I recently participated in the BOL Operations Bootcamp where I think I heard during the W-8 training section that if you have a NRA (W-8) as the primary on an account and the joint has a SSN and signs a W-9, even though the W-8 is the primary account owner, you still have to file a 1099-Int on the joint. One, did I hear that correctly? Two, if the answer is yes I heard correctly, on the 1099_int filing, does it matter if the W-8 is from a non-reporting country. In my case the W-8 person is from a country that does not require a 1042 to be filed.

https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1098#en_US_2022_publink27977qd0e412

For mortgage interest reporting, you report based on the primary borrower. There is no country exception for reporting as far as I am aware.

1099-INT rules are different.

Thanks for the responses. I am working on interest, not mortgage reporting. So here is what we are working on. Joint deposit account; the primary client lives in Tawain, and we have a signed W-8 BEN on file. Second joint owner also lives in Tawain, and we also have a signed W-8 BEN. Third joint on the account is a US citizen and we have a signed W-9 on file. Tawain is not a treaty country say like Canda is for reporting purposes. Do we have to report the W-9 joint on a 1099-Int on our IRS reporting and do we have to backup withhold on the account simply because Tawain is not a joint reporting country.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p515

Documentation rule for joint payees. If you make a payment to joint payees (such as holders of a joint account), you need to get documentation from each payee. If you make a payment to joint payees and cannot reliably associate the payment with documentation from all of the payees, you must generally presume the payment is made to an unidentified U.S. person. If the payment is a withholdable payment and any of the payees do not appear, by name or other information in the account file, to be an individual, you must treat the entire amount as a payment made to an undocumented foreign person. However, if one of the joint payees has provided you with a Form W-9, you must treat the payment as made to that payee.