Has your customer asked you to complete a Form W-8BEN-E before being paid?

So you've landed your first US client and hit the bullseye. Now it's time to deal with all the paperwork before you can get paid! Why am I being asked to complete a W-8BEN-E? Form W-8BEN-E is a certificate held on file by the payor of the US income. It is used as proof that they asked the correct questions to identify that your company/entity is not required to have US tax withheld on income received from a US source. This certificate is stored and kept by the payor in case t

UK Limited company completing a W-8BEN-E What is a W-8BEN-E? The W-8BEN-E form is used by payers of US income. All US payers are required to determine whether the recipient is a US entity or a foreign entity. The form is a record in case they are audited by the IRS and ensures the correct amount of US tax withholding is made. Because of tax treaties with the US, most entities with no effectively connected income or a permanent establishment (PE) in the US, will pay zero or a

An Employer Identification Number (EIN) can be obtained in multiple ways depending on the type of entity and if the owner is US or a Non Resident Alien (NRA). US persons can obtain the EIN for the entity online if they hold a social security number or ITIN. NRAs cannot apply via the online EIN system as in most cases, these individuals do not have a US tax identification number (TIN). For those individuals, there are two options, dependent on the type of entity that has been

Case Study: Employer Identification Number (EIN) & W-8BEN-E -Non-Resident We assisted a non-resident alien (NRA) and entity to obtain an Employer Identification Number (also known as a Federal Tax ID number) and assisted with completion of the Form W-8BEN-E. The NRA provided copywriting services to multinationals via his UK Limited Company. Of these multinationals he had multiple clients in the USA. The NRA had previously completed Form W8-BEN-E in 2015 but due to a new requi

An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is also known as a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) or the Federal Tax Identification N