Substitute W-8 Forms
A financial institution may use an in-house-created substitute for a W-8 form. This thread is for questions, answers and discussion of these forms.
General banking issues and other banking issue sub-thread links are at Banking Issues.
“Not if you answer “no” if your bank asks “the question”. “
No is the correct answer, for those of us who’ve followed that path to renunciation.
The point is, the W-8BEN form is not risky, for a former citizen who is opening a bank account in his/her residence country. Some may prefer to find a bank that uses their own form, because they don’t want to sign a US form; either way, there’s no risk involved. The former citizen is simply certifying their status as non-US-tax-resident.