Question about filling the W-8BEN form?
Question:
I'm from Greece and lately, I've moved to Italy..
The security institution asked me to send an updated W-8BEN form with my Greece address as my legal address, and my Italy address as the mailing address.
I got confused on this part n the form:
""The beneficial owner is a resident of _________within the meaning of the income tax treaty between the United States and that country.""
Should I Write resident of Greece or Italy??
nad is there is something else in the form filling -other than adding my italy address as maling address- would change as i moved to another country?
Answer:
Step one. You need an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number). If you don't have one, then you need to get one BEFORE you can send in the W-8BEN. Get it by filing Form W7 - itself a mighty tricky form. It takes up to 12 weeks to get a number. The nice folks at the IRS will give you a hand.
Step two. You are a resident of Italy. It's the country you are physically present in, not the one you where you are a citizen. If you move to a new country, you need to fill in a new W-8BEN.
The treaty rate is 15% for dividends. The domestic rate is 0% on interest and 0% on sales of stocks. Without form W-8BEN, the rate on all three is 30%.
You will need to quote the Article number to get the treaty rate. Dividends is Article 10 of the US/Italy treaty.
All links included below.
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