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Every withholding agent must file an information return, Form 1042-S, Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding, to report amounts paid to foreign persons that are described under Amounts Subject to NRA Withholding and Reporting, even if withholding is not required on the payments. Refer to Amounts Not Subject to NRA Withholding and Withholding for payments that do not require withholding.
A separate Form 1042-S is required for:
- Each recipient regardless of whether or not you withheld tax.
- Each type of income that you paid to the same recipient.
- Each tax rate (if you withheld at more than one tax rate) of a specific type of income that you paid to the same recipient.
The Form 1042-S can be filed electronically, or on paper. Withholding agents are required to file electronically if there are 250 or more Forms 1042-S. Withholding agents that are financial institutions must always file electronically. The electronic submissions are filed using the Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE) System. For more information, see Publication 1187, Specifications for Filing Form 1042-S, Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding, Electronically PDF.
Payments made to joint owners - In the case of foreign joint owners, you may provide a single Form 1042-S made out to the owner whose status you relied upon to determine the applicable rate of withholding (the owner subject to the highest rate of withholding). If, however, any one of the owners requests its own Form 1042-S, you must furnish a Form 1042-S to the person who requests it. If the request is made after a Form 1042-S was filed reporting the payment and tax withheld to only one of the joint owners, you should amend the originally filed Form 1042-S to allocate the payment and tax withheld among the joint owners accordingly and provide copies of the amended forms to each recipient. If more than one Form 1042-S is issued for a single payment, the aggregate amount paid and tax withheld that is reported on all Forms 1042-S cannot exceed the total amounts paid to joint owners and the tax withheld on those payments. In any event, each Form 1042-S can only include the recipient information (boxes 13a through 13h) for one of the beneficial owners. Form 1042-S must not be completed with more than one of the joint owners as the recipient.
Note: If you are required to file Form 1042-S, you must also file Form 1042, Annual Withholding Tax Return for U.S. Source Income of Foreign Persons. For more information about the Form 1042, refer to Discussion of Form 1042, Form 1042-T, and Form 10420S.