If I file a W8-BEN form, is a 1042 necessary?

External question — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: Frederick van Lingen Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/149881 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. I am a Costa Rican national, living in Costa Rica and I do not spend 183 days a year in the US. I opened an investment account with a US broker, TradeStation, and they asked me to fill out a W8-BEN before any trading could take place. My understanding is that a withholding agent or payer of the income may rely on a properly completed W-8BEN to treat a payment associated with the W-8BEN as a payment to a foreign person who beneficially owns the amounts paid. So thanks to this form, I am not subject to withholdings? If that is the case, I don't need to file a 1042 form, do I?

External answer — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: littleadv Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/a/149885 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. So thanks to this form, I am not subject to withholdings? You are, but you may claim treaty benefits to change the default withholding rates (although in your case Costa Rica has no tax treaty with the US). If that is the case, I don't need to file a 1042 form, do I? You don't need to file it in any case, the withholding agent does. If anything is withheld from your proceeds you'll receive a form 1042, which you can then use as part of your US tax return preparation process.