least 183 weighted days over a three-year lookback: every day this year, one-third of last year’s days, and one-sixth of the days from two years ago.⁵

Even if you cross that threshold, the closer connection exception may still let you file as a nonresident if you were in the US fewer than 183 days this year, kept a tax home in a foreign country all year, and can show stronger ties there. This exception is not available if you hold or have applied for a green card.⁶

What to Gather Before You Start

Full legal name, exactly as on your passport or national ID.
Country of citizenship.
Permanent residence address in the country where you claim tax residency. No PO boxes.⁷
Mailing address, only if different.
Foreign Tax Identifying Number (FTIN) from your home country. Required if you hold a financial account at a US institution and receive US-sourced income reported on Form 1042-S. If your country does not issue tax IDs, you can check a box instead.⁸
US TIN (SSN or ITIN), if you have one. Not always required, but providing it can extend the form’s validity.
Date of birth.
Treaty article and paragraph, if you plan to claim a reduced rate. The IRS publishes tables that list rates by country and income type.⁹

Part I: Identification

Line 1 — Name. Enter your full legal name. If you are the sole owner of a foreign entity that is disregarded for US tax purposes, enter your own name, not the entity’s.

Line 2 — Country of citizenship. The country that issued your passport.

Line 3 — Permanent residence address. Your tax home in the country where you claim residency. No PO boxes, no in-care-of addresses, and no financial institution addresses. A US address on this line is a red flag that can invalidate the form, since it suggests you may actually be a US resident.

Line 4 — Mailing address. Fill in only if different from Line 3.

Line 5 — US TIN. Your SSN or ITIN, if you have one. Not required for every filer, but providing a US TIN can extend how long the form stays valid.

Line 6a — Foreign TIN. The tax ID from your country of residence. Required for account holders at US financial institutions receiving reportable US-sourced income. Check Line 6b if your country does not issue tax IDs.

Line 7 — Reference number. Optional. Leave blank unless the withholding agent tells you what to put there (typically an internal account number).

Line 8 — Date of birth. Use MM-DD-YYYY format. Required when the form is tied to a US financial account, as part of FATCA reporting.

Part II: Claiming Treaty Benefits

Part II is optional. Skip it if you are not claiming any treaty benefit; the form still works to establish your foreign status. If your country of residence has an income tax treaty with the United States, this section is where you cut the 30% default rate.

Line 9 — Treaty country. The country where you claim tax residency for treaty purposes. It must have an active income tax treaty with the US.

Line 10 — Special rates and conditions. This is where filers stumble. You need three pieces of information: the treaty article and paragraph, the reduced rate you are claiming, and the type of income it applies to, plus a short explanation of why you qualify. A Canadian resident receiving portfolio dividends from a US company might write: “Article X, Paragraph 2(b) — 15% rate on dividends — beneficial owner is a resident of Canada.” The rate comes straight from the US–Canada treaty tables, and different income types under the same treaty carry different rates, so check the tables for your specific income category.⁹

Many treaties include a Limitation on Benefits clause designed to prevent people from routing income through a treaty country where they have no real ties. By signing Line 10, you are certifying that you meet every eligibility requirement of the article you cite, including any LOB provisions. Read the article before you claim it. Improperly claiming a treaty benefit without proper disclosure can trigger a $1,000 penalty.

Part III: Certification and Signature

Part III is the signature block. By signing, you certify under penalties of perjury that you are not a US person, that you are the beneficial owner of the income, and that the form is accurate. Print your name, sign, and date.

Electronic signatures are widely accepted, but they must reasonably demonstrate that the named person actually signed. A valid electronic signature typically includes the signer’s name, a date and time stamp, and a statement that the form was electronically signed. Typing your name into a signature line with no additional verification does not meet the standard.¹⁰ Most bank and brokerage platforms that accept online W-8BEN submissions build the compliant signature process into their workflow.

Where to Send It and How Long It Lasts

Do not send the W-8BEN to the IRS. You give it to the withholding agent — the US bank, broker, or other payer sending you income. They keep it on file and use it to withhold at the reduced rate instead of 30%.¹¹

The form is valid from the date you sign it through December 31 of the third calendar year after signing. A form signed at any point in 2026 expires December 31, 2029.⁷ The withholding agent will usually ask for a renewal when it approaches expiration, but tracking the date yourself prevents an unexpected 30% cut on a payment you expected to be taxed at a lower rate.

You must submit a new form within 30 days if anything on the existing one becomes incorrect. Common triggers are moving to the United States, moving out of the treaty country on Line 9, or a change in citizenship. A change of address to a US location counts as a change in circumstances even if you still consider yourself a nonresident.

Joint Accounts

Each holder of a US financial account has to submit their own W-8 form. The account is treated as foreign only if every owner provides a valid W-8. If even one joint owner submits a Form W-9 as a US person, the account is treated as a US account and the W-8BENs from the other owners will not control the withholding treatment.

What Happens If You Skip It or Get It Wrong

Without a valid W-8BEN on file, the payer must apply the full 30% statutory rate to every payment of US-sourced passive income.¹⁰ If your treaty rate should have been 15% or 0%, the difference is money you will not see back until you file Form 1040-NR to claim a refund, a process that can take months.¹² Banks and brokerages regularly freeze or close accounts that lack a current W-8BEN.

False information carries its own consequences. Because you sign under penalties of perjury, intentionally misrepresenting your status can result in criminal liability, and improperly claiming a treaty benefit without proper disclosure can trigger a $1,000 civil penalty per failure. Fill the form out honestly, renew it before it expires, and file a new one within 30 days when your circumstances change.

1
IRS. Form W-8BEN-E (Rev. October 2021)
2
Internal Revenue Service. Effectively Connected Income (ECI)
3
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8233
4
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8233
5
Internal Revenue Service. Substantial Presence Test
6
Internal Revenue Service. Closer Connection Exception
7
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form W-8BEN (Rev. October 2021)
8
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form W-8BEN (10/2021)
9
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Treaty Tables
10
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for the Requester of Forms W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E, W-8ECI, W-8EXP, and W-8IMY
11
Internal Revenue Service. About Form W-8 BEN
12
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040-NR (2025)