Actually got 15% (not 30%) IRA withholding as Canadian non-US-person with Fidelity — anyone done this?

[vkg01]

I'm a Canadian resident, not a US citizen or green card holder, with a Traditional IRA at Fidelity from when I worked in the US. Looking for people who've actually gone through a withdrawal, not general advice.

What I Know So Far:
Fact 1 - Default withholding on IRA distributions to a foreign person is 30% (IRS Publication 515: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p515)
Fact2 - The Canada-US tax treaty reduces this to 15%, but only for "periodic" payments — nobody clearly defines what counts as periodic (IRS Publication 597: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p597,
Fact 3: US Canada Tax Treaty Doc see Article XVIII Pensions and Annuities: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/canada.pdf)
Fact 4: Form W-8BEN is what you file with the custodian to claim the reduced rate If over withheld at 30%, you can recover it by filing Form 1040-NR

Questions for anyone who's actually done this:
- Did Fidelity apply 15% automatically, or did you have to push for it?
- Did you need recurring/scheduled distributions to qualify, or did a lump sum also get 15%?
- Does Fidelity have an internal threshold for what counts as "periodic"?

Real experiences only not looking for "talk to an accountant" replies (even though that's probably good advice too).

[vkg01]

vkg01 wrote:
> Fact 3: US Canada Tax Treaty Doc see Article XVIII Pensions and Annuities:
> https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/canada.pdf)
Forgot to mention the page number of this doc see page 24