W-9 shown for single-member US LLC owned by a non-US individual — should be W-8BEN (disregarded entity)

Attaching a screenshot of the issue I described above

Update — reply from Apple Developer Support

I received a response from Apple Developer Support on the ticket (Case ID: 20000112974233):

"If you're based outside the United States, the W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E, or W-8ECI may be required, but you'll be prompted to answer a series of questions to direct you to the most appropriate tax form and any applicable certification."

The problem is that this is exactly what is not happening on my account. There is no questionnaire in App Store Connect → Business → Tax Forms — no "Are you a U.S. person?" question, no country-of-residence prompt, nothing that would route me toward a W-8. The only option presented is U.S. Form W-9 (see screenshot in my reply above).

I've written back to support clarifying this, but in parallel I'd really appreciate input from the community:

• Has anyone with a US single-member LLC owned by a non-US individual seen the same UI behavior (W-9 only, no questionnaire at all) — and managed to get it switched to W-8BEN? What specifically triggered the change?
• Is there a proper escalation channel for tax-form issues beyond the standard Apple Developer Support ticket?

I fully understand Apple Developer Support is under heavy load, but I genuinely need help here — the Apple Developer Account registration and onboarding process has now been going on for 3+ months, and this tax form is the only thing left blocking me from publishing my app.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can share what worked for them.

Update

Apple Developer Support responded (case 20000112974233) and confirmed they don't have the tools to change tax forms in App Store Connect — they directed me to Apple's Finance team via the Contact Us About Financial Information form: https://developer.apple.com/contact/topic/select/

I already have an open case with the Finance team on exactly this question (Case ID: 19944616, opened May 14). I'm still awaiting their response and will update this thread once I hear back from them.

Update (May 26):

Still no substantive response on Case ID 19944616 (Ack Tax — Tax category settings), which I opened on May 14.

On May 24, I also had to open a second case — Ack Paid Agreement Setup, Case ID: 20131466 — which has also received no response so far.

Hi I also contacted on 07/19/2026 for exact same issue , have you heared anything? any progress?

Same issue here, I have sent a support message today. Did you hear anything useful?

I'm in the same situation and still stuck for 2 weeks in that.

Same issue here. Did you hear anything useful?

Same issue here, still unresolved.

Organization account. single-member LLC, disregarded entity, non-U.S. individual owner. App Store Connect only offers W-9. I cannot truthfully certify under penalties of perjury that I am a U.S. person.

Support said I must complete W-9 first to activate the Paid Applications contract, and only then could I submit W-8. I did not submit W-9. I uploaded W-8 through the link they provided. No confirmation, no follow-up.

I opened another case explaining this (W-9 is the wrong form; W-8 already submitted). No reply.

IRS W-9 instructions are clear: if the owner of a disregarded entity is a foreign person, the owner files the appropriate W-8, not W-9.

If anyone on Apple’s tax/agreements team is reading this: please accept the W-8BEN already submitted and activate the contract without requiring a false U.S.-person certification on W-9. Happy to provide any documents needed.

Same issue here.

I have a US single-member LLC owned by a non-US individual, and App Store Connect is only showing the W-9 form.

I have contacted Apple Finance Support about this and currently have an open case. I followed up with Finance today, but the W-9 is still showing in App Store Connect.

I’ll update this thread if I receive any useful information from Apple.

Same issue here in September 2026. US single-member LLC (disregarded entity), non-US individual owner, and App Store Connect only offers W-9 — no W-8 questionnaire or option, even through Tax Forms → (+).

Apple Finance case 22150488 has been open for 10 days with only the automated acknowledgment. Followed up today requesting escalation to the Tax team.

I won’t submit a W-9 that requires me to certify I’m a US person. Will update here if Apple provides a solution.

Apple mods / team please we need help on this. It's happening to a lot of businesses

I’m experiencing the exact same issue. I’m a non-U.S. individual and the sole owner of a U.S. single-member LLC, and App Store Connect is only showing Form W-9 instead of the appropriate W-8 workflow.

I contacted Apple Finance/Tax Support and I have now been waiting for almost two weeks without a resolution.

Has anyone here recently had this fixed? If yes, how long did Apple Finance take to respond, and did they send you a secure link to submit the W-8 form?

This issue is currently blocking my Paid Applications Agreement.

Any recent experience would be really helpful.

Same problem here. Its tax setup is pending in Case-ID 22355703 (we requested the W-8BEN option). No answer at the moment.

Same issue here!!!

And the apple support also don't know how to deal with this situation!!

I'm in the same boat. Opened a ticket yesterday... 😞

same issue and also i cannt contact with finance team

Hi everyone,

Like all of you I have the same issue. I contacted Apple Finance Support 13 days ago on 18 September, and have not heard anything back apart from the automated acknowledgement. My case number is 22327663.

Reading back through this thread, either nobody has heard anything, or those who did never posted an update. SergeiK said they opened support tickets in May, if they are still open, that's over 4 months ago now.

For me I am having trouble properly testing my paywall because it requires the Paid Apps agreement to be complete, which is being blocked because my W9 is not signed.

Perhaps there is a workaround of some sort? A few specific questions for anyone who has made progress:

1. Has the tax questionnaire ever appeared for anyone after changing something on their account - entity type, address, D&B record, anything?
2. Has anyone resolved this by phone rather than the web form, and if so which number or team?

If anyone gets a resolution, please post what actually worked - even a partial workaround would help several people here.

Thank you!

I've same issue and I've also contacted support since 20th September and haven't heard back from them till date. my case ID is 22353259.

Same issue here. I contacted Apple Finance Support on October 1 Case ID: 22599273 and followed up in the same email thread. I have received only the automated acknowledgment — no reply from support.

Could someone from Apple please contact me by email and help resolve this issue? I need to submit my W-8BEN and complete the tax setup so I can start testing subscriptions.

I would greatly appreciate your assistance.

I have now been waiting for a reply for 1 month.

Nobody is getting any support. SergeiK has been waiting for 5 months (unless they forgot to update the thread).

We might all need to find another solution, like create a company in a different jurisdiction, if we want to publish our apps.

Maybe we can get a refund of the developer fee.

My situation is a little different since I'm in the US but I've been waiting one month to hear from Financial Support about my W9 issue. I genuinely don't understand what the hold up is. You'd think paying $100 for developer access would entitle you to good, prompt service but apparently not. A massive company like Apple should have their act together.

Oh man, this is dreadful, im in the same boat here..

I’m stuck in the exact same situation. I found a comment on Reddit describing what appears to be a possible workaround:

“It took like 2.5 weeks for them to respond to me in July. Basically they told me to do the W9 and sent me a secure link to upload my W8, and they changed some things in the backend that aren't reflected in the ASC interface.”

However, I’m still uncomfortable submitting a W-9 when I’m not a U.S. resident. I don’t want to sign a tax form containing information or declarations that don’t accurately reflect my situation just to get through the process.

The part about making changes “in the backend” that aren’t visible in App Store Connect also concerns me. What exactly is being changed, and how can I verify that my tax information is correct? I want to understand what I’m signing and be able to see what’s on file.

This is even more frustrating because I originally wanted to handle payments through Stripe in my web app, but my app was rejected for not allowing users to manage billing within the app. That’s a separate issue, but it adds to the frustration.

I submitted my support ticket seven days ago and still haven’t received a response. Has anyone resolved this and been able to verify their updated tax information afterward?

Hi all,

I've finally had a breakthrough and wanted to post a comprehensive update for everyone who has the same issue.

This is not tax or legal advice, I am not a lawyer, and you must research and make your own decisions.

Standard Apple Developer Support cannot help you with tax or banking setup. You need to reach out to Apple Finance Support. You can reach them by following these instructions:

1. Go to Apple Developer Support
2. Click "Get help with a new issue", then "Reports and Payments", then "Tax and Banking Setup", then "Contact Finance". These are the correct options as of October 2026 but they might change in the future.
3. Write a detailed description of your issue and submit.

The time you need to wait probably depends on how long the queue is of people who need support, and how many support staff members there are. In September/October of 2026 I had to personally wait 5 weeks and 4 days for the first reply.

As you can see from my previous posts, I submitted my Apple Finance support request on 18 September 2026 and received an automated acknowledgement on the same day. Then on 27 October 2026 I heard back from Apple Finance.

While I was waiting I did not sign the W-9 because I am not a US resident. I have heard that other people did sign it, but I was not comfortable doing that because the form explicitly states "If you are a foreign person..., do not use Form W-9".

Apple Finance gave me written instructions to submit the W-9 and wait until it was processed (usually happens within 24 hours). Then after the paid agreement became active, submit my W-8BEN to a secure link they setup specifically for me. Then reply to their email to tell them I have submitted the W-8BEN, so that they can manually process it in their back end finance system. They told me that once it was processed, the updated form would not show up in App Store Connect. I do not know how long it will take for them to manually process the W-8BEN.

The form explicitly states "If you are a foreign person..., do not use Form W-9". I was only comfortable doing it after I personally had confirmation from Apple in writing. The process may change at anytime, so I would wait for Apple to tell you what to do before submitting anything.

Best of luck to everyone and please give me an upvote if I helped :)

Same situation here: single-member LLC, disregarded, nonresident owner, only Form W-9 offered in App Store Connect, bank account "Processing" since October 23. Finance case open since October 22 with only the automatic acknowledgment. Has anyone received the secure W-8BEN link without signing the W-9 first? Any case number format or team name that got a reply would help.