W8-BEN Form - Canada (help needed)

[Natalia]

Having trouble with W8 form, particularly with Part II. The language I used in past forms apparently “isn’t quite correct”, form was not accepted. Please help!

[Natalia]

Found this by @waterart , really hope that’s correct:

I'm in Canada too, this is what got mine accepted, Income Type: "copyright royalties"  Reason why you meet the terms: Beneficial owner is a resident of Canada earning copyright royalties for use of artwork and not subject to tax under US/Canada tax treaty terms of 0% withholding rate for art related copyright royalties.

The article and paragraph number is now 12(2) You can confirm at https://eezycontributors.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360040283911-What-is-the-Withholding-Rate-For...

[veryserious]

That did not work for me and whatever zazzle peon has been assigned to hassle me.

[Natalia]

Look at the solution pinned above. It is now Article 12(3), hope that helps.

[veryserious]

I am using 12(3). Still no luck.

[waterart]

Let us know if it works for you. That part of the form trips up just about everyone because entering the same info doesn't work with everyone, I'm not sure if it depends on the country you're in or who happens to be reviewng the form.

[OrchardBerry]

I just received an email from Zazzle that my W8-Ben form wasn’t filled in correctly (Canada). I just copied the info from my previous forms but that didn’t seem to work this time. They said it was a problem with “Part 2” of the form so maybe it’s the article and paragraph number that I have wrong (as stated above).

[waterart]

It could be, from what I recall on past forms there was no paragraph number required

[OrchardBerry]

I wrote “article and paragraph 12”, “copyright royalties for sale of art/photography”, “0% rate” and then “Beneficial owner is a resident of Canada, who lives and works solely in Canada. Copyright royalties have a 0% withholding rate per IRS publication 515”

What info am I missing that wouldn’t get this form approved?? Paragraph “12(2)” instead of just “12”?

[Natalia]

“Article 12 Paragraph 2”

I also had “… IRS publication 515” and got “the wording is not quite right”, so I copied the text above “Beneficial owner is a resident of Canada earning copyright royalties for use of artwork and not subject to tax under US/Canada tax treaty terms of 0% withholding rate for art related copyright royalties.”

Still no confirmation though …

[Ticklemonkey]

How did you fit all of that on one line?  I have to fill out the form online in a PDF.  There are way too many words to fit on the one line they give you.

[Natalia]

If you type it or copy/paste the long text, the font size will decrease automatically in PDF.

if you are Canadian, looks like it’s Article 12(3) now.

[Ticklemonkey]

Didn't work for me.  Tried typing it and copy/pasting into the PDF.  Half of it was still cut off.  Font size did not decrease.  I decided to take out some words without changing the meaning..I hope.  Will see if they accept it. 

Thanks Natalia!

[waterart]

It's article 12 and paragraph 2, therefore 12(2)

[Natalia]

Update. My form was rejected once again.

”Please revise the paragraph reference that pertains to you, next to the Article number in Part II, line 10.” I put “Article 12 Paragraph 2” 

Unless anyone has other ideas, I’m going to put Article 12(2) and see if that works. This is so frustrating.

[waterart]

I think the paragraph number now  is 3,  see https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/canada.pdf look under ARTCLE XII

[Natalia]

Thank you! I will try that. 

[waterart]

You are welcome, let us know how it goes.

[tanyadraws]

So on my W8-Ben form I had written the article like this: XII(3) 

And put "Other Copyright Royalties" as the type of income. They say the last part of additional conditions "isn't quite correct" (the reasoning part - I didn't mention artwork royalties, specifically). Thanks for sharing the responses and Waterart's reason, I will reword mine to be like that one. From their response, it seems like they were okay with me writing XII(3) as the article and paragraph though, so I will keep this on my revised form.

[Natalia]

Thank you for letting me know about the article part! Still no reply for me but I will post the result as well.

[Natalia]

I have finally received confirmation today that my W8BEN form was accepted. This is how I filled out the form for Canada:

Part II

10 Special rates and conditions (if applicable—see instructions): The beneficial owner is claiming the provisions of Article and paragraph Article 12(3) of the treaty identified on line 9 above to claim a 0% rate of withholding on (specify type of income): Copyright royalties paid for the reproduction of, the use of, or the right to use, artistic works.

Explain the additional conditions in the Article and paragraph the beneficial owner meets to be eligible for the rate of withholding: Beneficial owner is a resident of Canada earning copyright royalties for use of artwork and not subject to tax under US/Canada tax treaty terms of 0% withholding rate for art related copyright royalties.

[waterart]

That's good news! Thanks for the update and showing exactly what you entered in part II, I'm sure it will help others

[Bailey68]

Thank You !!!!!!!!!!!!! I just resubmitted mine, fingers crossed it's all ok 😀

[creativadore]

Thanks so much!! 🙂

[makori]

Sent mine the second time still no communication ...

[roxanebay]

Fingers Crossed... 5th time a charm?

[RemiC]

It's a relief and it's not to see that others are also struggling with getting their forms accepted. I'm at a dozen back and forth emails now and starting to loose patience. All I get are "copy/paste" generic answers. I have included references to the community board. I have included screenshots of forms submitted by Canadian creators (redacted of course). No luck. 12.3 is the right answer. What's wrong with the W-8BEN compliance team? A really frustrating experience. I'm at a complete loss as to what to do next. Just when I was finally so proud and so excited to ask for my first $100 pay out. 😞 

[RemiC]

SUCCESS! My W-8BEN form citing Article 12(3) has finally been approved after nearly a dozen submissions.

For other Canadian creators struggling with this:

• Article 12(3) of the US-Canada tax treaty IS the correct citation for copyright royalties on artistic works
• The 0% withholding rate applies
• Don't give up even if you receive multiple generic rejections

My experience: Despite providing treaty references, examples of accepted forms from other Canadians, and links to forum posts documenting successful Article 12(3) submissions, I received repeated rejections with only generic instructions to "review the tax treaty table" without specific explanations of what needed correction. The article I cited from the beginning was ultimately correct, as today's approval confirms.

One last oddity: they're requesting I resubmit with a "more recent date" even though my January 20th submission falls well within the 90-day requirement they previously specified. Minor inconvenience, but happy to finally have resolution!

[RemiC]

Spoke too fast. Following what I believed to be the final approval ("Upon further review of the Article/citation information available to us, the 12(3) citation has been shown as an applicable citation. Apologies for the crossover. We received your most recent W8 form and much of your information looks ready"), I requested my first pay out (February 12th). After nearly a month of not receiving anything, I reached out to Zazzle's support. I was then told that the W-8BEN team was still waiting for a new form from me with a more recent date. I produced a proof of submission (screenshot of the email, screenshot of the form with the Feb. 12th date etc...). This is really upsetting. 

[Veselka_Store]

I too can’t get approved mine. Good luck @RemiC !

[RemiC]

I have copied Zazzle head of Regulatory Compliance and sent them some constructive feedback. It's not cool. 

@Veselka_Store Are you applying from Canada? It shouldn't be a matter of "luck", but good luck to you too! 

[Veselka_Store]

@RemiC  Thank you you are right it shouldn’t be a matter of luck but I will take it too 🙂

[Natalia]

I just received an email from Zazzle stating that I need to submit a new form as the old one is about to expire. Even though it’s been only 2 years, not 3 as email suggested, I’m not going to argue. Sent the updated form already, filled exactly as the solution indicates. Will keep you posted.

[justbecause]

I am on my third submission. zazzle is the only place where this is an issue.

Crossing fingers as I cannot really see what is wrong. This is a screen of my third attempt, the last one I only wrote "copyright royalties"...so I suppose (since they give no info) that they want me to specify the type of work. Let's see.

[tigressdragon]

Do you know if it worked?

[Natalia]

My last submission was declined rather quickly as “incomplete”. But they gave me a link to this document: 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-lbi/tax-treaty-table-1.pdf

I found “Canada”, “Royalties”, and copied what was in there ——> 12(2), (3) / 5P7(1)

So far it was not declined just confirmed to be received. I’m waiting, fingers crossed.

[justbecause]

Ok thanks, will keep you posted. Will see if mine goes trough as is, otherwise will try your version if yours gets through. It is so annoying and such a waste of time

[tigressdragon]

Do you know if it worked?

[Natalia]

I’m still waiting on my results as well. Will post as soon as I get something.

[tigressdragon]

I sent mine off and I am hoping it worked, let me know about you when you find out