US Federal income tax withheld

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barryom76

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Hello. I am a resident of Ireland. I recently sold shares I had since I worked with a US company (I've never lived in the US). My 2016 Consolidated Form 1099 shows that there was Federal income tax withheld. Now having contacted UBS I was informed that this tax was withheld because I did not have a valid tax form on file at the time of the merger (the company I had shares with, EMC, merged with DELL) and I need to contact the IRS. .

I tried several times to ring the IRS asking for advice and each time I have been put on hold while the person I spoke with looked for the appropriate form or tried to link me through to another department (taking a LONG time) and each time my queries went unanswered and the line went dead.

I would appreciate any advice/assistance as how to retrieve the withheld tax.

Regards,
Barry
 
You probably had tax withheld because a W8-Ben wasn't completed by your or on your behalf. I'm not familiar with a Form 1099 but it sounds like a certificate of tax deducted at source. Google obtaining a refund of tax withheld in US and Form 1099 and see what you get. I would say that you should be able to do this yourself without paying anyone to do it. Having limited experience of the IRS they are very bureaucratic and you need to speak to precisely the right section which can be hard to find. You may need to obtain a taxpayer identification number (a TIN I think) but the tax refund form (if you find it) may tell you that.
 
Apologies for bringing back an oldish thread, but hopefully it will help someone: I believe you need to file a form 1040-NR. Since you are only claiming back the extra withholding tax that you paid (it should have been withheld at 15%, but was probably withheld at 30% since, as dublin87 said, you probably didn't have a W8-BEN on file), you only need to fill out a few of the fields - the instructions for the form contain an example of exactly this situation. You should have filed it by June, though, so I'm not sure what you have to do now that you are past the due date.
 
Thank you dublin67 and basilbrush, both helpful inputs. Correct re uncompleted w8-ben:(. It seems I do need a tax number ITIN - form w-7 and yes also form 1040-NR. To further complicate the matter, I am an Irish citizen currently living in Norway and as I understand the w-7 form requires me to send my passport to the IRS for 60 days and this really doesn't work for me! Additionally I ought to admit that I understand very little of the forms contents. Is there anybody out there who can, for a fee, assist me with this?? I've tried the paid version of turbotax but lacking a tax number, and my little brain's inability to figure out a value for 'cost basis' and surely another few hurdles I failed to reach - that has been a dead end! Any useful assistance HUGELY appreciated!!
 
Hi Barry - can the IRS worked with a notarised copy of your passport? I've applied for ITIN numbers previously (admittedly about 8 years ago) and I supplied notarised copies. It did take a few times to get it issued but there was never a question of sending your original passport.
 
Hi Barry,

I'm sorry to hear that it is causing you so much trouble. My information may also be outdated, since I applied for an ITIN around the same time as dublin67, but I also certainly didn't have to send my actual passport.

Also, I may have been a bit hasty in my previous reply. The situation I was thinking of is when 30% withholding tax is applied to dividends, which the US-Ireland tax treaty decreases to 15%. I see that the tax you wish to reclaim is on a sale of shares, which might be different. I imagine that you are being taxed on the capital gain. I have never sold US shares while in Ireland, so I'm not at all sure on this one, but it looks to me like shares are 'moveable property' and so the tax treaty says you should only taxed on it by the country in which you are resident (Ireland).

Can UBS help you with the 'cost basis' number?

I very much hope that you manage to get it all sorted out.
 
Hi again Barry,

In case it makes you feel any better, I was thinking about you during lunch. I actually don't think the forms should be terribly complicated, if I understand the situation correctly. Once you get your ITIN (and surely there must be a way to get that without sending off your passport?), you could probably fill-out the 1040-NR by hand since it will almost all be left blank. The first section is all about "effectively connected income" (payment for work you did in the USA, etc.), which I imagine is all blank for you. On Schedule NEC (Not Effectively Connected) you will put the capital gain, and, if I am right about you not needing to pay any capital gains tax on it in the USA, you will put it in on of the "Other" columns, and specify the tax rate as 0%. You will put the amount of tax you did pay in the appropriate place on the 1040-NR, this will subtract from the $0 that you should have paid, and the result will be that they owe you a refund of the tax you paid. I imagine that the numbers you need should all be on the statement that UBS sent you - I think it should say what your capital gain was, and what tax you paid on that. The only problem is that you are past the filing deadline, and I don't know what the procedure is for that.

Also, don't forget to declare the capital gain on your Irish tax return.

So, unless there are other complications, hopefully it shouldn't be too bad.
 
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