by law, banks are required to withhold foreigners' interest tax. But few do that.

if nobody answers your question, go to mitbbs and check bah. I was a F1 so many years ago, I don't remember the rules for them lah.

对于nonresisdent alien，填写W-8BEN之后，银行是不会扣利息税的。

Interest on nonbusiness bank accounts is not taxable to nonresident aliens. Your bank generally reports this interest on Form 1099 and you should retain this form for your records. Do not mail it with your tax return. If you file taxes as a "resident alien", bank interest is taxable income. (see Pub 519)

如果扣了,是和银行说明后,银行返还呢,还是保税时作为退税?

银行会返的。当初我就是这样，我在BoA的saving account第一次拿利息之后立刻被扣了税，然后过了几天收到银行寄来的W-8BEN表，填好之后寄回去，立刻就把税返回来了，以后也再也没有扣过。

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-3-4 22:57:29编辑过]