W8-BEN Form

[polyphonic]

Tweet

Hi,

I run a UK ltd company as an affiliate and we are wanting to work with Azoogle in the US. However, they need us to fill out a W8-BEN form. Has anybody any experience of this?

I've looked around here and on Google but there's a couple of questions that I could do with answering.

1) Do we need an ITIN or EIN number?
2) What goes in box 11?
3) I think, for Q9, we would tick box a and box c, but it's quite confusing.

If anybody could shed any light on this we'd be extremely grateful

[Steved]

1) No
2) I normally leave it blank
3) I just tick block A

I've never had an issue with the above answers, as long as you're declaring yourself non-USA based you should be fine. Sign and fax/email back.

[polyphonic]

Great, thanks Steve!

[tbp]

Im not sure whether its the same now, but in the past when I was getting paid from a US publisher, I did need to get an ITIN number. Wasn't a problem getting one, although it did take about 10 weeks to come through.

[polyphonic]

Thanks for the reply.

Hmm, this is what I've found on Google. Some people are saying that an ITIN is necessary, and some aren't. Azoogle aren't helping (the US publisher) as, due to the US litigation culture, they're too scared to offer advice.

If anybody else has any experience, I'd be grateful to hear of it.

I'll see if the IRS helpline can help, too.

[polyphonic]

Received confirmation from Azoogle that they do require an ITIN. Frustrating, but I guess it's not their fault.

America, huh?

[Steved]

I've probably just been lucky so far then but have sent off half a dozen and never been asked for anything further. May as well apply for one in case I need it then. If you find out how I'd be interested to know.

[tbp]

I can't see the harm in getting an ITIN number anyway, it literally is just a number, doesn't mean you have to do anything else.

It was about 4 years ago that I got mine, and I just had to fill in a single form, was pretty simple. Did take about 10 weeks or so to come through though, and that was after faxing over the form to the states to save some time!

[polyphonic]

There's definitely no harm in getting an ITIN but, after looking into it further, it is only for individuals. Fair enough, I could do it in my name, not sure what the other directors would think, but it'd be odd anyway as all of the accounts with the affiliate networks are as the limited company and not personally. I feel it's better to leave it that way.

It'd be far easier if the affiliate networks weren't so worried about being sued and would just tell me! I've left the ball in their court again, so we'll see what happens.

Thanks again for all the replies, I'm liking it around here

[tbp]

There's definitely no harm in getting an ITIN but, after looking into it further, it is only for individuals

Ah, sorry, I did it as an individual and just assumed you were doing the same

Not sure of the equivalent for businesses, I guess there must be one?

[polyphonic]

All sorted!

You need to complete the IRS form SS-4 to get an EIN number. It's straight forward, they actually do it over the telephone on 215-516-6999 and give you it instantly, no need to sign and send forms etc.

For anybody wishing to do this as a UK ltd company, I strongly recommend you read Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN) and then scroll down to "Foreign Persons and IRS Employer Identification Numbers".

[Steved]

TA very much! I think I'll apply anyway, I'm sure I'll need one at some stage of the game