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Comment by voytec | Hacker News Reader

I've only filled W-8 BEN forms for personal trading.

As a small business in Poland, I'm issuing invoices to North American businesses with no added VAT (netto==brutto) and a side note that tax is a liability of the party receiving an invoice.

When purchasing services from countries that have "no double tax" treaty with Poland, I'm gathering "certificates of tax residency" which abroad businesses get from revenue government bodies like IRS or CRA.

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thanks, this is what I did when invoicing to the UK. For W-8 BEN do you need to report income from sales of services in the US along with income from dividend / capital gains?

I need to report income from stock shares sold abroad (Nasdaq etc) once a year. To my understanding, US' IRS informs my local revenue gov body of my sales and that's what W-8 BEN was signed for. I've only seen these forms within brokerage platforms.

I have no knowledge of it being in any way related to my small business but there's a possibility that my accountant is doing it. Unlikely and I've only heard of W-8 BEN in relation to trading shares, bonds etc which I'm doing as a private person.

Services performed in another country are not US source income and should not be taxed on the United States. Capital gains are also not taxed by the United States. However, interest income and dividends on US equities are generally US source income and without a treaty, owning a brokerage account will generate a us tax liability

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