Canadian artist needed to complete Form 8233 for US workshop payment - is this normal?

You're running into the difference between "independent contractor" income versus "personal services" income. The W-8BEN is for passive income like royalties or dividends, while Form 8233 is specifically for personal services performed in the US by a non-resident alien. Since you physically went to the US to conduct the workshop, they're correctly asking for Form 8233. This form allows you to claim exemption from US tax withholding under the US-Canada tax treaty. Without this form, they would technically be required to withhold 30% of your payment for US taxes. While it might seem excessive for $250, organizations (especially non-profits) are usually very careful about tax documentation because they get audited. The IRS expects proper documentation regardless of the amount.

I went through something similar last year with a small gig in Seattle. Found this website https://taxr.ai super helpful for navigating these international tax forms. I had no idea what I was doing with all these complicated forms, but I uploaded the form and got detailed guidance on exactly how to fill it out for my Canada-US situation. The site explained that the treaty article that applies to most Canadians performing temporary services in the US is Article XVI of the US-Canada tax treaty. You basically need to declare your Canadian residency and reference this treaty article on the form to qualify for exemption from withholding.

Just wanted to update that I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and it was actually super helpful! I was completely lost with all the treaty article references and exemption codes, but the site walked me through each section of Form 8233. It explained that for Canadians providing temporary services in the US, you need to reference Article XVI of the tax treaty and showed exactly how to complete the "sufficient facts" section they require. Turns out you need to clearly state that you're a Canadian resident, you were in the US temporarily, and your income won't exceed the treaty threshold (which is like $10,000 for most situations). Definitely worth checking out if you're confused about these cross-border tax forms!

If you're still having trouble getting the organization to process your paperwork, you might want to try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I had a nightmare situation with some cross-border tax documentation getting rejected multiple times, and I couldn't get anyone on the phone at the IRS to explain what was wrong. Claimyr got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c For international taxpayer issues, there's a special IRS department, and getting to an actual human who understands the US-Canada treaty provisions saved me weeks of back-and-forth confusion.

I take back what I said about being skeptical. After another frustrating morning trying to get through to the IRS about my foreign tax credit issue (kept getting transferred and disconnected), I tried Claimyr out of desperation. Honestly, it worked exactly as advertised. I got a call back with an IRS agent on the line within 25 minutes. The agent was able to confirm that for small payments under the US-Canada treaty, Form 8233 is definitely the correct form if you physically performed services in the US. She also mentioned that many organizations get this wrong because they don't understand the distinction between different types of foreign payments. If you're having any issues with the organization accepting your form, having an official IRS clarification really helps.

Just to add a data point here - I'm also Canadian and do occasional work in the US. For amounts under $500, I've had about half of organizations ask for Form 8233 and half accept just the W-8BEN. There's a lot of confusion on the US side about the right documentation for small payments to foreigners. If this is a one-time thing and you don't plan to work with them again, it might be worth just completing the form. It's annoying but not actually that difficult once you understand what they're looking for. The key parts are: 1. Article XVI of the US-Canada treaty 2. Statement that you're a Canadian resident 3. Explanation that you're only temporarily in the US 4. Mention that your US source income for the year is below the treaty threshold

Just FYI for Canadians filling out Form 8233 - make sure to check if your specific profession might have different treaty provisions! I'm a university professor and there's actually a specific article in the treaty just for teachers and researchers that gives different exemptions than the general Article XVI provision.