Part 5 Additional — Publication 1179

Section 5.1 – Paper Substitutes for Form 1042-S

5.1.1 Paper Substitutes

5.1.2 Revisions

5.1.3 Obtaining Copies

5.1.4 Instructions for Withholding Agents

. Paper substitutes of Copies A, B, C, and D must be identical to the Form 1042-S and may be privately printed without prior approval from the IRS.

Caution: On the bottom of Copy B, left align the following text: (keep for your records), and right align the following text: Form 1042-S (2026).

Note: Copies A, B, C, and D of Form 1042-S may not contain multiple income types for the same recipient, that is, multiple rows of the top boxes 1–11 of the form.

. Form 1042-S is subject to annual review and possible change. Withholding agents and form suppliers are cautioned against overstocking supplies of the privately printed substitutes.

. Copies of the official form for the reporting year may be obtained from most IRS offices. The IRS provides only cut sheets of these forms. Continuous fan-fold/pin-fed forms are not provided.

Only original forms may be filed with the IRS. Photocopies are not acceptable.
The term “Recipient’s U.S. TIN” for an individual means the SSN, ITIN, or ATIN, consisting of nine digits separated by hyphens as follows: 000-00-0000; for all other recipients, it means the EIN or qualified intermediary employer identification number (QI-EIN). The QI-EIN designation includes a withholding foreign partnership employer identification number (WP-EIN), and a withholding foreign trust employer identification number (WT-EIN). The EIN, QI-EIN, WP-EIN, and WT-EIN consist of nine digits separated by a hyphen as follows: 00-0000000. The TIN must be in one of these formats. Note:

5.1.5 Substitute Form 1042-S Format Requirements

Digits must be separated by hyphens on paper statements in the formats listed.

The term “Recipient's GIIN” means the global intermediary identification number (GIIN) assigned to a recipient that is a participating foreign financial institution (FFI) (including a reporting Model 2 FFI), registered deemed-compliant FFI (including a reporting Model 1 FFI), or other entity for chapter 4 purposes.

Note: A GIIN consists of nineteen characters as follows: XXXXXX.XXXXX.XX.XXX (6 characters followed by a period, 5 characters followed by a period, 2 characters followed by a period, and 3 final characters).

Withholding agents are requested to type or machine print whenever possible, provide quality data entries on the forms (that is, use black ink and insert data in the middle of blocks well separated from other printing and guidelines), and take other measures to guarantee a clear, sharp image. Withholding agents are not required, however, to acquire special equipment solely for the purpose of preparing these forms.
The “UNIQUE FORM IDENTIFIER,” “AMENDED,” and “AMENDMENT NO.” boxes must be printed at the top center of the form under the title.
Substitute forms prepared in continuous or strip form must be burst and stripped to conform to the size specified for a single form before they are filed with the IRS. The dimensions are found in Section 5.1.5 . Computer cards are acceptable, provided they meet all requirements regarding layout, content, and size.
The OMB number must be printed in the format “OMB No. 1545-XXXX.” Use the appropriate OMB number from the most recent revision of the original IRS form.

Property	Substitute Form 1042-S format requirements
Printing	Privately printed substitute Forms 1042-S must be exact replicas of the official forms with respect to layout and content. The GPO symbol must be deleted. The exact dimensions are found below. The Cat. No. must be removed and replaced with the form printer’s EIN or the vendor code (preferred). See_Section 2.1.10_.
Box entries	Only one type of income may be represented on Copies A, B, C, and D submitted to the IRS or furnished to recipients. All boxes on Copy A filed with the IRS, and Copies B, C, and D furnished to recipients on the substitute form must conform to the official IRS form.
Color and quality of ink	All printing must be in high quality nongloss black ink.
Typography	Type must be substantially identical in size and shape to corresponding type on the official form. All rules on the document are either 1 point (0.015 inch) or 3 point (0.045 inch). Vertical rules must be parallel to the left edge of the document; horizontal rules must be parallel to the top edge.

Property	Substitute Form 1042-S format requirements
Assembly	If all four parts are present, the parts of the assembly shall be arranged from top to bottom as follows: Copy A (Original) “for Internal Revenue Service”; and Copies B, C, and D “for Recipient.”
Color quality of paper	Paper for Copy A must be white chemical wood bond, or equivalent, 20 pounds (basis 17 x 22-500), plus or minus 5% (0.05); or offset book paper, 50 pounds (basis 25 x 38-500). No optical brighteners may be added to the pulp or paper during manufacture. The paper must consist of principally bleached chemical wood pulp or recycled printed paper. It must also be suitably sized to accept ink without feathering.
Dimensions	• The dimensions for substitute Copies A, B, C, and D must match the IRS Form 1042-S in size and format. • The official form is 8 inches wide x 11 inches deep, exclusive of a 1/2-inch snap stub on the left side of the form. The snap feature is not required on substitutes. • Copies A, B, C, and D must conform to the official IRS form. No size variations are permitted.
Other copies	Copies B, C, and D must be furnished for the convenience of payees who must send a copy of the form with other federal and state returns they file.

Section 5.2 – OMB Requirements for All Forms in This Revenue Procedure

5.2.1 OMB Requirements

5.2.2 Substitute Form Requirements

. The Paperwork Reduction Act (the Act) of 1995 (P. L. 104-13) requires the following.

OMB approves all IRS tax forms that are subject to the Act. Each IRS form contains (in or near the upper right corner) the OMB approval number, if any. (The official OMB numbers may be found on the official IRS printed forms and are also shown on the forms in the exhibits in Part 6 .)
Each IRS form (or its instructions) states:

Why the IRS needs the information,
How it will be used, and
Whether or not the information is required to be furnished to the IRS.

This information must be provided to any users of official or substitute IRS forms or instructions.

. The OMB requirements for substitute IRS forms are:

Any substitute form or substitute statement to a recipient must show the OMB number as it appears on the official IRS form; and
For Copy A, the OMB number must appear exactly as shown on the official IRS form.

For any copy other than Copy A, the OMB number must use one of the following formats.

5.2.3 Required Explanation to Users

OMB No. 1545-XXXX (preferred).
OMB # 1545-XXXX (acceptable).

Caution: These requirements do not apply to substitute Forms 1042-S. See Section 5.1.5 .

. All substitute forms must state the Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice as listed in Section 2.1.10 . If no instructions are provided to users of your forms, you must furnish them with the exact text of the Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice.

Section 5.3 – Ordering Forms and Instructions

You can order official IRS Forms (Forms 1096, 1098, 1099, W-2G, 1042-S, and most other forms mentioned in this publication), instructions, and information copies of federal tax material by going to IRS.gov/OrderForms .

Note: The IRS no longer prints 1099s and other information returns using carbon paper for the following: Form W-2 series, Form W-3, Form 1096, Form 1098-E, Form 1098-T, Form 1099-B, Form 1099-MISC, Form 1099-NEC, Form 1099-R, and Form 5498. Note: Some forms on the Internet are intended as information only and may not be submitted as an official IRS form (for example, most Forms 1099, W-2, and W-3). Unless otherwise instructed, Form 1096 and Copy A of 1098 series, 1099 series, 5498 series, and Forms 3921 and 3922 cannot be used for filing with the IRS when printed from a conventional printer. These forms contain drop-out ink requirements as described in Part 2 of this publication.

Exception. Forms 1097-BTC, 1098-C, 1099-CAP, 1099-LTC, 1099-Q, 1099-QA, 1099-SA, 3922, 5498-ESA, 5498-QA, 5498-SA, and 1042-S can be printed in black ink as specified in Sections 2.1.1 and 5.1.5 .

Section 5.4 – Effect on Other Revenue Procedures

5.4.1 Other Revenue Procedures

. Revenue Procedure 2025-22, 2025-30, I.R.B. 200, dated July 21, 2025, is superseded by this revenue procedure.