Withholding & Tax TreatiesAnswered

Which W-8 form do I collect from each kind of foreign payee — BEN, BEN-E, ECI, or IMY?

H4
hassan_4f63new member
May 20, 2026 1,960 views 1 answer
form-w-8benform-w-8ben-eform-w-8imydocumentation

Before I pay my various foreign payees I know I'm supposed to get a W-8 on file, but there are several versions and I can't tell which goes with which payee. I have a foreign individual, a foreign company, someone claiming their income is effectively connected, and a foreign partnership acting as a middleman. Can you map the W-8 variants to these payee types so I collect the right one?

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