W-8BEN

You give it when a payer asks and you are a nonresident alien who is the beneficial owner of the income. A payment app or other payment settlement entity may ask for one too. A US citizen gives Form W-9 instead, even while living abroad, and so does a resident alien. A foreign company uses Form W-8BEN-E, and income tied to a US trade or business calls for Form W-8ECI.

A foreign person’s US-source income not tied to a US business, such as royalties, is generally taxed at 30%. The payer collects it by withholding. A treaty claim in Part II can lower that rate or remove it. YouTube, for example, withholds only from a non-US creator’s earnings from US viewers, once valid tax info is on file.

The form stays valid from the day you sign it to the end of the third calendar year after that. So a form signed in 2026 lasts through December 31, 2029, unless your circumstances change. If you become a resident alien, for example by passing the substantial presence test, tell the payer within 30 days. It may then ask you for a W-9. A move to a US address also means telling the payer within 30 days and giving it a new form.

Without a valid form, a payer may withhold 30%, or 24% as backup withholding.