
Getting paid by a US university.  Or not. - ColinWright
Some time ago I gave a talk at a US university.  I said up front that I was happy to do it, and that I would provide an invoice from a limited company registered in England and Wales.  I was assured that this would be fine.<p>Indeed, now I&#x27;ve completed the W8-BEN-E form and sent that in, along with my invoice, but now I&#x27;m being told I have to provide a &quot;foreign tax id&quot;.<p>To the best of my knowledge I don&#x27;t have a &quot;foreign tax id&quot;.<p>So this post has several purposes.  Firstly:<p>* Do I need a &quot;foreign tax id&quot;, or are they just stalling?<p>* How should I <i>get</i> a &quot;foreign tax id&quot;?<p>* Should I just give up now?<p>I&#x27;ve done work in the past for US companies and it&#x27;s not been a problem.  This is the first time a block like this has been thrown up, and I&#x27;m wondering whether it&#x27;s real, constructed, the result of changes in the law, or what.<p>So this might be a place for people to chime in with their best and worst experiences of dealing with US companies and organisations, and maybe along the way I&#x27;ll get my answers.<p>Thanks.
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JPLeRouzic
I am French but here is my take: I think you need to tell that your country
(UK) has an income tax treaty with the US about taxes.

What it means is that you will pay your taxes in your own country (UK) instead
of US.

I also think those links are relevant, but really filling the W-8BEN-E form is
quite simple, I did it several times and never had a problem:

[https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-
policy/treaties...](https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-
policy/treaties/Documents/uktreaty.pdf)

[https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw8bene.pdf](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-
pdf/iw8bene.pdf)

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JPLeRouzic
To be clearer: You do not need any "foreign tax id" because you will pay your
taxes in your own country. The US IRS is not involved at all. What makes it
possible is the tax treaty.

~~~
ColinWright
That's what I thought, but the organisation in question is insisting I provide
a "foreign tax id" and I don't know what they could possibly mean by that.

I'm flummoxed.

~~~
JPLeRouzic
You could get one, there is a form somewhere on Internet, but you should not.

If you do this, it means the IRS will tax you, I am not sure I would like that
idea for myself, taxes are enough complicated in our native country without
having to deal with a foreign tax service that have their own complicated
concepts and vocabularies.

~~~
ColinWright
Exactly. Additionally, I've filled in W8-BEN-E forms before for other
organisations, and they've never demanded a "foreign tax ID".

Very bizarre.

 _(and thanks for your replies)_

