How to fill out Form W-8BEN for a contractor in Latin America, line by line

Download the form from irs.gov: the current version is the October 2021 revision, and the IRS lists no newer one.[1] The header tells the contractor to give the form to the payer and not to send it to the IRS,[2] and the box under it lists the cases where the W-8BEN is the wrong form. Check them before you send it:

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Lines 1 to 4 identify the contractor as an individual. Ask them to use the same name and address that appear on their tax registration at home, because that is the identity the tax ID on line 6a belongs to.

• Line 1: the contractor’s name.[3]
• Line 2: their country of citizenship.[3]
• Line 3: their permanent residence address, with street, city, postal code and country. It cannot be a financial institution’s address, a P.O. box or an address used only for mail.[3]
• Line 4: a mailing address, only if it differs from line 3.[3]

A US address on line 3 or line 4 is the mistake to catch here. The IRS tells payers that a current US permanent or mailing address on a Form W-8 can be a reason to know the form is unreliable, so ask the contractor about it before you accept the form.[4]

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Line 5 asks for a US taxpayer identification number (an SSN or ITIN) only in the cases the instructions list; a contractor paid for work done in Latin America normally leaves it blank.[3] Line 6a is the one that matters: the foreign tax identifying number (FTIN) issued by the country where the contractor is a tax resident.[3] Line 6b is checked only if the contractor is not legally required to obtain an FTIN. Line 7 is an optional reference number that either of you can use, such as your vendor ID, and line 8 is the date of birth in MM-DD-YYYY format.[3]

What goes on line 6a, country by country:

Before you accept the form, compare the number on line 6a with the one on the contractor’s invoices or tax registration certificate.

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Part II is where a resident of a treaty country claims a reduced rate of US withholding.[3] A contractor paid for work done in Latin America has no US-source income from you, because personal service income is sourced where the work is performed.[5] With no US-source income there is no withholding to reduce, so Part II stays blank.

Part II only comes into play when the person works while in the United States, and even then most of the region has no treaty to claim: the IRS list of income tax treaties includes Mexico, Chile and Venezuela, but not Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru or Uruguay.[15] For pay for personal services performed in the US, the form itself points to Form 8233 or Form W-4 instead.[2]

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The contractor signs under penalties of perjury, certifying among other things that the person on line 1 is not a US person, and agrees to submit a new form within 30 days if any certification becomes incorrect.[2] The form must be signed and dated by the beneficial owner, the person named on line 1; the capacity checkbox is only for someone who signs on their behalf.[3]

Electronic signatures are allowed, but typing a name on the signature line is not an electronic signature.[3] You may accept an electronic signature that meets the IRS requirements, such as the signer’s name with a time and date stamp and a statement that the form was signed electronically, and you may rely on a signed form received as a scan by email unless you know the sender was not authorized to send it.[4]

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Because it is the document that lets you treat the contractor as a foreign person. IRS Publication 515 says that a foreign person who gives you a valid Form W-8 is exempt from backup withholding and Form 1099 reporting.[6] Without documentation, you have to decide the payee’s status with the IRS presumption rules,[6] and if they point to a US payee, the payment falls under Form 1099-NEC reporting and backup withholding at 24%.[16]

The form does not create a tax. Pay for personal services is sourced where the work is performed, regardless of where the contract was signed or where the payment comes from,[5] and the IRS states that wages earned by nonresident aliens for services performed outside the United States are not subject to US income tax withholding or reporting.[17] The W-8BEN is the paper trail that shows why you withheld nothing and filed nothing.

No, in the usual case: a contractor who lives in Latin America, works from there and gave you a valid W-8BEN. Form 1099-NEC is for US payees, and from tax year 2026 it applies to nonemployee compensation of $2,000 or more.[18] For nonresident aliens, the same instructions send payers to Form 1042-S,[18] which covers US-source income subject to withholding. Pay for work done in Latin America is not US-source,[5] so it does not go on either form.

The answer changes when the work happens on US soil. Payers generally withhold 30% on compensation paid to a nonresident alien for personal services performed in the United States, unless that pay is specifically exempted,[19] and pay for work done partly in the US and partly abroad is split on a time basis.[5]

Until December 31 of the third calendar year after the year it was signed, unless the contractor’s circumstances change first.[4] If something on the form becomes incorrect, for example because the contractor moves to another country, they must notify you within 30 days.[3]

Record the expiry date with the contractor’s vendor details and ask for a new form a month before it. The IRS tells payers to keep Forms W-8 for as long as they may be relevant to their tax liability, and not to send them to the IRS.[4]

Check these eight points before you file the form away:

1. The wrong form for the payee. A contractor who invoices through a company needs Form W-8BEN-E, the form for foreign entities.[7]
2. A US address on line 3 or line 4 that nobody has explained.[4]
3. A P.O. box or a bank’s address as the permanent residence on line 3.[3]
4. Line 6a left blank without line 6b checked: the foreign tax ID is required unless an exception applies.[3]
5. The date of birth in the wrong order. Line 8 uses MM-DD-YYYY, so March 4, 1990 is 03-04-1990.[3]
6. A typed name instead of a signature. Typing a name on the signature line is not an electronic signature.[3]
7. Part II filled in for work done outside the US, where there is no US-source income for a treaty rate to apply to.[5]
8. An old version of the form. The current one reads Rev. October 2021 in the top-left corner.[1]

No. The W-8BEN only certifies who the payee is for US tax purposes: their foreign status and, if they claim one, their treaty country.[2] It says nothing about the scope of work, payment terms, confidentiality or who owns what the contractor creates. Those terms belong in a written contractor agreement, and whether the relationship is really independent is decided by the labor law of the country where the contractor works, not by any US form.