- Membership
- Certification
- Resources
- Events
- Community
- About
- Help
Which IRS Form Should a Foreign Sole Proprietor Use Instead of W-8BEN-E?
November 9, 2026
Q. We have an international vendor in India who operates as a sole proprietor and is attempting to complete Form W-8BEN-E. However, none of the entity-type options in Section 4 appear to apply to a sole proprietor, as with our regular U.S. W-9 form. How should we proceed? Since our system requires a W-8BEN-E to process payment to the vendor, could you advise on the appropriate classification or an alternative solution?
A.
(Answered by IOFM's third-party tax expert)
Form W-8BEN-E is for…
Become A Member
Join IOFM today as a Professional, Business, or Enterprise Member — or upgrade your Starter Membership — to get access to this content and thousands of other Articles, Webinars, Expert Answers, Resource Downloads, and more!
Naturally, this forum doesn’t allow the kind of full information exchange necessary for the Institute of Finance & Management (IOFM) to provide legal advice and the Expert is not a tax attorney in any event. Please understand that the nature of our responses are limited by these constraints as well as the site’s Terms of Use. If you have further questions or suggestions about how we can improve IOFM, please let us know.
Ask The Expert is a member resource of IOFM and all advice provided is subject to site’s Terms of Use.
What are you waiting for?
