Good afternoon,
I've just been admitted to Gengo and at the moment =I am about to fill in the tax form. But, in fact, I have some doubts about this. I am Russian, but at the moment I'm studying in Spain, so I have temporary residence here. How does this document apply to russian citizens?
How do I have to fill in "The beneficial owner is a resident of ??????????? within the meaning of the income tax treaty between the United States and that country." ?
And does this document imply any obligations from my part?
Thank you,
Iuliia
1 comment
Hi Iuliia!
I believe you shouldn't fill in Parts II and III. As far as I read, in order to 'claim tax treaty benefits' you should also have a US TIN (taxpayer identification number, at point 6 of Part I): http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw8ben.pdf?page=5
AFAIK, if you complete the form (Part I and IV), you're just telling the IRS that you're NOT a 'resident-alien' working on US soil, and that therefore your income from Gengo shouldn't be taxed in the US, but in your home country instead (please see this definition of "source of income": http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Nonresident-Aliens---Source-of-Income). You should however definitely check with your accountant too, and also ask them how this specific source of income will be regarded and taxed in your home country, also seeing how you're residing in a third country at the moment. All that bureaucratic stuff is definitely not straightforward in the least... it almost feels like the guys who write those texts attend specific courses in order to produce unintelligible documents and 'instructions'...
HTH,
Mirko