Paying someone outside the United States
Chapter 3 withholding, FATCA, treaty rates for 57 countries, the W-8 series and Form 1042-S, in one place. For AP, tax and treasury teams that pay foreign contractors, licensors, lenders and shareholders.
Start here
The most common case. Collect a W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E, withhold nothing, file nothing.
U.S.-source and withheld on at 30% unless a treaty or the Code reduces it.
Pay for U.S. services is U.S.-source. A treaty exemption for an individual is claimed on Form 8233.
Due March 15, e-filed through IRIS for 2026 forms, with a code for every box.
Treaty rates by country
Each country page lists interest, dividend, royalty and pension rates with the article and the IRS conditions, and the exemptions for pay for services performed in the United States. The figure shown is the rate on copyright and software royalties.
Guides
Chapter 3 withholding for payers who are not banks: who is foreign, what is U.S.-source, and what to withhold
The three questions behind every payment to a foreign person, the source rules, the 30% rate and its exceptions, the presumption rules, deposits, and Forms 1042-S and 1042.
Accepting a tax treaty claim: what the payer checks before applying a reduced rate
Residence, beneficial ownership, limitation on benefits, the TIN requirement, reason to know, how long a claim lasts, and what happens to the payer when the claim was wrong.
FATCA (chapter 4) for ordinary payers: when it applies to a vendor or licensor, and when it does not
Withholdable payments and the excluded nonfinancial payments, active and passive NFFEs, substantial U.S. owners, GIIN checks, and how chapter 4 and chapter 3 meet on Form 1042-S.
Foreign vendors: W-8 instead of W-9, and what Form 1042-S means
How to tell a foreign payee from a U.S. one, which W-8 to collect, 30% chapter 3 withholding and treaty claims, and why a foreign vendor on a CP2100 is a filing error.
How the IRS examines a payer's foreign vendors: W-8s, presumption rules and the Form 1042 clock
The three-step vendor-file sweep, the W-8 checklist and U.S. indicia, the 24% or 30% presumption fork, the late-W-8 cure at 30 days and one year, validity periods, and the Form 1042 deposit schedule.
What happens to a paper Form 1042-S inside the IRS: Ogden's Code and Edit rules
Only Copy A counts, a 1042-T without Copy A is destroyed with no letter, recipient TINs equal to your EIN or repeating digits are deleted unresearched, two income codes become one, new 2026 codes.
Tools
Chapter 3 and FATCA withholding calculator
One payment to a foreign person: source, the chapter 3 rate and tax, whether FATCA chapter 4 withholding applies, and every Form 1042-S code.
Tax treaty rate lookup
Treaty country and payment type in; the U.S. withholding rate, the article, the IRS conditions and the Form 1042-S codes out, for all 57 treaty partners.
Form 1042-S code finder
Every 2026 Form 1042-S code, searchable: income, chapter 3 and 4 exemption, recipient status and LOB codes, with the pairings for common payments.
W-8 form selector
Which certificate a payee owes you: W-9, W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E, W-8ECI, W-8EXP, W-8IMY or Form 8233, from a few questions about who they are and what the payment is for.
W-8 validity and late-cure calculator
When a W-8 expires, the separate treaty-claim clock, the 30-day and one-year late-W-8 rules, U.S. indicia, and the vendor-file screen examiners run first.
Form 1042 deposit penalty calculator
Each Form 1042 deposit due date under the quarter-monthly $2,000, $200 and December rules, and the failure-to-deposit penalty under the IRS default application or a designated order.
Forms
Templates: W-8 request and expiry emails · Late W-8 affidavit · Withholding agent ITIN exception letter