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W-8/9 Issues and Warnings

For purposes of this article, a Tax Document refers to one of the following IRS-issued forms:

  • Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification
  • Form W-8BEN, Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting (Individuals)
  • Form W-8BEN-E, Certificate of Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting (Entities)
  • Form W-8IMY, Certificate of Foreign Intermediary, Foreign Flow-Through Entity, or Certain U.S. Branches for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting

Please note: The IRS has also issued additional tax documents (i.e. Form W-8EXP and W-8ECI) that are currently not supported by Taxbit.

Our platform reviews the information provided on each Tax Document submitted via the Digital Documentation SDK or the Validation API to identify any issues or warnings that require remediation.

 

Issues

Issues indicate that the submitted tax document is invalid due to missing, conflicting, or non-compliant information. These issues must be resolved before the form can be considered valid for tax and withholding purposes. Below is a summary of each issue:

US Indicia

This issue most commonly denotes that a submitted Form W-8 includes one of the following:

  • US Permanent Address
  • US Mailing Address

However, it can also be the result of information being provided for other purposes, such as:

  • US Address
  • US Tax Residency
  • US Place of Birth

US Permanent Address

This issue denotes that a US Permanent Address was provided on a Form W-8.

Please note that while a Form W-8 may not include a US Permanent Address, an end customer may separately provide a US mailing address. For reference, however, in both of these instances, additional curing documentation may be required – which is tracked and denoted via the US Indicia issue.

PO Box Permanent Address

This issue denotes that a post office box was provided as the Permanent Address on a Form W-8.

For reference, an end customer may separately provide a post office box as a mailing address without any additional follow-up questions.

Care-of Permanent Address

Similar to PO Box Permanent Address above, this issue denotes that a care-of address was provided as the Permanent Address on a Form W-8.

For reference, an end customer may separately provide a care-of address as a mailing address without any additional follow-up questions.

Expired Form

This issue denotes that a Form W-8 that was previously submitted has expired. This document should no longer be relied upon, and a new Form W-8 should be solicited from the end customer.

For reference, the reliability of a Form W-8 expires at the end of the third calendar year following the signature date. For example, a Form W-8 signed on March 1, 2023 would expire on December 31, 2026.

Change in Circumstances

This issue occurs when new information is provided for an Account Owner—such as TIN, name, or tax residency—that differs from what was reported on the most recent Form W-9, W-8, or Self-Certification. This discrepancy invalidates the existing form, and a new submission should be collected.

 

Additional Issues (Validation API Only)

Please note: The below issues will not reflect when data is coming from our SDK.

Incomplete Data

The information provided on the tax document is incomplete, meaning a required field is missing, or a required field does not contain an acceptable value or format.

Inconsistent Data

The information provided on the tax document is inconsistent, meaning two or more fields contain conflicting information.

 

Warnings

Not all flagged items indicate a problem that invalidates a form. Some are categorized as warnings, which highlight potential inconsistencies or areas that may require further review—but do not make the form invalid on their own. These warnings are meant to guide customers in identifying edge cases that may need clarification or additional documentation depending on their internal risk tolerance or compliance procedures.

Treaty Country Mismatch

This warning denotes that the treaty claim country selected on the Form W-8 does not match the country provided in the permanent or mailing address. This mismatch may require additional documentation or clarification before the form can be considered valid.

This is a warning and does not make the form invalid, but it may require additional documentation or clarification to support the treaty claim.

Withholding Documentation

This warning denotes that the account owner provided information indicating they are an intermediary, which may require additional documentation.

This is a warning and does not make the form invalid. However, further withholding documentation—such as withholding statements or certificates for underlying owners—may be required based on the tax classification selected. In some cases, the account owner may need to submit a different form if the Form W-8IMY was provided in error.

 

Additional Warnings (Validation API Only)

Please note: The below warnings will not reflect when data is coming from our SDK.

Incomplete Address

The address information provided on the tax document is incomplete.

Incomplete Classification

For the Form W-9, a warning will be raised if an acceptable tax classification is not provided. Note that for a W-8 this would result in an issue that must be resolved for valid documentation.

Incomplete US TIN

For the Form W-8, a warning will be raised if the US TIN provided on the tax document is not in an acceptable format.

Incomplete Treaty Claim

A warning is raised to the extent the treaty claim information provided on the tax document is incomplete, meaning a required treaty-related field is missing or not in an acceptable format or value. This warning does not apply to Form W-9.