401K plan - Foreign spouse - No SSN or TIN

[prof]

My wife and I got married earlier this year. She is not a US citizen and is living in Sri Lanka.

I want to add her to my 401K plan as a beneficiary. When I try to do that, it requires a SSN or TIN. Is there any other way to do this? Can I write a will instead that leaves everything to her?

[401king]

Sounds like you should reach out to your Plan Administrator. Each system will be different; some require SSN for beneficiaries; some do not. But a payout to a non-US resident has its own set of complications that you may want to research first. 

[CuseFan]

Exactly - whether a US citizen, resident or not, your spouse must be primary beneficiary.

In order for her to get a payout from the plan, if it ever came to that, she would need either an SSN or an individual TIN. The tax treatment, withholding, etc. depends on tax treaties with the country of residence/citizenship and can be complicated as the king noted. It is not a legal requirement, that I know of, that SSN/TIN be provided at the naming of a beneficiary but it is certainly a best practice.

[Lou S.]

You could have her apply for a US Tax Payer ID with IRS Form W-7

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-7

But as 401king states it might be easier to contact your current Plan Administrator, the on-line system may have automated checks that won't accept a beneficiary without a tax id but they may have a paper based form you could complete.

[prof]

For the W-7. I think IRS wants her passport mailed to them which I don't want to do because mail in her country is awful and quite a few things get lost.

[Luke Bailey]

On 10/8/2021 at 12:55 PM, CuseFan said:

your spouse must be primary beneficiary.

Prof, if you review the plan document and SPD, you will most likely conclude that she is your default beneficiary and you don't need to name her at all.

[CuseFan]

Great point Luke