We are a small community bank and very rarely do we have customers that are non-resident aliens. My question is what is to be done with the W-8 once it has been completed?

A W-8 is related to IRS information reporting and backup withholding of interest payments. You have to have a current one on file in order not to backup withhold. You don't really "do" anything with one except retain it in your records.

Agreed.

You may want to organize them so they are easy to access as a group rather than at the customer level. They are sometimes used as a research tool when you are attempting to locate NRA's for BSA purposes. You may also use them for research when you are attempting to locate NRAs subject to 1042S reporting beginning in 2013.

Thank you for your help.

W-8BENs remain in effect for a period starting on the date the form is signed and ending on the last day of the third succeeding calendar year. Example, W-8BEN signed on 9/3/2005, is valid through December 31, 2008. The bank I used to work for was told by the OTS during a BSA exam that these needed to be updated.

Yet another good reason why OTS isn't around anymore. The current W-8BEN is valid for 4 calendar years, the one in which it was executed and the three that follow. When the bank is filing a 1042S annually, they remain valid indefinitely.

Yet another good reason why OTS isn't around anymore.

LOL - but I sure enjoyed my days being supervised by the OTS over the banks that I worked in under the OCC or FRB back in the day

We have to report the number of NRA's via the MLR system for the OCC each year. We have to also report the country of origin for those individuals. We have used the W-8 before to help us identify NRAs. Does anyone know if the 'Country of incorporation or organization' field on the W-8 is the right field to obtain that from?

Does anyone know if the 'Country of incorporation or organization' field on the W-8 is the right field to obtain that from?

That would make sense for an entity. However, if the form is being completed by an individual, "N/A" is to be placed in that field.

For individuals, you would refer to the individual's permanent address.

Thank you. Well, looks like we might need some guidance/training or something on getting these forms completed properly because it looks like in most cases where the form has been completed, they are putting their local address in the permanent address location on the form.

I think I stay in a constant state of confusion in this job sometimes

If these forms are related to interest bearing accounts and they are not complete properly, you are required to be backup withholding on these accounts and could be found liable for those amounts plus penalties for the IRS.

When this form is required, it is very important that it be completed properly.

Also, for interest bearing accounts for calendar year 2013, you are going to have to know their permanent address in order to determine their country of origin to determine whether or not a 1042S is required to be filed.

Thank you RL! I am set to take a webinar on the new non-resident alien rules for 2013 which is probably what you are referencing here.

Thank you again!

The information reporting requirements are new. The backup withholding rules are not.

Are you sure about that? Here is a link to the most current revision of the Instructions for the Requester of Forms W-8BEN, W-8ECI, W-8EXP, AND W-8IMY: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw8.pdf

From page 5, Period of Validity, Form W-8BEN:

Quite certain. I encourage you to actually read what you posted from the instructions.

And that illustrates that it is valid during the year it is signed and the three following years; therefore it is valid in four years.

The first year may have 365 days left or it may have only 1 day left.

Welsh posted:


To which Ken replied:



What Welsh posted was correct. Ken's inference that what he posted was incorrect was wrong. The instructions specifically state, exactly as Welsh posted, that W-8BENs remain in effect for a period starting on the date the form is signed and ending on the last day of the third succeeding calendar year. You can read it yourself in the instructions I linked to above.

So, in fact, I actually agreed with Walsh, but did it in a way that suggested he, actually the OTS, was wrong. So the information offered was correct either way and your only goal was to fix it even though it wasn't wrong.

Quite admirable.

My only goal was to show your post was unnesessary and misleading.

Now, we know.