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Instructions for Form 8804 2006 Tax Year

General Instructions

This is archived information that pertains only to the 2006 Tax Year. If you
are looking for information for the current tax year, go to the Tax Prep Help Area.

Purpose of Forms

Use Forms 8804, 8805, and 8813 to pay and report section 1446 withholding tax based on effectively connected taxable income allocable to foreign partners.

Use Form 8804, Annual Return for Partnership Withholding Tax (Section 1446), to report the total liability under section 1446 for the partnership's tax year. Form 8804 is also a transmittal form for Form(s) 8805.

Use Form 8805, Foreign Partner's Information Statement of Section 1446 Withholding Tax, to show the amount of effectively connected taxable income and the total tax credit allocable to the foreign partner for the partnership's tax year.

File a separate Form 8805 for each foreign partner, even if no section 1446 withholding tax was paid. Attach Copy A of each Form 8805 to the Form 8804 filed with the IRS.

Foreign partners must attach Form 8805 to their U.S. income tax returns to claim a withholding credit for their shares of the section 1446 tax withheld by the partnership. Any U.S. person erroneously subjected to the withholding tax would also receive Form 8805 from a partnership and should attach it to his or her income tax return to claim a withholding credit. A partnership that receives a Form 8805 from a lower-tier partnership should see Tiered Partnerships, on page 4.

Form 8805 may also be completed, in some cases, by a foreign trust or estate. A foreign partner that is a foreign trust or estate must complete Schedule T of Form 8805 to report to the trust or estate's beneficiaries the section 1446 withholding tax that may be claimed as a withholding tax credit on the beneficiaries income tax return. See Schedule T-Beneficiary Information, on page 5 for details.

Use Form 8813, Partnership Withholding Tax Payment Voucher (Section 1446), to pay the withholding tax under section 1446 to the United States Treasury. Form 8813 must accompany each payment of section 1446 tax made during the partnership's tax year.

Who Must File

All partnerships with effectively connected gross income allocable to a foreign partner in any tax year must file Forms 8804 and 8805 whether or not distributions were made during the partnership's tax year. The partnership may designate a person to file the forms. The partnership, or person it designates, must file these forms even if the partnership has no withholding tax liability under section 1446.

When To File

Forms 8804 and 8805

Generally, file these forms on or before the 15th day of the 4th month following the close of the partnership's tax year. For partnerships that keep their records and books of account outside the United States and Puerto Rico, the due date is the 15th day of the 6th month following the close of the partnership's tax year. If the partnership is permitted to file these forms on or before the 15th day of the 6th month, check the box at the top of Form 8804.

If a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, file by the next business day.

File Forms 8804 and 8805 separately from Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income, or Form 1065-B, U.S. Return of Income for Electing Large Partnerships.

If you need more time, you may file Form 7004, Application for Automatic 6-Month Extension of Time To File Certain Business Income Tax, Information, and Other Returns, to request an extension of time to file Form 8804. The extension may not be for more than 6 months except for taxpayers who are abroad. Form 7004 does not extend the time for payment of tax.

Form 8813

File on or before the 15th day of the 4th, 6th, 9th, and 12th months of the partnership's tax year for U.S. income tax purposes.

Where To File

File Forms 8804, 8805, and 8813 with:

Internal Revenue Service Center
P.O. Box 409101
Ogden, UT 84409

Taxpayer Identifying Number

To insure proper crediting of the withholding tax when reporting to the IRS, a partnership must provide a U.S. taxpayer identifying number (TIN) for each foreign partner. The partnership should notify any of its foreign partners without such a number of the necessity of obtaining a U.S. identifying number. An individual's identifying number is the individual's social security number (SSN) or individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN). Any other partner's identifying number is its U.S. employer identification number (EIN).

Certain aliens who do not have and are not eligible to get an SSN may apply for an ITIN on Form W-7, Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. The application is also available in Spanish.

Requirement To Make Withholding Tax Payments

A foreign or domestic partnership that has effectively connected taxable income allocable to a foreign partner must pay a withholding tax equal to the applicable percentage of the effectively connected taxable income that is allocable to its foreign partners. However, this requirement does not apply to a partnership treated as a corporation under the general rule of section 7704(a). Effectively connected taxable income is defined on page 2. Applicable percentage is defined on page 3.

Withholding Agents

For ease of reference, these instructions refer to various requirements applicable to withholding agents as requirements applicable to partnerships themselves.

Determining If a Partner Is a Foreign Person

A partnership must determine if any partner is a foreign person subject to section 1446. A foreign person is any person that is not a U.S. person within the meaning of section 7701(a)(30). As such, a foreign person includes a nonresident alien individual, foreign corporation, foreign partnership, foreign trust or estate, or a foreign organization described in section 501(c).

A partnership may determine a partner's foreign or nonforeign status by relying on a W-8 form (for example, Form W-8BEN), Form W-9, an acceptable substitute form, or by other means. See Form of certification and Use of Means Other Than Certification below. Also, see Regulations section 1.1446-1(c) for additional information.

Certification of Nonforeign Status

In general, a partnership may determine that a partner is not a foreign person by obtaining a Form W-9 from the partner. A partnership that has obtained this certification may rely on it to establish the nonforeign status of a partner. See Effect of certification below.

Form of certification.   Generally, a partnership may determine a partner's foreign or nonforeign status by obtaining one of the following withholding certificates from the partner.
  • Form W-8BEN, Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding.

  • W-8ECI, Certificate of Foreign Person's Claim That Income is Effectively Connected With the Conduct of a Trade or Business in the United States.

  • W-8EXP, Certificate of Foreign Government or Other Foreign Organization for United States Tax Withholding.

  • W-8IMY, Certificate of Foreign Intermediary, Foreign Flow-Through Entity, or Certain U.S. Branches for United States Tax Withholding.

  • Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification.

  • An acceptable substitute form (as described in Regulations section 1.1446-1(c)(5)).

  • A statement required from a domestic grantor trust (as described in Regulations section 1.1446-1(c)(2)(ii)(E)) with the necessary documentation required for the trust and the grantor.

Effect of certification.   Generally, a partnership that has obtained a withholding certificate (for example, a Form W-8 or W-9) according to the rules in these instructions may rely on the certification to determine whether the partner is a foreign or nonforeign partner for purposes of computing section 1446 tax, and if such partner is a foreign partner, to determine whether or not such partner is a corporation for U.S. tax purposes. The partnership may also use the withholding certificate to determine that the partner is not subject to withholding. A partnership may not rely on a withholding certificate if it knows or has reason to know that any information provided on the withholding certificate is incorrect or unreliable, and based on that information the partnership should pay more section 1446 withholding tax. Under those circumstances, the certificate is not valid.

  The partnership will not be subject to penalties for its failure to pay the section 1446 withholding tax prior to the date that it knows or has reason to know that the certificate is not valid. However, the partnership is fully liable for section 1446 withholding tax for the year, as well as penalties and interest, starting with the installment period or Form 8804 filing period during which it knows or has reason to know that the certificate is not valid. See Regulations section 1.1446-1(c)(2)(iii).

Requirements for certificates to be valid.   Generally, the validity of a Form W-9 is determined under section 3406 and Regulations section 31.3406(h)-3(e). A Form W-8 is only valid if:
  • Its validity period has not expired,

  • The partner submitting the form has signed it under penalties of perjury, and

  • It contains all the required information.

See Regulations section 1.1446-1(c)(2)(iv) for more details.

Change in circumstances.   A partner must provide a new withholding certificate when there is a change in circumstances. The principles of Regulations section 1.1441-1(e)(4)(ii)(D) shall apply when a change in circumstances has occurred (including situations where the status of a U.S. person changes) that requires a partner to provide a new withholding certificate.

How long to keep the certifications.   A partnership or nominee who has responsibility for paying section 1446 withholding tax must retain each withholding certificate, statement, and other information received from its direct and indirect partners for as long as it may be relevant to the determination of the withholding agent's section 1446 tax liability under section 1461 and the regulations thereunder.

Use of Means Other Than Certification

A partnership is not required to obtain a Form W-9. It may rely on other means to learn the nonforeign status of the partner. But if the partnership relies on other means and erroneously determines that the partner was not a foreign person, the partnership will be held liable for payment of the tax, any applicable penalties, and interest. A partnership is not required to rely on other means to determine the nonforeign status of a partner and may demand a Form W-9. If a certification is not provided, the partnership may withhold tax under section 1446 of the Code and will be considered for purposes of section 1461 through section 1463, to have been required to withhold such tax.

Effectively Connected Taxable Income (ECTI)

Definition

Effectively connected taxable income” is the excess of the gross income of the partnership that is effectively connected under section 864(c), or treated as effectively connected with the conduct of a U.S. trade or business, over the allowable deductions that are connected to such income. See Pub. 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens, for detailed instructions regarding the computation of effectively connected taxable income. For purposes of these instructions, figure this income with the following statutory adjustments:

  1. Section 703(a)(1) does not apply.

  2. The partnership is allowed a deduction for depletion of oil and gas wells, but the amount of the deduction must be determined without regard to sections 613 and 613A.

  3. The partnership may not take into account items of income, gain, loss, or deduction allocable to any partner that is not a foreign partner.

See Regulations section 1.1446-2 for additional adjustments that may be required.

A partnership's ECTI includes partnership income subject to a partner's election under section 871(d) or 882(d) (election to treat real property income as income connected with a U.S. business). It also includes any partnership income treated as effectively connected with the conduct of a U.S. trade or business under section 897 (disposition of investment in U.S. real property), and other items of partnership income treated as effectively connected under other provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, regardless of whether those amounts are taxable to the partner.

See Regulations section 1.1446-2 for additional information for computing ECTI.

Amount Allocable to Foreign Partners

The amount of a partnership's ECTI for the partnership's tax year allocable to a foreign partner under section 704 equals (a) the foreign partner's distributive share of effectively connected gross income of the partnership for the partnership's tax year that is properly allocable to the partner under section 704, minus (b) the foreign partner's distributive share of deductions of the partnership for that year that are connected with that income under section 873 or section 882(c)(1) and that are properly allocable to the partner under section 704. This income must be computed by taking into account any adjustments to the basis of the partnership property described in section 743 according to the partnership's election under section 754. Also, a partnership's ECTI is not allocable to a foreign partner to the extent the amounts are exempt from U.S. tax for that partner by a treaty or reciprocal agreement, or a provision of the Code.

Certification of Deductions and Losses

A foreign partner, in certain circumstances, may certify to the partnership that it has deductions and losses it reasonably expects to be available to reduce the partner's U.S. income tax liability on the partner's allocable share of effectively connected income or gain from the partnership. In certain circumstances, the partnership may consider and rely on these deductions and losses to reduce the partnership's section 1446 tax. See Regulations section 1.1446-6T for additional information.

Amount of Withholding Tax

Figuring the Tax Payments

Under section 1446, a partnership must make four installment payments of withholding tax during the tax year.

Amount of each installment payment of withholding tax.   In general, the amount of a partnership's installment payment is equal to the sum of the installment payments for each of the partnership's foreign partners. A partnership will generally determine the amount of the installment payment for each of its foreign partners by applying the principles of section 6655 and Regulations section 1.1446-3. To do so, use Form 8804-W, Installment Payments of Section 1446 Tax for Partnerships.

Applicable percentage.   For all foreign partners, the section 1446 applicable percentage is generally 35%. However, in some circumstances, the partnership may consider the highest rate applicable to a particular type of income allocated to a non-corporate partner if such partner would be entitled to use a preferential rate on such income or gain. See Regulations section 1.1446-3(a)(2) for additional information.

When to make the payment.   Make installment payments of the withholding tax under section 1446 with Form 8813 by the applicable due dates during the tax year of the partnership in which the income is earned. The partnership must generally make the installment payments for each foreign partner on or before the 15th day of the 4th, 6th, 9th, and 12th month of the partnership's tax year.

  Generally, pay any additional amounts due when filing Form 8804. However, if the partnership files Form 7004 to request an extension of time to file Form 8804, pay the balance of section 1446 withholding tax estimated to be due with Form 7004 in order to avoid the late payment penalty.

Coordination With Other Withholding Rules

Interest, Dividends, etc.

Fixed or determinable, annual or periodical income subject to tax under section 871(a) or 881 is not included in the partnership's ECTI under section 1446. However, these amounts are independently subject to withholding under the requirements of sections 1441 and 1442 and their regulations.

Real Property Gains

Domestic partnerships.   Domestic partnerships subject to the withholding requirements of section 1446 are not also subject to the payment and reporting requirements of section 1445(e)(1) and its regulations for income from the disposition of a U.S. real property interest. A domestic partnership's compliance with the requirement to pay a withholding tax under section 1446 satisfies the requirements under section 1445 for dispositions of U.S. real property interests. However, a domestic partnership that would otherwise be exempt from section 1445 withholding by operation of a nonrecognition provision must continue to comply with the requirements of Regulations section 1.1445-5(b)(2).

Foreign partnerships.   A foreign partnership subject to withholding under section 1445(a) during a tax year will be allowed to credit the amount withheld under section 1445(a), to the extent such amount is allocable to foreign partners (as defined in section 1446(e)), against its liability to pay the section 1446 withholding tax for that year. This credit is allowed on line 6c of the Form 8804 filed by the foreign partnership.

Reporting to Partners

When making a payment of withholding tax to the IRS under section 1446, a partnership must notify all foreign partners of their allocable shares of any section 1446 tax paid to the IRS by the partnership. The partners use this information to adjust the amount of estimated tax that they must otherwise pay to the IRS. The notification to the foreign partners must be provided within 10 days of the installment due date, or, if paid later, the date the installment payment is made. See Regulations section 1.1446-3(d)(1)(i) for information that must be included in the notification and for exceptions to the notification requirement.

If a partnership has ECTI, it must file a Form 8804 and it must file a separate Form 8805 for each partner for whom it paid tax. In addition, if the partnership relies on a certificate it receives from a partner under Regulations section 1.1446-6T, it must complete a Form 8805 for the partner even if no tax is paid on behalf of the partner. The foreign partner must also receive a copy of its Form 8805 by the due date of the partnership return (including extensions) .

If the foreign partner is a foreign trust or estate, the foreign trust or estate must provide to each of its beneficiaries a Form 8805 completed as described under Schedule T-Beneficiary Information on page 5.

Interest and Penalties

Interest

Interest is charged on taxes not paid by the due date, even if an extension of time to file is granted. Interest is also charged on penalties imposed for failure to file, negligence, fraud, and substantial understatements of tax from the due date (including extensions) to the date of payment. The interest charge is figured at a rate determined under section 6621.

Late Filing of Form 8804

A partnership that fails to file Form 8804 when due (including extensions of time to file) generally may be subject to a penalty of 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month the return is late, up to a maximum of 25% of the unpaid tax. The penalty will not apply if the partnership can show reasonable cause for filing late. If the failure to timely file is due to reasonable cause, attach an explanation to Form 8804.

Late Filing of Correct Form 8805

A penalty may be imposed for failure to file each Form 8805 when due (including extensions). The penalty may also be imposed for failure to include all required information on Form 8805 or for furnishing incorrect information. The penalty is based on when a correct Form 8805 is filed. The penalty is:

  • $15 per Form 8805 if the partnership correctly files within 30 days; maximum penalty of $75,000 per year ($25,000 for a small business). A “small business” has average annual gross receipts of $5 million or less for the most recent 3 tax years (or for the period of time the business has existed, if shorter) ending before the calendar year in which the Forms 8805 were due.

  • $50 per Form 8805 if the partnership files more than 30 days after the due date or does not file a correct Form 8805; maximum penalty of $250,000 per year ($100,000 for a small business).

If the partnership intentionally disregards the requirement to report correct information, the penalty per Form 8805 is increased to $100 or, if greater, 10% of the aggregate amount of items required to be reported, with no maximum penalty. For more information, see sections 6721 and 6724.

Failure To Furnish Correct Forms 8805 to Recipient

A penalty of $50 may be imposed for each failure to furnish Form 8805 to the recipient when due. The penalty may also be imposed for each failure to give the recipient all required information on each Form 8805 or for furnishing incorrect information. The maximum penalty is $100,000 for all failures to furnish correct Forms 8805 during a calendar year.

If the partnership intentionally disregards the requirement to report correct information, the penalty is increased to $100 or, if greater, 10% of the aggregate amount of items required to be reported and the $100,000 maximum penalty does not apply. For more information, see sections 6722 and 6724.

Late Payment of Tax

The penalty for not paying tax when due is usually ½ of 1% of the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month the tax is unpaid. The penalty cannot exceed 25% of the unpaid tax. The penalty will not apply if the partnership can show reasonable cause for paying late. If the failure to timely pay is due to reasonable cause, attach an explanation to the form.

Failure To Withhold and Pay Over Tax

Any person required to withhold, account for, and pay over the withholding tax under section 1446, but who fails to do so, may be subject to a civil penalty under section 6672. The civil penalty is equal to the amount that should have been withheld and paid over.

Other Penalties

Penalties may also be imposed, absent reasonable cause and good faith, for failing to accurately report the amount of tax required to be shown on a return, if any portion of the resulting underpayment is attributable to negligence, substantial understatement of income tax, valuation misstatement, or fraud. See sections 6662 and 6663.

Treatment of Partners

A partnership's payment of section 1446 withholding tax on ECTI allocable to a foreign partner generally relates to the partner's U.S. income tax liability for the partner's tax year in which the partner is subject to U.S. tax on that income.

Amounts paid by the partnership under section 1446 on ECTI allocable to a partner are allowed to the partner as a credit under section 33. The partner may not claim an early refund of withholding tax paid under section 1446.

Amounts paid by a partnership under section 1446 for a partner are to be treated as distributions made to that partner on the earliest of the following:

  1. The day on which this tax was paid by the partnership.

  2. The last day of the partnership's tax year for which the amount was paid.

  3. The last day on which the partner owned an interest in the partnership during that year.

However, the amount of section 1446 withholding paid during a tax year by the partnership is generally treated as an advance or draw under Regulations section 1.731-1(a)(1)(ii) to the extent of the partner's share of income for the partnership year. See Regulations section 1.1446-3(d)(2)(v) for more details.

A partner that wishes to claim a credit against its U.S. income tax liability for amounts withheld and paid under section 1446 must attach Copy C of Form 8805 to its U.S. income tax return for the tax year in which it claims the credit.

See Regulations section 1.1446-3(d)(2) for additional information.

Publicly Traded Partnerships (PTP)

A “publicly traded partnership” is any partnership whose interests are regularly traded on an established securities market (regardless of the number of its partners). However, it does not include a publicly traded partnership treated as a corporation under the general rule of section 7704(a).

A publicly traded partnership that has effectively connected income, gain, or loss, must withhold tax on distributions of that income made to its foreign partners. The rate is 35%. The publicly traded partnership may not consider preferential rates when computing the section 1446 tax for a partner. The partnership uses Form 1042, Annual Withholding Tax Return for U.S. Source Income of Foreign Persons; Form 1042-S, Foreign Person's U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding; and Form 1042-T, Annual Summary and Transmittal of Forms 1042-S, to report withholding from distributions instead of following these instructions. It also must comply with the regulations under section 1461 and Regulations section 1.6302-2.

Tiered Partnerships

The term “tiered partnership” describes the situation in which a partnership owns an interest in another partnership. The former is an “upper-tier partnership” and the latter is a “lower-tier partnership.” An upper-tier partnership that owns a partnership interest in a lower-tier partnership is allowed a credit against its own section 1446 liability for any section 1446 tax paid by the lower-tier partnership for that partnership interest.

If an upper-tier partnership provides appropriate documentation to a lower-tier partnership, the lower-tier partnership may look through the partnership to the partners of such upper-tier partnership in determining its section 1446 tax due. The look through will occur only with respect to the portion of the upper-tier partnership's allocation that is allocable to partners of such partnership for which appropriate documentation has been received. For more information, see Regulations section 1.1446-5(c) for upper-tier foreign partnerships and Regulations section 1.1446-5(e) for upper-tier domestic partnerships.

The look-through rules referred to above apply only for purposes of the lower-tier partnership's computation of its section 1446 tax liability. It does not affect the upper-tier partnership's reporting requirements with respect to Forms 8804 and 8805 as set forth in the next paragraph and elsewhere in these instructions.

An upper-tier partnership that has had section 1446 tax payments made on its behalf by a lower-tier partnership will receive a copy of Form 1042-S or Form 8805 from the lower-tier partnership. The upper-tier partnership must in turn file these forms with its Form 8804 and treat the amount withheld by the lower-tier partnership as a credit against its own liability to withhold under section 1446. This credit is allowed on line 6b of the Form 8804 filed by the upper-tier partnership. The upper-tier partnership must also provide to its partners the information described in Reporting to Partners on page 3. These statements and forms will enable those partners to obtain appropriate credit for tax withheld under section 1446.

See Regulations section 1.1446-5 for additional information.

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