What a bunch of snotty responses.   This is why I seldom ask questions.  I think anyone who knows anything about taxes would have been able to see immediately that this poor person was dealing with a Form 1099-DIV and no matter what the product, no one answered the question!  Shame on you people.  I have the same question and cannot find an answer anywhere but it is my guess that the brokers are using this field whether or not the recipient is a U.S. individual or not - even though everything I have read indicates a U.S. individual can ignore it.  However, it is not clear to me what a U.S. fiduciary is supposed to do with this reported amount.