Important Changes Electronic deposit requirement.If you were not previously required to make electronic deposits andyou made deposits of more than $50,000 in 1997, you may have to makeelectronic deposits for all depository tax liabilities that occurafter 1998. See Depositing Withheld Taxes. Income tax treaties.New income tax treaties with Austria, Ireland, South Africa,Switzerland, Thailand, and Turkey went into effect in 1998. A newprotocol with Canada also went into effect in 1998. Attachments to Form 1042.Beginning with your 1998 Form 1042, you will no longer need toattach forms, statements, letters, etc., relating to certainexemptions from withholding. New regulations.The Internal Revenue Service issued new regulations relating to thewithholding of income tax on certain U.S. source income paid toforeign persons. These regulations were to apply to payments madeafter 1998. However, the Department of Treasury and IRS recognizedthat these regulations contain substantial changes to the existingrules and would likely require significant changes to businesspractices and information systems for many withholding agents and thegovernment. To ensure that the necessary changes can be completed, theeffective date has been extended. These regulations will apply topayments made after 1999. If you are a withholding agent, you should make a good faith effortduring 1999 to transform your business practices and informationsystems to comply with the new regulations. You should make reasonableefforts to modify your account opening practices to conform to the newdocumentation requirements (discussed next), obtain new documentationon existing accounts, and make appropriate systems changes to complywith the new regulations. You must also comply with Revenue Procedure98-27, 1998-15 Internal Revenue Bulletin, if you want toenter into a qualified intermediary withholding agreement. New documentation requirements.As a withholding agent, you will have to get new withholdingcertificates that contain the necessary information andrepresentations required by the new regulations. If you hold anexisting certificate or statement that was valid on January 1, 1999,you may treat it as valid until the earlier of its expiration orDecember 31, 2000. The following are the new withholding certificates that are validunder the new regulations. You can use the new forms to satisfy therequirements to obtain certain forms and statements under theregulations in effect before January 1, 2000. For information on thenew forms, get Instructions for the Requester of Forms W-8. Form W-8BEN, Certificate of Foreign Status ofBeneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding, should beprovided to a withholding agent or payer by a beneficial owner ofcertain types of income to: Establish foreign status, Claim that such person is the beneficial owner of the incomefor which the form is being furnished, and If applicable, claim a reduced rate of, or exemption from,withholding as a resident of a foreign country with which the UnitedStates has an income tax treaty. Form W-8ECI, Certificate of Foreign Person's Claim forExemption From Withholding on Income Effectively Connected With theConduct of a Trade or Business in the United States, should beprovided to a withholding agent or payer by a foreign person to: Establish foreign status, Claim that such person is the beneficial owner of the incomefor which the form is being furnished, and Claim that certain income is effectively connected with theconduct of a trade or business in the United States. Form W-8EXP, Certification of Foreign Governments andOther Foreign Organizations for United States Tax Withholding,should be provided to a withholding agent or payer by a foreigngovernment, international organization, foreign central bank of issue,or foreign tax-exempt organization to: Establish foreign status, Claim that the person is the beneficial owner of the incomefor which the form is being furnished and, If applicable, claim a reduced rate of, or exemption from,withholding under the Internal Revenue Code. In addition, Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer IdentificationNumber and Certification, may be used to determine whether totreat a payee or beneficial owner as a U.S. person. The new certificates will replace the following existing forms andstatement. Form W-8, Certificate of Foreign Status Form 1001, Ownership, Exemption, or Reduced RateCertificate Form 1078, Certificate of Alien Claiming Residence inthe United States Form 4224, Exemption From Withholding of Tax on IncomeEffectively Connected With the Conduct of a Trade or Business in theUnited States Form 8709, Exemption From Withholding on InvestmentIncome of Foreign Governments and InternationalOrganizations Statement under regulation section 1.1441-5, relatingto an individual's claim to be a U.S. citizen or resident, or apartnership's or corporation's claim that it is a domesticentity In this publication we refer to these existing forms and statementsbecause they are still valid for 1999. If you are using the newwithholding certificates in 1999, please see the form instructions forthe correct form to use. Caution: Beginning January 1, 2000, the address rule for dividends will nolonger apply. A withholding certificate will have to be obtained todetermine if withholding is required on dividends paid. Important Reminders IRS taxpayer identification numbers for aliens.hotel rooms ZaragozaThe IRS will issue an individual taxpayer identification number(ITIN) to an alien who does not have and is not eligible to get asocial security number (SSN). An ITIN is for tax use only. It does not entitle an alien to socialsecurity benefits or change his or her employment or immigrationstatus under U.S. law. For more information on ITINs, see Individual TaxpayerIdentification Number (ITIN) under U.S. TaxpayerIdentification Numbers, later. Hong Kong.Hong Kong and China continue to be treated as two separatecountries for purposes of certain bilateral agreements, the InternalRevenue Code, and the Income Tax Regulations.