BENEFICIARY, IRS & TAXES

    My wife is the beneficiary of my retirement funds.
(NOT talking about SS, but CALPERS)

She currently has a ITIN just for tax purposes, but assume she will lose her eligibility for this once I pass.



Question is this, Her being a non US citizen and never having lived there, will she be required to file a tax return with IRS from the Phils and pay taxes on the monthly benefit funds or can she go exempt and receive 100% of the monthly beneficiary amount ?



Seems there should be a easy answer to this but for the life of me I can't seem to figure it out. I know there are a lot of educated intelligent people here, so maybe someone has some input, advise or guidance to share with me

I asked bing. Maybe not. Suggest you investigate more:

"If the recipient is not a U.S. person, meaning they are not a U.S. citizen, resident alien, or entity that is treated as a U.S. person for tax purposes, then they may be able to claim an exemption from withholding of U.S. federal income tax (FIT) under a tax treaty by completing Form W-8BEN2, Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting, and delivering it to the U.S. payor1. They must report their U.S. Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) on Form W-8BEN for it to be valid for treaty purposes1. However, even if they claim an exemption from withholding under a tax treaty, they may still have to pay taxes in their own country on their foreign pension income."

@danfinn

Thank you, I will follow up on your suggestion and the Forms you referenced