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I am part of a small outsourcing company and have providing service to clients in the USA for a few years. The work is entirely carried out in India and we only employ Indian nationals to do it.

Recently we bagged a medium sized account and during finalization of contract the Client asked us to provide him with a W-9 form.

As a non U.S. person and a non U.S. company I am not sure whether we are required to provide that. An alternative appears to be the W-8BEN, but I am not sure whether even that is applicable in our case. I shall appreciate any advise that I can get. Thanks

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W8 is used to certify that you're not a US person/entity for tax purposes. W9 is used to certify that you are a US person/entity for tax purposes.

If you're a US citizen/green card holder - you should always fill W9. If not, you need to consider whether you're considered resident for tax purposes in the US, and whether you're going to be present in the US to do the job. You might be required to file form W8-ECI, instead of W8-BEN, depending on circumstances.

The certification affects the tax withholding on the amounts paid to you by your US counterpart, and is required to be filed with your counterpart so that they could pay you. They're not allowed to pay you any money, according to the US law, unless you provide the certification about your tax status.

Since there's a tax treaty between India and the US, you should seek a professional advice from a US-licensed EA/CPA who is proficient in the Indo-US treaty and well versed in the situation similar to yours. That professional will help you fill the forms correctly and advise you on how and what to do if there are tax withholding in the US.

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