W8 Form for Non-U.S Residents
For non-U.S residents who earned money from U.S based online affiliate programs, you will be asked to submit a W8 form. Don’t be frightened by this U.S government document. It is very easy to fill in the form. I’ll show you how.
W8 form or W-8BEN is the “Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding”. It is required by the U.S. based company so that they don’t need to report to the U.S. tax office about any income paid to you.
You may download W8 form here(PDF), but normally, the affiliated company will send you a copy.
After downloaded the W8 form, we need to print it. Fill the form and submit back to the company. You may either submit by fax or mail. No email submissions.
Table of Contents
Filling W8 form
Here, I will show you how to fill in the W8 form. The W8 form is divided into four parts.
Part I: Identification of Beneficial Owner
Fill in the following fields:
- 1. Name of Individual or prganization that is the beneficial owner — Your full name.
- 2. Country of incorporation or organization — Your Country
- 3. Type of beneficial owner — tick “Individual”
- 4. Permanent residence address… — Your mailing address, with city/town, state, postal code, and country
Part II: Claim of Tax Treaty Benefits
On line no.9 “I certify that (check all that apply):”, tick “a The beneficial owner is a resident of …” and fill in your country in the blank field.
Part III: Notional Principal Contracts
Tick line no.11, “I have provided or will provide a statement that ….”.
Part IV: Certification
Sign your signature at “Sign Here” and fill in the Date. Note that it is in the MMM-DD-YY format, month comes first before date. Example: 06-29-06.
You’re done! Fax or mail the W8 form back to the company. They should have provided the fax number and company mailing address. Also, the country code for U.S. is 1 (One).
Sample W8 / W-8BEN form
Still blur? Never mind, download this sample W8 form for your reference.
Can I use this trick to register with pheedo ?
This is not a “trick”. It has nothing to do with pheedo registration.
Hi
Am interatioal affilaite form West Africa, i’ve made ome earnings via google ads i never knew about the w8 form, its made me puzzled cos av spent alot on this affiliate budget. Please guide me on how o fill this form, i donot get the part 1 of 6, 7, 8 and 10.
Regards,
Gilbert
Hi,
What’s up with the SSN? Is it mandatory?
It is ok to ignore Part 1’s 6, 7, 8, and Part 2’s 10. SSN is not mandatory. I do not fill in them and my forms are accepted without any problem.
– if u are using CJ for this form, you’d need to fill in line 8 with your CJ account number.
– i would assume that you only need to fill this form once, no matter how many US based affiliate programs you join. Correct?
Not really. Each affiliate program company needs to keep a copy of your W8 form.
Very helpful guide. Thank you so much.
Additional info:
I’ve sent the form to Azoogleads. Stamp cost from Kuala Lumpur to Canada is around RM1.60 (normal mail)
thanks for the article. It was very helpful after searching for the information for one hour in google.
good tutorials..thanks..
at the bottom of the form ,
“Capacity in acting”， what does it mean?
just leave it blank? if i was the beneficiary?
It’s your Full Name.
Thank you for the guide.
-If we try to fill the form without printing it, how will we sign it? Or is it enough to write name in the field of signature?
@Cagri: you have to print the form to sign it
If I am a International student using F1 visa can I earn money online? One online company said that you have to fill out a W8 form. But will I be out of status because I earned money online?
@cesar: by submitting W8 form, you have confirm that your are non-US residents, therefore the company does not need to do the tax for your income. Don’t worry, you will still be accepted.
thanks LcF, but does the us government(or IRS) get the copy of W-8 form.
If they do they will know that I am earning income out of campus. Won’t that be a violation of F1 visa , and won’t I be out of status.
Another question. I have a social security number, but I don’t want to use that cause I will be out of status. So can I get a Tax Id number becuase one is required to enter that info in the W-8 form right. THrough that Taxid number won’t the IRS know that I am working online or outside the campus?
thanks in advance
@cesar: the US government may get the copy of W8 form. Does your campus link to government? Since you are working at home/hostel online for Adsense, I think your campus will care. Anyway, tat’s my own opinion. Please seek for professional advices.
Will the company accept the W-8 form without the tax id number: SSN, EIN or TIIN ?
@cesar: i didn’t fill in the tax id number and didn’t get any problem
I need to hire independent contractor from Turkey. I have small business in the US. Do I need to ask the contractor to fill for W8?
@hanna: are you in US? I am not clear about US tax policies. As far as I know, if your contractor do not pay income tax in US, he/she needs to submit the W8 form.
it is said in the note of W8-BEN form instruction, that you may want to obtain and provide a TIN on W8ben even though it is not required….
So if the company is exempted from paying any taxes on the person filing this W8 form, does this mean the filing person is to pay? Should he or she then file taxes by then end of the year with IRS? Even if the person lives abroad?
Could somebody clarify this point for me please, thank you so much. The guide is so helpful also.
useful guide after I searching on google by hours. thanks
Thx for the turorial. But at the bottom; “capacity in witch acting”, what does that mean?
A comment said it was my full name but im not sure what question he answered
thanks dude…nice guide nd good info…
Very helpful !
LcF, hope u will help..
In Linkshare – Tax Info, they still need Tax Payer Identification Number and Tax Payer Number Type to be FILLED.
Eventhough i ticked the checked box : “i am exempted from backup witholding”, and filled the other particular they needed.
1. How to fill this?
2. How to get that ID number?
3. say, after i filled W-8 form and submit to US Tax Office, did they privided me with tax ID?
4. For malaysian, and individual acc, which type.. W-8BEN or W-8ECI ?
@jojo: you should fill and submit the W-8BEN form, not W-8 form. Write an email to Linkshare and tell them that you are Malaysian with no business activity in USA and request for W-8BEN form.
thanks a lot..!
:)
hi, I from Malaysia and unemployed so which form should I fill, w-8 or w8-BEN?
w8-BEN
i have another question, in Linkshare tax fill up, is it ok that i leave “tax payer Identification number” and “Taxpayer Number Type” blank as i don’t have one? And what does “I am exempt from backup withholding” means? do i need to tick it? thank you
Yes, you can leave the “tax payer Identification number” and “Taxpayer Number Type” blank. I am not sure about the “I am exempt from backup withholding”. I think don’t need to tick it.
hello LIEWCF,
thanks for great help….
If our income is from google our not derived from malaysia, do we have to create a business in Malaysia? And how old do we have to be to sign the w8 form?
@Rachel you do not need to create a business in Malaysia for Google AdSense income. You need to be 18 year old.
Thanks for the reply… So that means I don’t have to create a business if my income is from google and youtube or any other income source from other country? I’m just wondering cos I don’t know if I have to create a business and enter RM 0 in the income tax or not have a business at all..