/claiming-tax-treaty-benefit

Creating a Repo to simplify answering the claiming tax treaty benefits on our Developer Accounts,

#Claim US Tax Treaty Benefits for Royalties for Foreigners or Non-US residents

Updated as of OCTOBER 12, 2016

##TAX TREATY

If a tax treaty between the United States and your country provides an exemption from, or a reduced rate of, withholding for certain items of income, you should notify the payor of the income (the withholding agent) of your foreign status to claim the benefits of the treaty. Generally, you do this by filing Form W-8BEN, Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding with the withholding agent.

A reduced rate of withholding applies to a foreign person that provides a Form W-8BEN claiming a reduced rate of withholding under an income tax treaty only if the foreign person provides a U.S. Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) (except for certain marketable securities) and certifies that:

  1. It is a resident of a treaty country;
  2. It is the beneficial owner of the income;
  3. If it is an entity, it derives the income within the meaning of Section 894 of the Internal Revenue Code (it is not fiscally transparent); and
  4. It meets any limitation on benefits provision contained in the treaty, if applicable.

Read more about at the IRS Site.

##ROYALTIES (General definition in most tax treaty)

Excerpt from China

The term "royalties" means payments of any kind received as a consideration for the use of, or the right to use, any copyright of literary, artistic or scientific work, including cinematographic films or films or tapes used for radio or television broadcasting, any patent, technical know-how, trademark, design or model, plan, secret formula or process, or for the use of, or the right to use, industrial, commercial or scientific equipment, or for information concerning industrial, commercial or scientific experience.

##Use Case:

This is specifically for answering the W-8BEN Form (Filling US Tax Form) regarding ROYALTIES for our accounts on

  1. Apple Developer
  2. Amazon Kindle
  3. Patreon
  4. and so on... (Please add relevant companies, just do a pull request to add more...)

##NOTE:

Not all countries are included in this treaty. Please see below if your country is included:

Reference: US Income Tax Treaties from A to Z

  1. [Armenia] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/ussr.pdf)
  2. [Australia] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/aus.pdf)
  3. [Austria] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/austria.pdf)
  4. [Azerbaijan] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/ussr.pdf)
  5. [Bangladesh] (https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/treaties/Documents/js1959_bangladeshtreaty.pdf)
  6. [Barbados] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/barbados.pdf)
  7. [Belarus] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/ussr.pdf)
  8. [Belgium] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/belgium.pdf)
  9. [Bulgaria] (https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/treaties/Documents/Bulgaria-Treaty-2-23-2007.pdf)
  10. [Canada] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/canada.pdf)
  11. [China] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/china.pdf)
  12. [Cyprus] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/cyprus.pdf)
  13. [Czech Republic] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/czech.pdf)
  14. [Denmark] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/denmark2.pdf)
  15. [Egypt] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/egypt.pdf)
  16. [Estonia] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/estonia.pdf)
  17. [Finland] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/finland.pdf)
  18. [France] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/france.pdf)
  19. [Georgia] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/ussr.pdf)
  20. [Germany] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/germany.pdf)
  21. [Greece] (https://www.irs.gov/businesses/international-businesses/greece-tax-treaty-documents)
  22. [Hungary] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/hungary.pdf)
  23. [Iceland] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/iceland.pdf)
  24. [India] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/india.pdf)
  25. [Indonesia] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/indo.pdf)
  26. [Ireland] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/ireland.pdf)
  27. [Israel] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/israel.pdf)
  28. [Italy] (https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/treaties/Documents/italy.pdf)
  29. [Jamaica] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/jamaica.pdf)
  30. [Japan] (https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/treaties/Documents/japantreaty.pdf)
  31. [Kazakhstan] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/kazakh.pdf)
  32. [Korea] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/korea.pdf)
  33. [Kyrgyzstan] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/ussr.pdf)
  34. [Latvia] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/latvia.pdf)
  35. [Lithuania] (https://www.irs.gov/businesses/international-businesses/lithuania-tax-treaty-documents)
  36. [Luxembourg] (https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CDOC-104tdoc33/pdf/CDOC-104tdoc33.pdf)
  37. [Malta] (http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/treaties/Documents/usmalta%20agreement.pdf)
  38. [Mexico] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/mexico.pdf)
  39. [Moldova] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/ussr.pdf)
  40. [Morocco] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/morocco.pdf)
  41. [Netherlands] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/nether.pdf)
  42. [New Zealand] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/newzld.pdf)
  43. [Norway] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/norway.pdf)
  44. [Pakistan] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/pakistan.pdf)
  45. [Philippines] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/philip.pdf)
  46. [Poland] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/poland.pdf)
  47. [Portugal] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/portugal.pdf)
  48. [Romania] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/romania.pdf)
  49. [Russia] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/russia.pdf)
  50. [Slovak Republic] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/slovak.pdf)
  51. [Slovenia] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/slovenia.pdf)
  52. [South Africa] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/safrica.pdf)
  53. [Spain] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/spain.pdf)
  54. [Sri Lanka] ()
  55. [Sweden] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/sweden.pdf)
  56. [Switzerland] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/swiss.pdf)
  57. [Tajikistan] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/ussr.pdf)
  58. [Thailand] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/thailand.pdf)
  59. [Trinidad] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/trinidad.pdf)
  60. [Tunisia] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/tunisia.pdf)
  61. [Turkey] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/turkey.pdf)
  62. [Turkmenistan] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/ussr.pdf)
  63. [Ukraine] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/ukrain.pdf)
  64. [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/ussr.pdf)
  65. [United Kingdom] (https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/treaties/Documents/uktreaty.pdf)
  66. [United States Model] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/model006.pdf)
  67. [Uzbekistan] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/ussr.pdf)
  68. [Venezuela] (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/venezu.pdf)

For people who doesn't reside in the US, you don't need an EIN, SSN, or ITIN. Now, you can use your own country's tax ID number.

##DISCLAIMER:

This is not the official way of answering the "Claim US Tax Treaty Benefit" section in the form. This was made to simplify answering that section based on my knowledge and experience. You should still read the agreement between your country and USA. If you are still unsure on how to answer it, ask help from a Tax Accountant. No one will be liable for any issue that arises from using this work (write up, app, etc). Use this at your own risk.

##LICENSE:

[Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.5)] (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/) by @Michieriffic