Guide to Global Payroll Management - 2020 - D-44

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Guide to Global Payroll Management

Scholarship and fellowship grants, later, for more
information.
This line is generally not applicable to treaty benefits
under an interest or dividends (other than dividends
subject to a preferential rate based on ownership) article
of a treaty.

not legally required to obtain a TIN in your jurisdiction of
tax residence. The explanation may be written on line 6, in
the margins of the form, or on a separate attached
statement associated with the form. If you are writing the
explanation on line 6, you may shorten it to "not legally
required." Do not write "not applicable."
In addition, if you are not using this form to document a
financial account described above, you may provide the
TIN issued to you by your jurisdiction of tax residence on
line 6 for purposes of claiming treaty benefits (rather than
providing a U.S. TIN on line 5, if required).

Nonresident alien who becomes a resident alien.
Generally, only a nonresident alien individual can use the
terms of a tax treaty to reduce or eliminate U.S. tax on
certain types of income. However, most tax treaties
contain a provision known as a "saving clause" which
preserves or "saves" the right of each country to tax its
own residents as if no tax treaty existed. Exceptions
specified in the saving clause may permit an exemption
from tax to continue for certain types of income even after
the recipient has otherwise become a U.S. resident alien
for tax purposes. The individual must use Form W-9 to
claim the tax treaty benefit. See the instructions for Form
W-9 for more information. Also see Nonresident alien
student or researcher who becomes a resident alien, later,
for an example.

Line 7. This line may be used by the filer of Form
W-8BEN or by the withholding agent to whom it is
provided to include any referencing information that is
useful to the withholding agent in carrying out its
obligations. For example, withholding agents who are
required to associate the Form W-8BEN with a particular
Form W-8IMY may want to use line 7 for a referencing
number or code that will make the association clear. A
beneficial owner can use line 7 to include the number of
the account for which he or she is providing the form. A
foreign single owner of a disregarded entity can use line 7
to inform the withholding agent that the account to which a
payment is made or credited is in the name of the
disregarded entity (see the instructions for line 1).

Scholarship and fellowship grants. A nonresident
alien student (including a trainee or business apprentice)
or researcher who receives noncompensatory scholarship
or fellowship income can use Form W-8BEN to claim
benefits under a tax treaty that apply to reduce or
eliminate U.S. tax on such income. No Form W-8BEN is
required unless a treaty benefit is being claimed. A
nonresident alien student or researcher who receives
compensatory scholarship or fellowship income must use
Form 8233, instead of Form W-8BEN, to claim any
benefits of a tax treaty that apply to that income. The
student or researcher must use Form W-4 for any part of
such income for which he or she is not claiming a tax
treaty withholding exemption. Do not use Form W-8BEN
for compensatory scholarship or fellowship income. See
Compensation for Dependent Personal Services in the
Instructions for Form 8233.

Line 8. If you are providing this Form W-8BEN to
document yourself as an account holder with respect to a
financial account as described above in line 6 that you
hold with a U.S. office of a financial institution (including a
U.S. branch of an FFI), provide your date of birth. Use the
following format to input your information: MM-DD-YYYY.
For example, if you were born on April 15, 1956, you
would enter 04-15-1956.

Part II

Line 9. If you are claiming treaty benefits as a resident of
a foreign country with which the United States has an
income tax treaty for payments subject to withholding
under chapter 3, identify the country where you claim to
be a resident for income tax treaty purposes. For treaty
purposes, a person is a resident of a treaty country if the
person is a resident of that country under the terms of the
treaty. A list of U.S. tax treaties is available at IRS.gov/
Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Tax-Treaties.

If you are a nonresident alien individual who

TIP received noncompensatory scholarship or

fellowship income and personal services income
(including compensatory scholarship or fellowship
income) from the same withholding agent, you may use
Form 8233 to claim a tax treaty withholding exemption for
part or all of both types of income.

If you are related to the withholding agent within
the meaning of section 267(b) or 707(b) and the
CAUTION aggregate amount subject to withholding received
during the calendar year exceeds $500,000, then you are
generally required to file Form 8833, Treaty-Based Return
Position Disclosure Under Section 6114 or 7701(b),
available at IRS.gov/Form8833. See the Instructions for
Form 8833 for more information on the filing requirements.

Completing lines 3 and 9. Most tax treaties that
contain an article exempting scholarship or fellowship
grant income from taxation require that the recipient be a
resident of the other treaty country at the time of, or
immediately prior to, entry into the United States. Thus, a
student or researcher may claim the exemption even if he
or she no longer has a permanent address in the other
treaty country after entry into the United States. If this is
the case, you can provide a U.S. address on line 3 and
still be eligible for the exemption if all other conditions
required by the tax treaty are met. You must also identify
on line 9 the tax treaty country of which you were a
resident at the time of, or immediately prior to, your entry
into the United States.
Completing line 10. You must complete line 10 if you
are a student or researcher claiming an exemption from

Line 10. Line 10 must be used only if you are claiming
treaty benefits that require that you meet conditions not
covered by the representations you make on line 9 and
Part III. For example, persons claiming treaty benefits on
royalties must complete this line if the treaty contains
different withholding rates for different types of royalties.
However, this line should always be completed by foreign
students and researchers claiming treaty benefits. See
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D-44

Instructions for Form W-8BEN (Rev. 7-2017)

Guide to Global Payroll Management - 2020

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