Withholding of Tax on Nonresident Aliens and Foreign Entities›For use in 2026
Returns Required
2026 Publ 515 (PDF) · 2026-10-03 edition · updated 2026-10-04 · United States
Sections in this part
Every withholding agent, whether U.S. or foreign, must file Forms 1042 and 1042-S to report:
- Amounts subject to chapter 3 withholding paid to foreign persons (including persons presumed to be foreign), even if no amount is deducted and withheld from the payment under chapter 3; and
Publication 515 (2026) 61
- Payments to which chapter 4 withholding is applied or which are allocated on an applicable withholding statement provided by a participating FFI or registered deemed-compliant FFI to a chapter 4 withholding rate pool of U.S. payees (chapter 4 reportable amounts).
Do not use Forms 1042 and 1042-S to report tax withheld on the following.
Wages, salaries, or other compensation reported on Form W-2 (see Wages Paid to Employees , earlier, un- der Pay for Personal Services Performed ).
Any part of a U.S. or foreign partnership’s (other than a PTP) ECTI allocable to a foreign partner (see Partner- ship Withholding on ECTI , later).
Dispositions of USRPIs by foreign persons (see U.S. Real Property Interest , later).
Pensions, annuities, and certain other deferred income reported on Form 1099.
Income, social security, and Medicare taxes on wages paid to a household employee reported on Schedule H (Form 1040).
Amounts subject to backup withholding under section 3406, including withholdable payments that are reportable payments and that are paid to a recalcitrant account holder of a participating FFI or registered deemed-compliant FFI that has elected on its withholding statement for withholding under section 3406 to apply instead of withholding under chapter 4.
Deposit interest paid to certain nonresident alien in- dividuals. Interest earned by residents of certain foreign countries is subject to information reporting. Deposit interest of $10 or more paid to any nonresident alien individual who is a resident of a foreign country with which the United States has agreed to exchange tax information pursuant to an income tax treaty or other convention or bilateral agreement must be reported on Form 1042-S.
Revenue Procedure 2021-32 identifies those countries for which reporting of deposit interest is required with respect to a resident of any such country.
Note: You may elect to report interest paid to any nonresident alien.
Due date. Forms 1042 and 1042-S must be filed by March 15 of the year following the calendar year in which the income subject to reporting was paid. If March 15 falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the due date is the next business day.
Form 1042. Every U.S. and foreign withholding agent that is required to file a Form 1042-S must also file an annual return on Form 1042. You must file Form 1042 even if you were not required to withhold any income tax under chapter 3 on the payment, or if the payment is a chapter 4 reportable amount.
E-filing of Form 1042 is required for a withholding agent that is an FI; a withholding agent that must file 10 or more information returns in a calendar year, as described in Regulations section 301.6011-2; or a partnership with
more than 100 partners. See the Instructions for Form 1042 for more information. For general information about e-filing, see Pub. 4163, Modernized e-File (MeF) Information for Authorized IRS e-File Providers for Business Returns.
Form 1042-S. Every U.S. and foreign withholding agent must file a Form 1042-S for amounts subject to chapter 3 withholding and chapter 4 reportable amounts unless an exception applies. You may be required to e-file Form 1042-S. Go to IRS.gov/InfoReturn for e-file options. A separate Form 1042-S is required for each recipient of income to whom you made payments during the preceding calendar year regardless of whether you withheld or were required to withhold tax. However, if you make a withholdable payment to an NQI or a flow-through entity that is allocable to a chapter 4 withholding rate pool, as indicated on a withholding statement upon which you may rely with respect to the payment allocable to such a pool, you should complete a separate Form 1042-S for each chapter 4 withholding rate pool (that is, pool of recalcitrant account holders, pool of nonparticipating FFIs, pool of payees that are U.S. persons), treating the intermediary or flow-through entity as the recipient (and the applicable pool as the chapter 4 status of the recipient). You need not issue a Form 1042-S to each recipient included in such pool. You must use a separate Form 1042-S for each type of income that you paid to the same recipient. See State- ments to recipients, later.
You must furnish a Form 1042-S for each recipient even if you did not withhold tax because you repaid the tax withheld to the recipient or because the income payment was exempt from tax under the Internal Revenue Code or under a U.S. income tax treaty (except for a withholdable payment that is not a chapter 4 reportable amount).
You can use a substitute Form 1042-S if it meets the requirements listed in Pub. 1179. Paper substitutes that totally conform to the format and size of the official form may be used without prior approval from the IRS. Go to IRS.gov/Pub1179 for more information.
If you are reporting amounts withheld by another with- holding agent, Form 1042-S requests the name and EIN of the withholding agent that withheld the tax to the extent required in the Instructions for Form 1042-S .
Caution: If you file a substitute for Copy A with the IRS that does not conform to the specifications in Pub. 1179, you may be subject to a penalty for failing to file a correct return. See Penalties , later.
Joint owners. If there are joint owners of the withholdable payment, see Payments directly to beneficial owners under Payments to Recipients in the Instructions for Form 1042-S.
E-filing. For information about Form 1042-S e-filing requirements for withholding agents or their agents, and partnerships with a Form 1042-S filing requirement, including the threshold return limits, see Electronic Report- ing in the Instructions for Form 1042-S .
For additional information and instructions on e-filing Forms 1042-S, go to IRS.gov/InfoReturn for e-file options.
62 Publication 515 (2026)
Form 1042-T. If you are not required to e-file and Form 1042-S is filed on paper, it must be filed with Form 1042-T. You may need to file more than one Form 1042-T. See the instructions for Form 1042-T for more information.
Statements to recipients. You must furnish a statement to each recipient for whom you are filing a Form 1042-S by the due date for filing Forms 1042 and 1042-S with the IRS. You may use a copy of the official Form 1042-S for this purpose. Any substitute forms must comply with the rules set out in Pub. 1179. You must furnish a separate substitute Form 1042-S for each type of income or payment. The withholding agent must ensure that any substitute copies of Form 1042-S (Copies B, C, and D) furnished to the recipient conform in format and size to the official Form 1042-S Copies B, C, and D, and contain the exact same information as the copies submitted to the IRS or e-filed. However, the size of a substitute Form 1042-S, Copies B, C, and D, may be adjusted if the substitute form is presented on a landscape-oriented page rather than a portrait-oriented page. Regardless of orientation, only one Form 1042-S may be submitted per page.
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