W-8BEN vs W-8BEN-E: Which Form Your Company Signs

W-8BEN is for foreign individuals; W-8BEN-E is for foreign entities. If you are a Canadian or Australian freelancer paid in your own name, you sign a W-8BEN. If a Canadian corporation or Australian company is being paid, it signs a W-8BEN-E. If the payee is a US company (including a US LLC taxed as a corporation), neither applies: it gives a W-9.

The confusing cases are the ones founders actually hit: a US single-member LLC owned by a non-resident, and claiming a treaty rate. This guide works through both using the IRS instructions for W-8BEN and W-8BEN-E and the IRS treaty tables (all checked 28 Oct 2026).

W-8BEN vs W-8BEN-E at a glance

Source: IRS instructions for W-8BEN (“Who Must Provide” and “Do not use”) and W-8BEN-E.

Which form do you need? Four common founder setups

1. You are an individual paid in your own name

A Canadian developer invoicing a US client, or an Australian designer paid by a US marketplace, uses W-8BEN. The IRS says you must give it to the withholding agent “whether or not you are claiming a reduced rate of, or exemption from, withholding.”

2. Your Canadian or Australian company is paid

A corporation formed in Canada or Australia uses W-8BEN-E. The W-8BEN instructions say directly: if you are a foreign entity documenting your status or claiming treaty benefits, “use Form W-8BEN-E” instead.

3. Your US single-member LLC is paid (the disregarded entity nuance)

This is where most mistakes happen. A single-member LLC that is not taxed as a corporation is a disregarded entity for US tax. The IRS rules:

• W-8BEN-E instructions: “Generally, a disregarded entity does not submit this Form W-8BEN-E to a withholding agent. Instead, the owner of such entity provides the appropriate documentation.”
• W-8BEN instructions: “If you are the single owner of a disregarded entity, you are considered the beneficial owner of income received by the disregarded entity.” You put your own name on line 1, and you can use line 7 to tell the payer that the account is in the LLC’s name.

So a Canadian or Australian individual who owns 100% of a US LLC usually gives a W-8BEN in their own name, referencing the LLC. If the LLC is owned by a foreign company, that company gives a W-8BEN-E.

Two exceptions in the W-8BEN-E instructions: a disregarded entity may file one solely to document its chapter 4 (FATCA) status with a financial institution, or to claim treaty benefits as a hybrid entity (fiscally transparent in the US but taxed as a resident by the treaty country). Hybrid claims are specialist territory; get advice.

Also note that a W-8 is about withholding, not the LLC’s own filings. The LLC still files Form 5472 each year, and missing it carries a $25,000 penalty (IRS).

4. Your US company is a corporation

A Delaware C-corp, or an LLC that elected corporate taxation, is a US person. The W-8BEN-E instructions list “entities treated as U.S. persons, such as a corporation organized under the law of a state” as W-9 filers. Your company gives a W-9 with its EIN, even if every founder lives in Toronto or Sydney. See Delaware vs Wyoming LLC and our EIN guide for the setup side.

Treaty claims for Canada and Australia

Without a valid form, the payer may have to withhold 30% on US-source income such as dividends, interest and royalties. A treaty claim lowers that rate. Here are the rates IRS Table 1 lists (Rev. May 2023, the current version linked from the IRS treaty tables page):

Source: IRS Tax Treaty Table 1. The table carries footnotes and conditions per cell; IRS warns it “is not a comprehensive guide to all eligibility requirements”. Read the treaty article before relying on a rate.

Services you perform outside the US

Most founders and freelancers earn fees for work done from home. IRS Publication 515 explains that pay for services performed outside the United States is foreign-source income (Pub 515). For a Canadian or Australian working remotely, there is usually no US withholding to reduce, and the W-8BEN mainly proves you are not a US person. Leave the treaty lines blank unless you have a specific item, like royalties, to claim.

Filling in W-8BEN Part II (individuals)

• Line 9: the country where you are resident for treaty purposes, e.g. “Canada” or “Australia”.
• Line 10: only when the claim needs conditions beyond line 9. The IRS lists royalties where the treaty has different rates for different royalty types (Canada’s does), and business profits not attributable to a permanent establishment. Write the article, rate and income type, for example “Article XII, 0%, copyright royalties”.
• Tax ID: the IRS says that to claim treaty benefits you generally need an ITIN unless you give a tax number issued by your country of residence on line 6a.
• Related-party note: if you are related to the payer and receive more than $500,000 in a calendar year, Form 8833 is generally required.

Filling in W-8BEN-E Part III (entities)

• Line 14a: the treaty country, with the box ticked.
• Line 14b: certify that the entity derives the income and meets the treaty’s limitation on benefits (LOB) test. IRS Table 4 lists the LOB article for Canada as Article XXIX A and for Australia as Article 16 (Table 4). Common tests include ownership and base erosion, active trade or business, and publicly traded company. The “derivative benefits” test is generally limited to USMCA, EU and EEA treaties, so it may be open to Canadian companies but not Australian ones.
• Line 15: special rates and conditions, the entity version of W-8BEN line 10.
• Line 5 (chapter 4 status): most small operating companies check active NFFE (Part XXV), which has a passive income and passive assets test. A holding company with mostly investment income may be a passive NFFE instead.

Table 4 also notes that individuals “are generally not affected by the Limitation on Benefits article”, which is why W-8BEN has no LOB checkbox.

Worked examples with real arithmetic

Australian company licensing content to a US publisher. Royalty: $20,000.

• No W-8BEN-E: 30% × $20,000 = $6,000 withheld.
• Valid W-8BEN-E claiming Article 12(2) at 5%: 5% × $20,000 = $1,000 withheld.
• Difference: $5,000 kept, before Australian tax on the income.

Canadian individual holding US shares. Dividends: $2,000.

• No W-8BEN: 30% × $2,000 = $600 withheld.
• W-8BEN claiming Canada, Article X(2): 15% × $2,000 = $300 withheld.
• Difference: $300 a year. Brokers request this form for exactly this reason.

Canadian freelancer, US client, work done in Canada. Fee: $10,000. Foreign-source services income, so no chapter 3 withholding is expected; the W-8BEN confirms foreign status and the client pays $10,000.

Who asks for these forms

• Stripe. Stripe Express says it “collects W-8s at the request of the platforms you work with”, pre-fills a suggested form, and may ask again if a previous form is expiring or your details changed (Stripe).
• Platforms paying creators. GitHub Sponsors requires non-US maintainers to submit “a W-8 BEN (individual) or W-8 BEN-E (company)” before publishing a profile, with Stripe sending the form (GitHub Docs).
• US clients. Accounts payable teams ask contractors for a W-9 or W-8 before the first invoice is paid. If you are the US company doing the paying, see 1099 for foreign contractors for when a 1099-NEC is still required.
• Brokers and US banks. Financial institutions use the forms for FATCA documentation; W-8BEN line 8 (date of birth) and the FTIN line exist mainly for this.

Whoever asks, the IRS rule is the same: “Do not send Form W-8BEN to the IRS.” Give it to the requester before the payment. A separate form generally goes to each payer.

Who should use which form

Practical tips

• Validity: a form signed 28 October 2026 lasts through 31 December 2029, unless a change in circumstances makes it incorrect. Then submit a new one within the payer’s timeline.
• E-signatures: the IRS says “Simply typing your name into the signature line is not an electronic signature.” Platforms with built-in flows handle this for you.
• Check the name match: the name on line 1 should be the beneficial owner. For a disregarded LLC, that is you, not “Acme LLC”.

Canadian LLC owners have a separate Canadian information return to file each year: T1134 for a US LLC. For the bigger picture on structuring, see US LLC for Canadians, US company for Australian founders and the US company setup hub.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm with a CPA for your situation.