How to fill form W-8BEN if you invest in US equity from India

If you invest in foreign equity, your US based brokerage account provider will ask you to fill W-8BEN form.

Part I:

Most of the fields are self explanatory.

For field 6a Foreign tax identifiying number, you’ll have to enter your PAN number.

Part II:

Field 10:

India and US has a DTAA treaty which mentions special rate for tax deductions.

Here’s the relevant section from this treaty which is relevant for any dividend income from US equity. Capital gains are not taxable in US for foreign tax residents.

This means that if a US company pays you dividend, US has a right to tax this dividend. But if you’re an individual and resident of India, then the tax charged cannot exceed 25%.

Here’s the filled copy of W-8BEN form (Replace xxx with correct values):