W-8BEN Do I need to complete this?

Mrs_AS

Some guidance would be appreciated:

I have recently opened a "Stocks & Shares" ISA with Trading 212 following on from the MSE post about getting £40 free shares.

Trading 212 have asked me to complete a W-8BEN form - do I need to do this and why?  I'm new to this so not sure.

Thanks in advance

Voyager2002

W-8BEN is the form that allows you to receive dividends from investments in the USA without paying tax at a higher rate on the income. Trading 212 have decided to make this a requirement for receiving free shares, possibly because many of the free shares they give are in companies listed in the USA. I would imagine that if you ended up holding a US-listed share but had not completed this form they would face extra admin.

kempiejon

The W8BEN form, as I understand it, is for trading and holding US stocks. It's US government bit of admin. I abandoned US shares when, obviously, I was told it gives my details to a foreign government's tax collector.
copy form https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf
details from the IRS https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-8-ben

DullGreyGuy

kempiejon said:

The W8BEN form, as I understand it, is for trading and holding US stocks. It's US government bit of admin. I abandoned US shares when, obviously, I was told it gives my details to a foreign government's tax collector.
copy form https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf
details from the IRS https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-8-ben

Though by failing to submit it you are treated as a US tax payer at a higher rate so were you to make an error and obtain something that falls under US jurisdiction then the provider would have to withhold higher rate taxes because of the absence of having registered as a non-US tax payer. 

Mrs_AS

Thank you for the replies and information, which has helped a lot.

kempiejon

DullGreyGuy said:

kempiejon said:

The W8BEN form, as I understand it, is for trading and holding US stocks. It's US government bit of admin. I abandoned US shares when, obviously, I was told it gives my details to a foreign government's tax collector.
copy form https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf
details from the IRS https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-8-ben

Though by failing to submit it you are treated as a US tax payer at a higher rate so were you to make an error and obtain something that falls under US jurisdiction then the provider would have to withhold higher rate taxes because of the absence of having registered as a non-US tax payer. 

I held shares in a UK company that was bought by a US company and although the stock is traded on the UK FTSE index it's a 2ndary UK listing for a US share and I did have withholding tax applied.

Tightboy

I've been filling out a W-8BEN or what ever it was called in the past since 1983. I've worked on & off for an American company that gave us employee stocks. The form is easy to fill out and is valid for 3 years. Just a single side of A4 - on pdf.