Form W-8CE is the one-page notice a covered expatriate gives to each payer, custodian, or trustee holding deferred compensation, a tax-deferred account, or a nongrantor trust interest. To fill it out, you enter your identifying information, name the specific payer and account, check the single box that matches that account type, sign under penalties of perjury, and deliver the form to that payer by the earlier of 30 days after your expatriation date or the day before the first distribution after expatriation. The form does not go to the IRS. You file a separate copy with every institution that holds a covered account for you.
Confirm You Are a Covered Expatriate First
Only covered expatriates use Form W-8CE. You become one when you give up U.S. citizenship or end long-term resident status and meet any one of three tests on the day you leave:
- Net worth of $2 million or more.
- Average annual net income tax liability for the five years before expatriation above an inflation-adjusted threshold. For 2025, that threshold is $206,000.1Internal Revenue Service. Expatriation Tax
- Inability to certify on Form 8854 that you met all federal tax obligations for the preceding five years.1Internal Revenue Service. Expatriation Tax
Tripping one test is enough. If none apply, you are not a covered expatriate and W-8CE is not your form.
Complete the Identification Block
At the top of the form, enter your legal name, U.S. taxpayer identification number (SSN or ITIN), permanent foreign address, and your expatriation date.2Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form W-8CE – Notice of Expatriation and Waiver of Treaty Benefits Add a separate mailing address if it differs from your permanent one. The expatriation date is the date you officially relinquished citizenship or terminated long-term residency, not the date you physically left the country.
Enter the Payer and Account
Below the identification block, name the payer this copy of the form is going to, and enter the account number or other identifier that ties the form to a specific account. Each form covers one payer. If you have accounts at several institutions, prepare and deliver a separate W-8CE to each one. A single institution holding more than one type of account for you may need a separate form for each account type; confirm with the payer.
Check the Correct Box
The four checkboxes drive the tax treatment. Check only the box that matches the account this form covers.
Box 1: Eligible Deferred Compensation
Check Box 1 when the payer is a U.S. person (or a foreign person who has elected to be treated as one) and you are willing to irrevocably waive any treaty-based reduction in withholding on that item.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 877A – Tax Responsibilities of Expatriation Checking the box is the waiver. You cannot check Box 1 and later claim a lower treaty rate.2Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form W-8CE – Notice of Expatriation and Waiver of Treaty Benefits
The upside: the item stays in the plan and gets taxed at a flat 30% only when distributions actually come out.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 877A – Tax Responsibilities of Expatriation
Box 2: Ineligible Deferred Compensation
Check Box 2 when the payer is not a U.S. person and has not elected to be treated as one, or when you choose not to waive treaty benefits. The consequence is significant. Ineligible items are treated as if you received the entire present value of your accrued benefit on the day before your expatriation date, and you owe tax on that full amount immediately even though no cash reached your account.
Box 3: Specified Tax-Deferred Account
Check Box 3 for individual retirement accounts, health savings accounts, Archer MSAs, qualified tuition programs (529 plans), ABLE accounts, and Coverdell education savings accounts.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 877A – Tax Responsibilities of Expatriation Simple IRAs and SIMPLE plans described in subsections (k) and (p) of Section 408 are excluded. When you check Box 3, the entire balance is treated as distributed to you on the day before expatriation, but no early distribution penalty applies.
Box 4: Nongrantor Trust
Check Box 4 if you were a beneficiary of a nongrantor trust on the day before your expatriation date. Doing so notifies the trustee that 30% withholding applies to the taxable portion of future distributions to you.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 877A – Tax Responsibilities of Expatriation
A separate election checkbox sits below Box 4. It is optional. Check it only if you want to be treated as having received the value of your entire trust interest on the day before expatriation, and only if you have a private letter ruling from the IRS valuing that interest and can certify that you paid the tax owed on the deemed receipt.2Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form W-8CE – Notice of Expatriation and Waiver of Treaty Benefits
Sign and Date
The certification above the signature line states, under penalties of perjury, that you are a covered expatriate and that you authorize the form to be shared with any withholding agent who controls or disburses income you own. Sign and date. An unsigned form is invalid and no payer should accept one.
Understand the Treaty Waiver Before You Sign Box 1
The treaty waiver built into Box 1 is the part that surprises people. Checking Box 1 permanently gives up any right to a reduced withholding rate under a U.S. tax treaty on that deferred compensation item. The same waiver applies to nongrantor trust distributions: covered expatriates are treated as having waived treaty benefits on those distributions unless the IRS approves an alternative arrangement.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 877A – Tax Responsibilities of Expatriation
The waiver is the price of keeping the item in the plan. Without it, the item drops into Box 2 territory, and the full present value hits your final return as taxable income. For most people, accepting the 30% flat withholding on future distributions is the cheaper outcome.
Deliver by the Deadline
Deliver each completed W-8CE to the payer by the earlier of two dates: 30 days after your expatriation date, or the day before the first distribution from that account after expatriation.4Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2009-85 If a distribution is scheduled inside those first 30 days, the form has to be in the payer’s hands before that payment goes out.
Send it directly to the plan administrator, IRA custodian, or trustee. Some institutions accept it by mail, others want hand delivery or a secure portal upload. Confirm the accepted method with each payer before the deadline. Keep a copy of every form you send.
What You Should Receive Back
Once a payer receives a properly completed W-8CE, they have 60 days to give you a written statement showing the value of your interest in the account as of the day before your expatriation date.4Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2009-85 For ineligible deferred compensation, that is the present value of your accrued benefit. For a specified tax-deferred account, it is your full balance. For a nongrantor trust, the trustee provides the information you need to value your interest.
Those numbers feed directly into your Form 8854 and your final tax return. Save every valuation statement alongside your copy of the form that produced it.
W-8CE Does Not Go to the IRS. Form 8854 Does.
Form W-8CE stays between you and each payer. The IRS learns about your expatriation through Form 8854, the initial and annual expatriation statement, which is a separate filing every expatriate must submit.2Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form W-8CE – Notice of Expatriation and Waiver of Treaty Benefits Covered expatriates continue filing Form 8854 annually for any year they receive eligible deferred compensation or nongrantor trust distributions subject to withholding. The nongrantor trust election referenced on the W-8CE is actually made on Form 8854, with the IRS letter ruling attached.
A separate $10,000 penalty applies to failing to file Form 8854 or filing it with incorrect information, unless the failure is due to reasonable cause.5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8854 – Initial and Annual Expatriation Statement That penalty is tied to the 8854, not the W-8CE, but the two forms rely on each other and problems with one tend to create problems with the other.
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline
A late or incorrect W-8CE is not just a paperwork issue. Your deferred compensation item is automatically treated as ineligible, and the IRS treats you as having received the full present value of your accrued benefit on the day before expatriation. Tax on that full amount is due for the year you left, whether or not any money actually reached you.4Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2009-85 That is the outcome the form is designed to help you avoid, which is why getting a signed copy to every relevant payer within the deadline matters more than any other step in the process.