Help filling out W-8BEN as an Indian citizen - which lines can I leave blank?

I help people with these forms regularly. For W-8BEN as an Indian citizen who's a nonresident alien, here's what you need to know: Lines 4 (permanent residence address) should NOT be left blank - this is required. Lines 5 (mailing address) can be left blank if it's the same as your permanent address. Line 7 (Foreign tax identifying number) can technically be left blank if you include your date of birth on line 8, but I recommend including your Indian PAN if you have one. Lines 9 and 10 relate to claiming treaty benefits. India does have a tax treaty with the US, but whether you complete these depends on if you're claiming specific treaty benefits. For Part 3 "chapter 4" - this refers to FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) classifications. As an individual (not an entity), you typically don't need to worry about this section unless specifically instructed by the requesting financial institution.

I used taxr.ai for this exact problem last month! I was totally confused by all the W-8 forms (there's like 5 different versions) and wasn't sure which lines to fill out as an Indian citizen. Someone recommended https://taxr.ai to me and it was super helpful. You just upload your W-8BEN form and it analyzes it line by line, telling you exactly what you need to fill out based on your citizenship and resident status. It even explained that whole "chapter 4" thing which is apparently related to FATCA reporting (foreign account stuff). I was able to correctly fill everything out in like 10 minutes instead of spending hours googling different tax terms and getting confused.

Just wanted to follow up - I decided to try taxr.ai for my W-8BEN situation and it was actually really helpful! I was hesitant about uploading my form but the site explains they use encryption and don't permanently store your documents. It analyzed my form and gave specific guidance for each line based on my Indian citizenship. For that "chapter 4" question in Part 3, it explained this is about FATCA regulations and as an individual (not a business entity) I could leave it blank in most cases. The guidance was super clear and I was able to complete my form correctly. Just submitted it to my bank yesterday and they accepted it without any questions!

If you're stuck waiting for the IRS to answer questions about your W-8BEN form, try Claimyr. I spent WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS international tax department with questions about my W-8BEN (I'm not Indian, but Filipino). After like 20 failed attempts (always "call volume too high"), I found https://claimyr.com and watched their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They basically hold your place in the IRS phone queue and call you when an agent is about to answer. Got through to a real IRS agent in about 2 hours (instead of never lol) and got my specific questions answered directly. The agent confirmed exactly which lines I could leave blank and which I needed to complete. Super helpful for complex international tax situations.

I need to publicly eat my words about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try it anyway for my own tax situation (I needed clarification on some foreign income reporting). I've literally been trying to reach the IRS for MONTHS without success. Used Claimyr yesterday, and got a call back in about 1.5 hours with an actual IRS agent on the line! I was completely shocked. The agent walked me through my specific questions and cleared up my confusion. For what it's worth, I asked about the W-8BEN form too (since I saw this thread), and the agent confirmed that as an individual, Part 3 "chapter 4" stuff can typically be left blank unless you're a financial institution or entity. Didn't think anything would actually get me through to a human at the IRS, but this actually worked!

Fellow Indian here! I filled out W-8BEN last year. The others gave good advice but I'll add some practical tips: 1. Use your Indian address on line 4, not your US address 2. For line 6 (US taxpayer ID), leave blank if you don't have SSN/ITIN yet 3. For line 7, I used my Indian PAN number 4. For line 9, I wrote "Article 10(2) - 15% tax rate on dividends" 5. Left line 10 blank as most Indians don't need it Make sure to sign and date! My first submission got rejected because I forgot to sign 🤦‍♂️

Quick question - does anyone know if the W-8BEN form needs to be renewed? I'm also from India and submitted one 2 years ago but not sure if I need to do it again this year?

Just wanted to share my recent experience as another Indian citizen who struggled with the W-8BEN form! I was in the same boat a few months ago - totally confused about which lines to fill out and which ones I could skip. After reading through all the advice here, I ended up using a combination of approaches. First, I tried the taxr.ai tool that Clay mentioned, which was actually really helpful for understanding the form line by line. It specifically addressed my situation as an Indian nonresident alien. Then I had some follow-up questions, so I used Claimyr to get through to an actual IRS agent (took about 2 hours of waiting, but way better than my previous failed attempts). The agent confirmed that: - Line 4 (permanent residence) must be filled with your Indian address - Line 7 can use your PAN number - Part 3 can typically be left blank for individuals - For treaty benefits on line 9, you can claim both dividend and interest reductions if applicable The whole process was way less scary than I thought! My bank accepted the form without any issues. Hope this helps other Indian citizens who are dealing with this confusing form.