W-8BEN-E: who signs it, and the five parts that matter
A US client or platform sent you a W-8 form before it will pay. If your company sits in , this tells you which form is yours, what to tick, and the one rule that trips up many owners of a US LLC.
Which W form is yours?
The IRS looks at who owns the income for US tax, not whose name is on the invoice. Pick the description that fits the business being paid.
The single-member LLC trap, in the IRS's own words
A US LLC with one owner is a disregarded entity by default: for US income tax it doesn't exist apart from you. So the forms that certify tax status look straight through it. Three sets of IRS instructions say the same thing.
"If you are a disregarded entity with a single owner ... the single owner, if such owner is a foreign person, should provide Form W-8BEN or Form W-8BEN-E (as appropriate)."Instructions for Form W-8BEN-E (Rev. October 2021), Do not use Form W-8BEN-E
"If the owner of the disregarded entity is a foreign person, the owner must complete an appropriate Form W-8 instead of a Form W-9. This is the case even if the foreign person has a U.S. TIN."Form W-9 (Rev. March 2024), line 1 instructions
"If you are the single owner of a disregarded entity, you are considered the beneficial owner of income received by the disregarded entity."Instructions for Form W-8BEN (Rev. October 2021)
What that means in practice:
- Line 1 carries your name (or your foreign company's), never the LLC's.
- Tell the payer the account is in the LLC's name on the reference line: line 7 of W-8BEN, line 10 of W-8BEN-E.
- A W-9 with the LLC's EIN is wrong for a foreign-owned disregarded LLC, and the W-9 instructions say so, even though some sign-up flows ask for exactly that.
- It changes only if the LLC elects corporate tax treatment on Form 8832. Then it's a US corporation, a US person, and it gives a W-9 with its own EIN.
The EIN still matters: it's how the LLC opens a bank account and files its yearly Form 5472. Lost the letter that proves it? See CP 575 and the 147C letter.
Where a company's form differs from an individual's
| W-8BEN | W-8BEN-E | |
|---|---|---|
| For | Non-US individuals | Non-US entities: companies, and some partnerships and trusts |
| Length | 1 page, 3 parts | 8 pages, 30 parts; most companies fill 4 or 5 |
| Chapter 4 (FATCA) status | Not asked | Line 5, with a matching certification part |
| US tax number | Line 5: SSN or ITIN, needed for most treaty claims unless line 6 has a foreign TIN | Line 8: EIN, if you have one or must get one |
| Foreign tax number | Line 6a | Line 9b |
| Treaty claim | Part II, lines 9 and 10 | Part III, lines 14 and 15, with a limitation on benefits test |
| Disregarded LLC owner | You sign it in your own name | Your company signs it in its own name |
| Where it goes | To the payer or bank that asked, never to the IRS. Valid to the end of the third calendar year after signing. | |
If you are still deciding which form you sign, our W-8BEN helper sorts individuals, companies and W-9 cases in a few questions. For an individual's treaty claim, the W-8BEN instructions say you generally need an ITIN if you don't give a tax number from your own country. Applying for one means Form W-7.
W-8BEN-E part by part, for a trading company
A company that sells goods or services and isn't a bank, fund or insurer normally completes Part I, maybe Part III, one NFFE part, and Part XXX. Parts IV to XXIV are for financial institutions and special entities; leave them empty unless your line 5 status points there.
Who the beneficial owner is
Usually skip
Only for a disregarded entity or branch receiving the payment that has its own FATCA status and GIIN. A trading company paid directly leaves it empty.
Claiming a lower withholding rate
The operating business test
You certify three things: you're a foreign entity that isn't a financial institution; less than 50% of last calendar year's gross income was passive; and less than 50% of your assets produce, or are held to produce, passive income (a weighted average measured quarterly). Test yours below.
Everyone else who isn't a financial institution
Tick 40a, then 40b if you have no substantial US owners, or 40c and list each one, with name, address and TIN, in Part XXIX.
Sign it
An authorised officer or representative signs, dates and ticks the capacity box. An agent needs a power of attorney attached; Form 2848 can serve. A typed name alone isn't an electronic signature. If anything on the form becomes untrue, you owe the payer a new form within 30 days.
Active or passive NFFE? Move the sliders
Passive income here means dividends, interest, rents, royalties, annuities and similar income, as defined in the FATCA regulations. Fees for your services and sales of your products are not passive. Both tests must come in under half.
Treaty claims: does your country have one?
Part III only helps if the US has an income tax treaty with the country where your company is resident, and the income type is covered. The IRS keeps the list on its treaties A to Z page (reviewed 3 January 2026).
The limitation on benefits boxes on line 14b
Treaties with an LOB article stop companies being set up in a treaty country just to get the rate. You tick the one test your company meets, and only tests that exist in your treaty. The IRS summary of the options:
- Government
- Tax-exempt pension trust or fund
- Other tax-exempt organisation
- Publicly traded corporation
- Subsidiary of a publicly traded corporation
- Ownership and base erosion test
- Derivative benefits test (EU, EEA, USMCA treaties)
- Active trade or business test
- No LOB article in treaty
- Other, with the article named
- Favorable discretionary determination
For a founder-owned company, the realistic boxes are usually ownership and base erosion (more than half owned by residents of the same country, and less than half of gross income paid out to non-qualifying persons) or active trade or business. Check the treaty text itself; the IRS warns its summaries can't be relied on for the final call.
How long a W-8BEN-E stays valid
From the day it's signed to the last day of the third calendar year after, unless something on it changes. The IRS example: signed 30 September 2014, valid to 31 December 2017.
Where it goes, and what happens without it
Some payers ask for a different W-8. Income effectively connected with a US trade or business goes on Form W-8ECI; intermediaries and partnerships documenting owners use W-8IMY; foreign governments and tax-exempt bodies often use W-8EXP.
Questions
Does my single-member US LLC fill in a W-8BEN-E?
Can my foreign-owned LLC give a W-9 instead?
What's the difference between W-8BEN and W-8BEN-E?
Is my company an active NFFE?
Do I send W-8BEN-E to the IRS?
How often do I need a new one?
Changelog
13 November 2026: first published, from Form W-8BEN-E and W-8BEN with their instructions (Rev. October 2021), Form W-9 (Rev. March 2024) and the IRS treaties A to Z page.
A US LLC that clients know how to pay.
Wyoming, US$181.40 for year one, all in, with the EIN applied for without an SSN. You keep signing the W-8 as its owner.