W-8 forms can be somewhat complicated. Depending upon the nature of the transaction subject to withholding tax, the potential implications can be costly. A W-8 BEN is one of four types of W-8 forms. The BEN type is typically filled out by the "beneficial owner" of the income distributed. In other words, assuming you are an individual (not a business) being paid by a U.S. business for a domain name that you own, the U.S. buyer/manager of the domain name would generally be required to withhold 30% of the your payment to comply with U.S. law, unless however, they receive the proper documentation from you. Once, the facts of this transaction have been garnered and are clear, you may want to obtain counsel in order to get a professional opinion. The amount withheld can be reduced to zero under the right circumstances.
Feel free to contact me with any additional questions. In the meantime, this custom search engine I've created is focused specifically on tax matters and may be helpful:
Hi Joel,
Thanks for your detailed explanation but the problem has been solved by using the form suggested by Gerry.
The form has been used by a partner of mine who got paid by DomainSponsor his part of PPC revenue and yes, he was an individual.