IRS Form W-9

[Heid the Ba]

I have a deceased client who lived in Scotland but because his employer was US based he had a holding of their stock. Apparently a Form W-9 is required for something or other.

First up there doesn't seem to be an option for the form to be completed by anyone other than the deceased. Oh well press on anyway.

Social Security number: Er he doesn't have one as he never lived or worked in the US. I phoned the company to be told he must have one. No he doesn't.
He must have.
No, he has a UK equivalent since he only ever paid tax and claimed benefits here. Will that do?
It needs to be a US one. Does he have a US employer number?
No. He never worked in the US.
Sorry, you'll have to get him one.
But the form has to be back in 4 days time . . .

Having failed at that hurdle I drafted a covering letter and tried to sign the form. I can't as I'm not a US national. The executor can't sign the form as she isn't either. The US Consulate in Edinburgh won't help. (If anyone knows what the US Consulate in Edinburgh actually does I'd be curious to know.)

Back on the phone, what happens if I don't return the form?
The holding will go to the US state he last lived in.
He never lived in the US.
He can't have this holding then. Why do you think he does?
Because you wrote to me saying he did.
Why did we do that?

At this point it was getting a bit sureal so I gave up.

[Мастер]

I have a deceased client who lived in Scotland but because his employer was US based he had a holding of their stock. Apparently a Form W-9 is required for something or other.

First up there doesn't seem to be an option for the form to be completed by anyone other than the deceased. Oh well press on anyway.

Social Security number: Er he doesn't have one as he never lived or worked in the US. I phoned the company to be told he must have one. No he doesn't.
He must have.
No, he has a UK equivalent since he only ever paid tax and claimed benefits here. Will that do?
It needs to be a US one. Does he have a US employer number?
No. He never worked in the US.
Sorry, you'll have to get him one.
But the form has to be back in 4 days time . . .

Having failed at that hurdle I drafted a covering letter and tried to sign the form. I can't as I'm not a US national. The executor can't sign the form as she isn't either. The US Consulate in Edinburgh won't help. (If anyone knows what the US Consulate in Edinburgh actually does I'd be curious to know.)

Back on the phone, what happens if I don't return the form?
The holding will go to the US state he last lived in.
He never lived in the US.
He can't have this holding then. Why do you think he does?
Because you wrote to me saying he did.
Why did we do that?

At this point it was getting a bit sureal so I gave up.

They started this thing some years ago where everyone who opened a bank account or any other type of account that might generate taxable income, had to submit a social security number, or be subject to 20% tax withholding on the income. If the stock never paid a dividend, this may have never become an issue.

I don't know whether just making up a social security number will work here. They have nine digits.

[Heid the Ba]

I have tried making them up before, it didn't work. I have tried using the UK National Insurance number (also 9 digits) but that didn't work. That was the time I couldn't get the drone on the other end of the phone to accept I wasn't in a US state. "But you're on the phone . . ."

I have had this a couple of times and generally give up as it isn't worth the effort given the sums involved.

For reasons too tedious to go into I once had to phone a company in rural Wisconsin. As I dialled I feared the worst but the woman who answered realised (1) I was in a different time zone, (2) that USPS can deliver (by proxy) to Scotland and (3) that credit cards work internationally. Ticketmaster have occasionally failed to realise all three.

[Мастер]

(3) that credit cards work internationally

Anyone who visited China a few years ago might doubt that one, although the situation seems to have improved a lot recently.

[Blue Monster 65]

Sorry Heid, but I'm laughing at the surrealness of the situation. Too funny.

I had a good one - sort of related - recently. I took a package to the Post Office, filled out the customs form and sent it on its way. Mind you, as I was doing this, I was worried that the woman behind the counter didn't really know what she was doing. I had never seen her before and she was having trouble finding the right forms, etc.

Two days later the package is on my porch. Huh? How can I have filled out the forms, paid the cash and - the is the kicker - had the addresses in their correct locations and it STILL ends up back to me?

Not returned.

SENT.

To me!

I took it back and asked the lady behind the counter that day (there are only women at our PO in town) and she just laughed (we're friends) and apologized, saying, "Well ... if that was the worst thing she did while she was here, that was pretty damn good!" I didn't ask for details, but shudder to think.

Scott

[Мастер]

Sorry Heid, but I'm laughing at the surrealness of the situation. Too funny.

I had a good one - sort of related - recently. I took a package to the Post Office, filled out the customs form and sent it on its way. Mind you, as I was doing this, I was worried that the woman behind the counter didn't really know what she was doing. I had never seen her before and she was having trouble finding the right forms, etc.

Two days later the package is on my porch. Huh? How can I have filled out the forms, paid the cash and - the is the kicker - had the addresses in their correct locations and it STILL ends up back to me?

Not returned.

SENT.

To me!

I took it back and asked the lady behind the counter that day (there are only women at our PO in town) and she just laughed (we're friends) and apologized, saying, "Well ... if that was the worst thing she did while she was here, that was pretty damn good!" I didn't ask for details, but shudder to think.


Scott

So, they did a pretty good job, except for one small detail.

I have sometimes wondered if putting the destination address as the return address, and then failing to put postage on the envelope, would result in free delivery. Haven't tried it though.

[Blue Monster 65]

I have sometimes wondered if putting the destination address as the return address, and then failing to put postage on the envelope, would result in free delivery. Haven't tried it though.

[hippietrekx]

I sent a cart do my dad for Father's day 6 weeks or so ago.

He got it. Ripped in half (HALF! totally severed!) and stuffed into a USPS envelope with plastic window.

Had a note in it that said something about being caught in the sorting machines. Damn. I'm never working in a post office. There are a lot of jobs I'd consider, but that's not one of them, now...

[Heid the Ba]

I used to subscribe to a weekly magazine from Wisconsin (yes, Packers related) and due to USPS bulkmail procedures I got mine in Edinburgh before most people in mainland US did.

[Enzo]

Cheesehead Monthly


I don;t particularly root for the Packers, but I do appreciate the cheesehead. SO I have one.

[Heid the Ba]

Packers Weekly, but close enough. Published after the sunday game and elivered to Edinburgh on the tuesday of that week.

[Enzo]

And all of Scotland still puzzles over why Brett Favre's name is pronounced "Farve."

[MM_Dandy]

Perhaps because it's a French name?
(Actually, I'm pretty sure it is, but I guess that doesn't necessarily explain the pronunciation.)

[Enzo]

Oh the story is not much. he tells it that growing up, people would mis-pronounce it as Farve, so he just decided to go with the flow. The family knows it is FAHV-re.


used to be a Detroit Lions coach named Wayne Fontes. For similar reasons he pronounces it "Fonts." He had a brother working for the team, but the brother pronounced the name Fon-Tez, the actual family name.

It's no Sheen/Esteves, but what do you want from Detroit?

My Social Security check is direct deposit. I don;t want them AND the post office involved.

[Heid the Ba]

I think it is Italian, there were a couple of Italian cross country skiers Patrick Favre and his brother whose name escapes me. Were there not Italian immigrants into Mississipi post Great War who got a bit of a hard time from the locals?

[Enzo]

Everybody who immigrated to Mississippi got a hard time from the locals.

[MM_Dandy]

Not that it means much, but Wikipedia claims that Brett Favre has French and Choctaw ancestory. Still, even if Wiki's right, that doesn't mean that the Italian Favres are not related.

Plus, the title of the Favre family cookbook would indicate that Favre likely has French roots, but established in the Gulf Coast region for a while.

At any rate, whatever the Old World origin of the name is, I'll buy Enzo's explanation. My own surname has likely been "Americanized" ("bouwten" to "bighten").

[Мастер]

At any rate, whatever the Old World origin of the name is, I'll buy Enzo's explanation. My own surname has likely been "Americanized" ("bouwten" to "bighten").

Heh, I'm very flexible. I changed 150 degrees of latitude, and didn't have to change my first or my last name at all.

[Enzo]

Well, Mactep, we are always willing to give you plenty of latitude.

Americanized? Why right nearby in Detroit (Dee-TROYT) we have major streets like Livernois (LIVER-NOISE), Gratiot (GRASH-IT), and Southfield Freeway (Oh...never mind). And a little north of me is a small town of Pompeii (POMP-EE-EYE)

[Heid the Ba]

Not that it means much, but Wikipedia claims that Brett Favre has French and Choctaw ancestory. Still, even if Wiki's right, that doesn't mean that the Italian Favres are not related.

I stand corrected. Until I get to the wiki page and change it. :D

[Enzo]

Another case of FRAYDOM of information.

[Heid the Ba]

Ok, the W-9 was bounced but they have sent me a W-8BEN to fill in instead. On a brief glance it at least countenances the possibility of my client living in the UK.