Bank Accounts--One More Thing to Update!

[Stevephoto 230]

This was not a big deal, but caught us a little off-guard. It seems our bank sent Joan some Federal Tax form (Form W-8BEN) (even though the form had her SSN listed as her federal tax ID---and she has filed tax returns from day one!)...but they sent it to her in the Philippines (even though her address of record is here)! Luckily it somehow wound up getting returned and then forwarded to us here in Hawai'i. We went too the bank today and the branch manager explained that they had needed a foreign address at the time (I vaguely remember this---too many papers filled out over the past five years). Anyway, my point is that Joan brought her passport card and we simply updated the account(s) to show her as a US Citizen and made sure that her mailing address and physical address was the same--in Hawai'i! The Form W-8BEN wound up in the shredder. So, add the bank accounts to your list of things to update post-citizenship (we haven't done the SSA or DMV yet, but they are on the "to-do" list. It ain't over till it's over!

[Stevephoto 230]

Interesting...according to Wikipedia (I know, not the best source!): 

W-8 Series

The Form W-8BEN, Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding, is used by foreign persons (including corporations) to certify their non-U.S. status. The form establishes that one is a non-resident alien or foreign corporation, to avoid or reduce tax withholding from U.S. source income, such as rents from U.S. property, interest on U.S. bank deposits or dividends paid by U.S. corporations. The form is not used for U.S. wages and salaries earned by non-resident aliens (in which case Form W-4 is used), or for U.S. freelance (dependent personal services) income (in which case Form 8233 is used). The form requires the foreign person to provide a U.S. Taxpayer Identification Number unless the U.S. income is dividends or interest from actively traded or similar investments. Other W-forms handle other international issues. The IRS released a new version of W-8BEN in February 2014 that required corporations to sign a W-8BEN-E form instead, which was still in draft status. For foreign corporations it was unclear, whether they were required to sign the previous W-8BEN form (established in 2006) or to sign the draft version of W-8BEN-E.

 

I added the bold to the paragraph above. I think I get what happened: we set up our joint account when Joan was here on her K-1 before we were married. Technically she was not a resident alien at the time, therefore the need for the foreign address. She was a permanent legal resident when she set up her savings account and certainly when we redid our condo loan to get her on the title, so I am not sure why she wasn't changed from non-resident alien to resident alien at that time. In any case, she is now listed with the bank as a US Citizen!

 

MODERATORS: I am not sure if this is the best sub-forum for this thread because I realize after the little research I did that it was a non-resident alien to resident alien status transition issue, not necessarily LPR to US Citizen issue. Please move the thread if you deem appropriate.  Salamat!