Hi, I am a F1 student and I am currently a non-resident alien living in AZ. I recently won a non-compensatory fellowship and was asked by the funding agency to fill the W-8BEN form. I am a citizen of India and I am eligible for some tax exempts under the US-India Income Tax Treaty Article 21. However, I am not sure what to fill in line 10 of the W-8BEN form, which asks for the rate of withholding and the type of income. Can someone please help? Thank you.
Hello sacv22,
According the IRS website: "A nonresident alien student or researcher who receives compensatory scholarship or fellowship income must use Form 8233, instead of Form W-8BEN, to claim any benefits of a tax treaty that apply to that income. The student or researcher must use Form W-4 for any part of such income for which he or she is not claiming a tax treaty withholding exemption. Do not use Form W-8BEN for compensatory scholarship or fellowship income."
W-8BEN: https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw8ben
Form 8233: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8233.pdf
I will have you know that the TurboTax software supports Resident Aliens, it does not support form 1040NR . Sprintax, https://www.sprintax.com/non-resident-alien-tax-1040nr-turbotax.html, supports Non-Resident visa holders but not Non-Resident Aliens.
I hope this helps!
Gabi