Ձեր ԱՄՆ հաճախորդը ցանկանում է W-8BEN-E, W-9 կամ EIN ձևաթուղթ. Ինչ պետք է տրամադրի հայկական ՍՊԸ-ն կամ անհատ ձեռնարկատերը

An Armenian LLC paid by a US customer normally provides Form W-8BEN-E, and an Armenian individual entrepreneur who is not a US citizen or resident provides Form W-8BEN; neither needs a US EIN to fill in the form. Form W-9 is reserved for US persons. The answer for your business depends on how US tax rules classify the payee, which is the point most supplier onboarding portals skip.

Who is the payee?

The form belongs to whoever receives the payment and is named on the contract and invoice. Settle that first, because the same person can need a different form depending on how they invoice.

• Your Armenian LLC invoices the customer. The LLC is the payee and documents itself. Its shareholder does not substitute a personal W-8BEN because they own the company.
• You invoice as an individual entrepreneur (IE). Under Armenian law an IE carries on business without forming a legal entity, so the payee is you as an individual.
• You are paid through an employer-of-record or a contractor platform. The US customer contracts with the provider, so the provider documents itself to the customer. Your own paperwork is with the provider. See our EOR ծառայություններ page for how those arrangements are structured.

If you have not yet chosen between an LLC and an IE, our guide to registering an LLC or sole proprietor in Armenia from abroad եւ մեր բիզնեսի գրանցում page cover the set-up.

Which form: W-8BEN-E, W-8BEN or W-9

US tax classification decides the form, whatever the type of Armenian registration. Under the IRS foreign default rule (Form 8832 instructions), a foreign entity whose members all have limited liability is taxed as a corporation, including when it has a single owner. Members of an Armenian LLC have limited liability, so an Armenian LLC is a foreign corporation for US purposes unless it has filed an election to be treated otherwise.

Being ineligible for W-8BEN-E does not send you to W-9. The IRS instructions route other cases to other forms: W-8ECI for income effectively connected with a US trade or business, W-8IMY for intermediaries and most foreign partnerships, and W-8EXP for foreign governments and certain exempt organisations. An individual paid for personal services performed in the United States uses Form 8233 to claim a treaty exemption on that pay, or Form W-4 as an employee. W-8BEN does not cover US-performed personal services.

Form W-9 contains a certification that you are a US person. An Armenian LLC or a non-US individual who signs it makes a false certification.

All of these forms go to the customer that asked for them, not to the IRS. A W-8 documents your foreign status. It does not by itself entitle you to a reduced withholding rate. A W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E generally remains valid until the last day of the third calendar year after the year you sign it, unless a change in circumstances makes it incorrect sooner.

Which tax number: Armenian HVHH or a US EIN

Armenia’s taxpayer identification number is the HVHH (ՀՎՀՀ, taxpayer registration number), an eight-digit number issued by the State Revenue Committee (SRC). An LLC receives it on registration with the State Register. An individual who registers as an IE keeps the HVHH they already hold. The SRC’s own residency-certificate form labels the HVHH “Taxpayer identification number (TIN)”.

• W-8BEN-E: the HVHH goes on line 9b (foreign TIN). Line 8 asks for a US EIN “if required”.
• W-8BEN: the HVHH goes on line 6a (foreign TIN). Line 5 asks for a US SSN or ITIN “if required”.

Never put the HVHH in the US TIN field. The Public Services Number (ՀԾՀ) is a separate identifier, and we found no authority allowing it to replace an LLC’s or IE’s HVHH on these forms; give the HVHH.

A request for a W-8 does not on its own require a US number. Under the IRS instructions and the withholding regulations, a US TIN is required in narrower cases, including:

• a treaty claim made without a foreign TIN, apart from listed exceptions for actively traded securities, certain fund dividends and securities lending;
• income effectively connected with a US trade or business;
• a partner in a partnership carrying on a US trade or business;
• the section 871(f) exemption for certain annuities, and treaty claims on scholarship or fellowship income.

An Armenian supplier of services performed in Armenia, holding an HVHH, usually falls in none of these. Where one does apply, an entity obtains an EIN with Form SS-4, and an individual with no SSN obtains an ITIN with Form W-7. The checkbox on W-8BEN line 6b or W-8BEN-E line 9c is for a payee whose country does not legally require it to have a foreign TIN. It does not cover someone who simply has not obtained one.

The treaty question and US withholding

The IRS applies the 1973 US-USSR income tax convention to Armenia. IRS Publication 901 and the IRS treaty table list Armenia among the former Soviet republics it covers. The convention was signed on 20 June 1973 and has had effect since 1 January 1976, and no replacement US-Armenia treaty has been established. We could not establish from Armenian primary sources whether the SRC treats the convention as an applicable treaty when it issues a residency certificate for use in the United States.

For a W-8BEN-E Part III claim, the provisions that matter are narrow:

• Royalties. Article III(1)(a) makes payments for listed rights and know-how, computer programs included, taxable only in the recipient’s country. Not every software or service payment is a royalty.
• Հետաքրքրություն: The exemption in Article III(1)(g) concerns debt financing of trade between the two countries; ordinary bank interest is outside it.
• Շահաբաժիններ. There is no general reduction from the 30% US statutory rate.
• Limitation on benefits. The convention has no LOB article, so an eligible claimant ticks “No LOB article in treaty” on line 14b. The other treaty conditions, including beneficial ownership, still apply.

The 2018 US-Armenia FATCA agreement (Model 2, signed 12 February 2018, in force 7 July 2019) governs reporting by financial institutions. It sets no withholding rates and is not a basis for a Part III claim.

Most Armenian suppliers will not need the treaty at all. US-source fixed or periodic income paid to a foreign person is generally subject to 30% withholding on the gross amount unless a statutory exemption or a valid treaty claim applies. Pay for services takes its source from where the work is done, so services performed entirely in Armenia by an Armenian LLC or a nonresident IE are generally foreign-source and outside US nonresident withholding. Days worked in the United States, licensing income and contracts that mix services with rights need a separate analysis.

An SRC tax residency certificate is not a general requirement for a Part III claim, though a payer may ask for one as evidence of residence. An LLC or IE applies electronically through SRC e-services, stating the year and the destination country. The standard certificate for an LLC or IE issues immediately after the application. Other individuals, and certificates on a form prescribed by the foreign country, take two working days. English is available on request. Our հարկերը Հայաստանում page covers residency more broadly.

When the customer’s portal offers the wrong options

A US payer may rely on a W-8 unless it knows, or has reason to know, that the form is wrong. It may also insist on its own substitute form, provided the substitute complies with IRS rules; it can refuse the official form only if it gives you the substitute within five business days with the required notice. Electronic forms are permitted. A portal that demands an EIN from every foreign supplier reflects the customer’s own system; the IRS imposes no such blanket requirement.

US tax rules do not oblige a private customer to onboard a supplier without an EIN, and IRS sources do not describe a standard practice for non-standard submissions. What we recommend:

1. Write to the customer’s accounts-payable or tax team. Name the form you are giving and why: your classification, and that the services are performed in Armenia.
2. Send the official IRS form, completed and signed, with your legal name exactly as in the State Register, your HVHH and your registered address.
3. Ask for manual review, or for their compliant substitute form.
4. Do not select W-9 to get through the portal.
5. Keep the signed form, the contract, your invoices and the correspondence together.

Payments through card processors and marketplaces raise their own documentation questions; see our guide to payment gateways and fintech in ArmeniaԵւ մեր բանկային գործ page for receiving US payments.

The Armenian tax side

We found no Armenian filing triggered by giving a US customer a W-8. The income itself is taxed in Armenia in the ordinary way. An LLC pays profit tax at 18%. An IE’s tax depends on the regime it uses (general, turnover tax or micro-business), and consulting, legal and accounting, engineering, design and marketing, translation, software development and information processing are excluded from the micro-business regime. Services whose place of supply under the Tax Code is outside Armenia are zero-rated for VAT; a customer being based abroad is not enough on its own to make the place of supply foreign.

Have a US tax specialist review the form before you sign it if your case involves an entity election, a partnership, work done on US soil, licensing or software-rights income, US citizenship or green-card status, dual residence, or tax already withheld from a payment.

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