Has anyone had experience with Form W-8 BEN?  It's a certificate of foreign status of beneficial owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting (Individuals).  I'm considering leaving some of my IRA investments to a Thai citizen upon my death.  I've learned that the form above needs to be on file at the financial institution.  The instructions for the form are quite daunting, however.  Does anyone know how to sift through the legalese or where to find someone in Chiang Mai who can help?   Thanks much.

fillling out form W-8 BEN is quite simple but getting your bank or brokerage to turn over your funds to a non us citizen can be quite involved. I  suggest you contact your estate department of your brokerage and ask them what it will take to transfer your funds to a non-spouse non us citizen upon your death. You might go another route. 

 

There are 3 parts on the form, part I is personal data ,part III certification signature.

For IRA's, part II should look like the picture below.

If your spouse is non US citizen and non US resident she can claim double tax treaty article 20 which prevents US from taxing the IRA benefits. On Thai side she may have to pay tax on the oversea remittance pending Thai revenue department new rules.

 

The above form should stop the IRA custodian from withholding any distributions, but in case there is any withholding, ypur spouse can file form 1040NR to claim it. Pension goes to line 7 on Schedule NEC, 0% tax, example below.