# Form W-8BEN



## Tired Paul (27 Sep 2014)

Just looking for some clarification if possible please:

Currently partaking in company share scheme and was reviewing dividends paid for this year. 

I have sent back a W-8Ben form but I was under the impression that this excluded me from paying the "Foreign Tax" as described below. As I'm not a US citizen and pay the Irish tax here should I be paying the "Foreign Tax"
See example below.

Date Payable     Qty of Shares     Gross Dividend    Foreign tax    IR Tax    Net Dividend
09/09/14           286                  €153.76             €23.06          €26.14   €104.56
Cheers.


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## alwaysonit (27 Sep 2014)

W8BEN doesn't exclude you, it lowers your DWT from 30% the the treaty rate of 15%, which is what was taken from you.


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## hippy1975 (28 Sep 2014)

W8BEN can be used to exclude a foreign investor from the tax altogether......."If applicable, claim a reduced rate of, or *exemption from * withholding as a resident of a foreign country with which the United States has an income tax treaty and who is eligible for treaty benefits." (From IRS website - instructions on w8BEN)

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw8ben.pdf


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## Tired Paul (28 Sep 2014)

hippy1975 said:


> W8BEN can be used to exclude a foreign investor from the tax altogether......."If applicable, claim a reduced rate of, or *exemption from *withholding as a resident of a foreign country with which the United States has an income tax treaty and who is eligible for treaty benefits." (From IRS website - instructions on w8BEN)
> 
> http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw8ben.pdf


 

Yeah it was the exemption part I was looking at too. Does Ireland have a tax treaty with the US ?? I presume we do. 
Overall it just seems wrong to be paying double taxation on the dividends. I'll contact the policy administrator over the coming days and see what the story is with.
Any further info here would be appreciated though.
Thanks.


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## jhegarty (28 Sep 2014)

It's been 10 years since I last used the form , but at that stage I didn't pay any US Tax.


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## hippy1975 (29 Sep 2014)

Yep Ireland has a tax treaty with the U.S. -
[broken link removed]

Get back on to the administrator and advise that you wish to claim the exemption as you will be including this in your Irish tax return and should therefore receive Gross Dividends.
Sounds to me like admin taking the easy approach of applying 15% across the board to make it simpler for themselves


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## Jackman (16 Dec 2014)

Hi
When you are returning the W-8BEN form, should it be returned to the US company itself or should it be returned to your broker?

The reason I ask is that I contacted my broker but they just said to contact the tax authorities in the States...

I don't think this is correct because you can't send the form directly to the IRS  - it says explicitly on the form not to do this... (this is from the IRS website):



> Who Must Provide Form W-8BEN
> 
> You must give Form W-8BEN to the withholding agent or payer if you are a nonresident alien who is the beneficial owner of an amount subject to withholding, or if you are an account holder of an FFI documenting yourself as a nonresident alien. If you are the single owner of a disregarded entity, you are considered the beneficial owner of income received by the disregarded entity. Submit Form W-8BEN when requested by the withholding agent, payer, or FFI whether or not you are claiming a reduced rate of, or exemption from, withholding.





> Giving Form W-8BEN to the withholding agent.
> Do not send Form W-8BEN to the IRS. Instead, give it to the person who is requesting it from you. Generally, this will be the person from whom you receive the payment, who credits your account, or a partnership that allocates income to you. An FFI may also request this form from you to document your account as other than a U.S. account.



To me it looks like the "withholding agent" is the broker? (surely?) In the past I have done this through the broker (like OP for company shares).

The only other option is to send it directly to the company itself, but I don't think this is normal. I actually called one of the companies and they said to send it to the broker. Also I cannot find anywhere on the companies' websites where to send the form (ordinary mail address or email address).

Just looking at other brokers most of them send the form to their customers and they take care of it from there.

Should I insist on the broker submitting this for me? 

Thanks


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## losttheplot (16 Dec 2014)

I think the 15% tax is correct according to the tax treaty Ireland has with the US (section under Dividends), you can then claim a tax credit with revenue for the foreign tax paid when you submit a tax return.

I think it is the Share administrator or broker who holds the W-8BEN form. They normally mail one to you once a year to keep on file.


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## javiercarrillo (17 Jan 2019)

Did you every figure this out? I just started looking into this (should have done it a long time ago) and wondering how/if I can claim tax back or tax relief on the 15% withheld by the US (which form should I use?).

Thanks!


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