Guide to Global Payroll Management - 2020 - D-177

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Appendix D--Federal Forms and Instructions

These include the requirement that the
person claiming a treaty-reduced rate of
withholding be the beneficial owner of
the item of income and meet the
limitation on benefits article of the treaty,
if applicable.
The IRS cannot certify whether you
are the beneficial owner of an item of
income or that you meet the limitation
on benefits article, if any, in the treaty.
You may, however, be required by a
foreign withholding agent to establish
directly with the agent that these
requirements have been met.
You should examine the

TIP specific income tax treaty to

determine if any tax credit, tax
exemption, reduced rate of tax, or other
treaty benefit or safeguards apply.
Income tax treaties are available at
IRS.gov/businesses/internationalbusinesses/united-states-income-taxtreaties-a-to-z.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

Form 6166 can also be used as proof of
U.S. tax residency status for purposes
of obtaining an exemption from a VAT
imposed by a foreign country. In
connection with a VAT request, the
United States can certify only to certain
matters in relation to your U.S. federal
income tax status, and not that you
meet any other requirements for a VAT
exemption in a foreign country.

General Instructions

Purpose of Form

Form 8802 is used to request Form
6166, a letter of U.S. residency
certification for purposes of claiming
benefits under an income tax treaty or
VAT exemption. You cannot use Form
6166 to substantiate that U.S. taxes
were paid for purposes of claiming a
foreign tax credit.
You cannot claim a foreign tax credit
to reduce your U.S. tax liability with
respect to foreign taxes that have been
reduced or eliminated by reason of a
treaty. If you receive a refund of foreign
taxes paid with the benefit of Form
6166, you may need to file an amended
return with the IRS to adjust any foreign
tax credits previously claimed for those
taxes.

When To File

You should mail your application,
including full payment of the user fee, at
least 45 days before the date you need
to submit Form 6166. We will contact
you after 30 days if there will be a delay

in processing your application. You can
call (267) 941-1000 (not a toll-free
number) and select the U.S. residency
option if you have questions regarding
your application.

Early submission for a current year
certification. The IRS cannot accept
an early submission for a current year
Form 6166 that has a postmark date
before December 1 of the prior year.
Requests received with a postmark date
earlier than December 1 will be returned
to the sender. For example, a Form
6166 request for 2019:
* Received with a postmark date
before December 1, 2018, cannot be
processed.
* Received with a postmark date on or
after December 1, 2018, can be
processed with the appropriate
documentation.

User Fee

Form 8802 application(s) will not be
processed until the non-refundable user
fee is paid. The user fee is for the
number of applications submitted, not
the number of certifications requested.

The user fee for all applications
postmarked before December 1, 2018,
is $85. User fees for Form 8802
applications postmarked on or after
December 1, 2018, vary based on the
type of applicant. If you are sending
your Form 8802 by fax, see Fax under
Electronic Payment, later. Be sure to
include the appropriate user fee for your
applicant status or the IRS will reject the
application.
More information. For more
information on the change to the user
fee for non-individual applicants, see
Revenue Procedure 2018-50, 2018-42
I.R.B. 610, available at https://
www.irs.gov/irb/
2018-42_IRB#RP-2018-50.

Requests by individual applicants.
The user fee for a request by an
individual applicant is $85 per Form
8802, regardless of the number of
countries for which certification is
requested or the number of tax year(s)
to which the certification applies. For
this purpose, an individual applicant
means an individual who is a citizen of
the United States or a resident thereof,
within the meaning of section 7701(b)(1)
(A) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Requests by applicants other than
individuals. The user fee for an
application by each non-individual
applicant is $185 per Form 8802, if
postmarked on or after December 1,
-2-

2018. If postmarked before December
1, 2018, the user fee is $85.

Fiscally transparent entities. A
partnership, S corporation, grantor trust,
or other fiscally transparent entity pays a
single $185 user fee per Form 8802
application with respect to all Forms
6166 issued under its employer
identification number (EIN),
notwithstanding that the IRS will verify
the tax status of each of the partners,
owners, or beneficiaries of the entity
who have consented to the request for
certification.
Custodial accounts. A custodian
requesting certification on behalf of an
account holder pays a user fee for each
account holder taxpayer identification
number (TIN). The custodian will pay a
user fee of $85 or $185, depending on
whether that account holder is an
individual or a non-individual applicant.

Multiple requests. Because an
applicant must pay the user fee of either
$85 or $185 for each separate Form
8802 submitted, the IRS encourages
each applicant to include all Form 6166
requests on a single Form 8802
(separate for individual and
non-individual) to avoid multiple user
fee charges.
Additional request. Additional
requests for Form 6166 submitted on a
separate Form 8802, following the
procedures established under
Additional Requests, later, will require
the payment of the applicable user fee.

3-year procedure. You are required
to pay the applicable user fee for each
Form 8802 application submitted under
the 3-year procedure. See Certification
Under the 3-Year Procedure, later.

Method of Payment

Payment of the user fee can be by
check, money order, or electronic
payment.

Check or Money Order

Form 8802 must be accompanied by a
check or money order in U.S. dollars,
payable to the United States Treasury,
in the appropriate amount. Do not
submit foreign checks. Do not send
cash.
Multiple Forms 8802. If you are
submitting multiple Forms 8802, you
can submit a single check or money
order payment to cover the aggregate
amount of the user fee for all Forms
8802. No more than 200 Forms 8802
can be associated with one check or
money order.

Instructions for Form 8802 (Rev. 11-2018)

D-177

Guide to Global Payroll Management - 2020

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