What US indicia are
US indicia are the data points that suggest an account holder may be a US citizen or US tax resident. The US Treasury regulations for foreign financial institutions list 7 of them (26 CFR 1.1471-4(c)(5)(iv)(B)):
- You are recorded as a US citizen or US resident
- A US place of birth
- A current US residence or mailing address, including a US post office box
- A current US telephone number, even if the bank also holds a non-US number
- Standing instructions to pay money from the account to an account in the United States
- A current power of attorney or signatory authority given to someone with a US address
- An in-care-of or hold-mail address that is the only address the bank has for you
Finding one does not make you a US person. The bank either documents you as one or collects papers that cure the sign, meaning they explain it away.
Why banks ask if you are American
FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, generally requires financial institutions outside the US to report on the assets of their US account holders (IRS FATCA page). It follows US status, not where you live, so a bank in Lisbon or Singapore asks every new customer whether they are American.
The same form usually asks where you are tax resident, for CRS reporting, which sends account data to your country of residence and ignores citizenship. A US citizen living in Portugal with an account in Spain can be reported under both.
The US runs FATCA instead of joining CRS, which puts it among the non CRS countries, and the 2 systems look for different signs in the same file (OECD consolidated CRS text, Section III):
Sources: 26 CFR 1.1471-4(c)(5)(iv)(B); OECD consolidated CRS text (2025), Section III(B)(2).
| Sign in the bank's file | FATCA: US indicia | CRS: indicia of another residence |
|---|---|---|
| Recorded status | US citizen or US resident | Resident of the other country |
| Place of birth | A US birthplace counts | Not a sign |
| Address, including a PO box | US residence or mailing address | Residence or mailing address there |
| Telephone number | Any current US number | A number there and none in the bank's country |
| Standing payment instructions | To an account in the US | To an account there, except on deposit accounts |
| Power of attorney or signatory | Someone with a US address | Someone with an address there |
| Hold-mail or in-care-of address | If it is the only address | If it is the only address |
Place of birth is the row with no CRS equivalent. A Canadian born in Seattle raises nothing under CRS, but FATCA flags the birthplace, and under US law that Canadian is very likely a US citizen too.
Are you a US person? Citizens, green card holders and long US stays
You are a US person for these forms if you are a US citizen or a US tax resident, and a US citizen uses Form W-9 even when living outside the United States (IRS instructions for Form W-8BEN).
US citizens, including by birth
A person born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction is a citizen at birth, and so is a child born abroad to a US citizen and a non-US parent if the US parent was physically present in the US for at least 5 years before the birth, at least 2 of them after turning 14 (8 U.S.C. 1401).
Both rules produce adults who have never lived in the US and still answer yes. A second passport does not change that. A formal loss of citizenship does, and renouncing US citizenship ends with the Certificate of Loss of Nationality that banks ask to see.
Green card holders
A non-citizen is a US tax resident under either the green card test or the substantial presence test (IRS). Green card status counts until you give it up in writing to USCIS, or until USCIS or a federal court terminates it (IRS green card test), so a card left in a drawer after a move abroad still makes you a US person.
Signing a W-8BEN on a green card you no longer use
While the card is valid, a W-8BEN saying you are not a US person is a false certification, and the right form is a W-9. Giving the card up has its own cost: after 8 of the last 15 tax years as a green card holder you are a long-term resident (26 U.S.C. 877(e)(2)), and ending that status is an expatriation for US tax, with Form 8854 to file and a mark-to-market tax on your unrealized gains if you meet a covered expatriate test (IRS expatriation tax). Settle which applies to you before you answer the bank.
Long US stays: the substantial presence test
Without a green card, you are a US tax resident for a year if you are in the US on at least 31 days that year and on 183 weighted days over 3 years, counting all of this year's days, 1/3 of last year's and 1/6 of the year before's (IRS substantial presence test). At the same number of days each year, the count first reaches 183 at 122 days a year (122 + 40.7 + 20.3), enough to make you a US person on the bank's form.
W-9 or W-8BEN: which form to give the bank
Form W-9 gives a US person's taxpayer identification number to the institution that has to report (IRS, About Form W-9). Form W-8BEN certifies that an individual is not a US person; it goes to the bank or payer that asked for it, never to the IRS, and a foreign financial institution may request it to document your account as non-US (IRS instructions for Form W-8BEN).
Sources: IRS instructions for Form W-8BEN; IRS, About Form W-9; IRS, About Form W-8BEN-E; 26 CFR 1.1471-4(c)(5)(iv)(B)(2).
| You are | Form | What the bank does with it |
|---|---|---|
| US citizen (dual citizens included), green card holder or substantial presence resident | W-9 | Documents you as a US account holder for FATCA |
| Non-US individual with a US indicium | W-8BEN plus documents | Cures the indicium and treats the account as non-US |
| Non-US company | W-8BEN-E | Records the company's own FATCA status |
An individual's W-8BEN stays valid until the last day of the 3rd calendar year after the year you sign it, unless a change in circumstances makes it incorrect, and you tell the bank within 30 days of such a change (IRS instructions for Form W-8BEN): a form signed in March 2026 runs to December 31, 2029.
A new US address, a US phone number or a green card are changes of that kind (26 CFR 1.1471-3(c)(6)(ii)(E)), and the US platforms that ask for the same form to set US withholding on online income need the update too.
How to cure each US indicium
The regulations set the papers that cure each indicium (26 CFR 1.1471-4(c)(5)(iv)(B)(2)). The 2 building blocks are a withholding certificate, which for a non-US individual is the W-8BEN, and documentary evidence: a valid government-issued ID such as a passport, or a certificate of tax residence from your country's tax authority (26 CFR 1.1471-3(c)(5)(i)).
Source: 26 CFR 1.1471-4(c)(5)(iv)(B)(2). Documentary evidence: a government ID or a tax residence certificate, 26 CFR 1.1471-3(c)(5)(i).
| US indicium | What cures it |
|---|---|
| Recorded as a US citizen or resident | W-8BEN and documentary evidence of citizenship of another country |
| US place of birth | Proof of non-US citizenship and a copy of your Certificate of Loss of Nationality, or a W-8BEN, that proof and a written explanation of why you gave up or never acquired US citizenship |
| US residence or mailing address | W-8BEN and documentary evidence |
| Only US phone numbers on file | W-8BEN and documentary evidence |
| US and non-US phone numbers on file | W-8BEN or documentary evidence |
| Standing instructions to a US account | W-8BEN, plus documentary evidence or a written reasonable explanation |
| US power of attorney, signatory, or US hold-mail address | W-8BEN or documentary evidence |
Banks in a country with a Model 1 FATCA agreement, such as Canada, follow the agreement's Annex I unless their government lets them apply these regulations instead. In the Canada-US agreement, Annex I clears a standing transfer to a US account only with a self-certification and documentary evidence, with no written explanation as an alternative, and offers no cure for being recorded as a US citizen or resident (Canada-US FATCA agreement, Annex I, sections I.C and II.B).
A US place of birth: the hardest one to cure
A birthplace cannot be updated, and birth in the US usually made you a citizen, so a W-8BEN alone does not settle it. Under the guidance UK banks follow, the bank needs a self-certification that you are neither a US citizen nor a US tax resident, a non-US passport or other government ID, and a copy of your Certificate of Loss of Nationality or a reasonable explanation of why you have none or did not become a citizen at birth (HMRC manual IEIM402880).
Born in Boston, raised in Lyon: 2 answers to the bank
Holds
Claire was born in Boston in 1991 to French parents, grew up in France and renounced US citizenship in 2024. She sends her bank a W-8BEN, her French passport and a copy of her Certificate of Loss of Nationality, and the indicium is cured.
Fails
Her brother, born in Boston in 1993, never renounced. He sends a W-8BEN and his French passport with a note saying he has never lived in the US. Birth in Boston made him a citizen, the note is not an explanation the rules accept, and the correct form for him is a W-9.
What happens if you ignore the bank's letter
A letter can arrive on an account you have held for years: banks search older accounts electronically for indicia, need not review those of $50,000 or less, and above $1,000,000 add a paper records search and a question to the relationship manager (26 CFR 1.1471-4(c)(5)).
HMRC's guidance has a UK bank treat the account as reportable 90 days after it first gets in touch if no answer comes (HMRC manual IEIM402880). The IRS warns that not giving a foreign financial institution the W-8BEN it asks for can lead to 30% withholding on US-source income as a recalcitrant account holder (IRS instructions for Form W-8BEN).
Reporting is not a tax bill, but a wrong answer sends a non-American's details to the IRS, directly or through the bank's own tax authority under a FATCA agreement (Canada-US FATCA agreement, Article 2), and an account the bank cannot document at all is one it may freeze or close.
When the bank's FATCA letter arrives
- Read which indicium the letter names: status, birthplace, address, phone, standing instruction, power of attorney or hold-mail address.
- Decide whether you are a US person: a citizen by birth or through a parent, a green card holder, or someone with at least 31 days in the US this year and 183 weighted days over 3 years.
- If you are, send a W-9. If you are not, send a W-8BEN with your residence address, your foreign tax number and the documents that cure the sign.
- Ask the bank to remove details that no longer describe you, such as an old US phone number or a standing transfer to a US account you closed.
- Answer before the deadline in the letter, and tell the bank within 30 days when something changes later.
US mailboxes and phone numbers: how nomads pick up indicia
Nomads create indicia without meaning to. A US mailbox used as the address on a non-US account is a US mailing address, the same as a post office box, so a virtual address for bank mail in Delaware or Florida draws the same FATCA letter as a US home. A US phone number kept for 2-factor codes is another sign, and keeping a non-US number on file as well lowers the cure to a W-8BEN or documentary evidence instead of both (26 CFR 1.1471-4(c)(5)(iv)(B)(2)).
A US person has no indicium to cure. Whichever bank you choose as a digital nomad, an account outside the US is documented for FATCA on a W-9, and the FBAR filing applies once your foreign accounts together pass $10,000 at any time in the year (IRS FBAR page).
David's note
If you are American, I would bank only where US customers are openly accepted, and check every year that your FBAR and tax return list the same accounts your banks report under FATCA. A W-8BEN signed to keep an account out of FATCA leaves your US birthplace or old US address in the file for the next indicia search to find.
