Who must file Form 1042-S
A withholding agent, meaning any U.S. or foreign person that has control, receipt, custody or disposal of U.S.-source income paid to a foreign person, files Form 1042-S for each recipient and each type of income: interest, dividends, royalties, rents, compensation for services performed in the United States, scholarships, gambling winnings and other fixed or determinable annual or periodical (FDAP) income, plus withholdable payments under FATCA. Amounts reported on 1042-S are never also reported on a 1099. Withholding agents required to file 10 or more information returns of any type must e-file 1042-S, and financial institutions must e-file regardless of count.
The payee's status comes from the Form W-8 series (W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E, W-8ECI, W-8EXP, W-8IMY); without one, the presumption rules decide whether the payee is treated as U.S. (Form 1099, backup withholding) or foreign (1042-S, 30%).
Threshold: All amounts, every payment of U.S.-source FDAP income to a foreign person that is reportable under chapter 3 or 4, whether or not tax was withheld; see the form instructions for exceptions.
What is reported, box by box
| Box | What it reports | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Income code | Two-digit code for the type of income. |
| 2 | Gross income | |
| 3 and 4 | Chapter indicator and exemption codes, tax rate | Chapter 3 or 4; exemption code and the rate applied (30%, treaty rate, 0%). |
| 7a to 11 | Federal tax withheld, withholding by other agents, repaid, total credits | |
| 12a to 12i | Withholding agent's information | EIN, chapter 3 and 4 status codes, GIIN. |
| 13a to 13l | Recipient's information | Name, country code, address, U.S. TIN if any, chapter status codes, GIIN, foreign TIN, date of birth for individuals. |
| 14 to 16 | Primary withholding agent, intermediary and payer information | |
| 17a to 17c | State information | |
| Unique form identifier and amendment number | Every 1042-S carries a 10-digit identifier; amendments increment the number. |
Box titles follow the current revision of the form. The IRS reads the payer and recipient name, TIN, address, account number and the money boxes; the state boxes are for the state copy only.
Payments that are not reported on Form 1042-S
- Payments to U.S. persons (Form 1099), and foreign-source income paid to foreign persons.
- Bank deposit interest paid to a nonresident alien that is instead reported on Form 1099-INT under Regulations 1.6049-8 (residents of listed countries).
- Payments where a qualified intermediary has assumed primary withholding and reporting.
- Wages of a nonresident alien employee (Form W-2), except treaty-exempt wages and scholarships reported on 1042-S.
Due dates and extensions
| Copy | Due | For 2026 returns |
|---|---|---|
| To the IRS, paper | March 15 | Monday, March 15, 2027 |
| To the IRS, electronic | March 15 | Monday, March 15, 2027 |
| To the recipient | March 15 | Monday, March 15, 2027 |
An automatic 30-day extension is available on Form 8809, filed by the due date on paper or through IRIS; a second 30 days requires a hardship showing. Recipient statements can be extended 30 days on Form 15397, online or by fax only. 10 or more information returns of any type in aggregate must be e-filed (T.D. 9972); IRIS is the only IRS intake system from filing season 2027, FIRE having been retired. A payer who e-files the originals must e-file the corrections.
For 2026 forms filed in 2027: January 31 falls on a Sunday, so that deadline moves to Monday, February 1, 2027; February 28 also falls on a Sunday, so the paper deadline moves to Monday, March 1, 2027. March 31 (electronic) and March 15 are weekdays. February 28 does not become February 29 in a leap year. The compliance calendar has every date with the weekend shifts applied.
Withholding and TIN matching
Backup withholding does not apply to payments correctly reported on Form 1042-S; chapter 3 withholding at 30% (or a treaty rate) and chapter 4 withholding replace it, and the tax is deposited and reported on Form 1042, not Form 945. The IRS TIN Matching program does not cover foreign payees. What can go wrong is the classification: a payee with a U.S. address and no W-8 is presumed U.S. and belongs on a 1099 with backup withholding, and a payee presumed foreign who turns out to be a U.S. nonexempt recipient must be moved to a 1099 for the whole year. The foreign vendors guide covers the W-8 forms, treaty claims and the 1042-S.
Name and TIN errors on this form
Every information return is matched by the IRS on the first four characters of the payee's name (the name control) against the TIN. A mismatch produces a CP2100 line the following autumn and, unless the solicitation record is in order, a 972CG penalty the year after: $340 per return for 2026 forms filed in 2027 that are late or wrong, $690 for intentional disregard, with annual maximums of $4,191,500 ($1,397,000 for small filers) under Rev. Proc. 2025-32. The errors that recur on Form 1042-S:
- U.S. TIN is optional for most payees but required to claim treaty benefits on most income, and for effectively connected income; a foreign TIN and date of birth are required for individuals on W-8BEN in most cases.
- Name as on the W-8. The 1042-S recipient name must match the W-8 exactly; the IRS matches 1042-S filings to Forms 1042 and to recipient claims for refund on Form 1040-NR.
- Unique form identifier. Reuse of an identifier across recipients, or a mismatch between the original and its amendment, is a common rejection.
- Same vendor, both forms. A foreign vendor who becomes a U.S. resident mid-year gets a 1042-S for the foreign period and a 1099 for the rest, under the same name.
The name control calculator shows what the IRS will derive from a name line, and the CP2100 guide covers what to do when the notice arrives.
Recipient statements and substitutes
The recipient statement for Form 1042-S need not be a copy of the official form: a substitute may be combined with other account statements or reports, provided every required item is numbered and titled as on the official form, the tax year, form number and form name appear together, the recipient instructions are included, and, for the forms Pub 1099 lists, a telephone number with direct access to someone who can answer questions is shown. Publication 1179 (Rev. Proc. 2026-18) has the specifications; logos, slogans and advertising are not permitted on the statement itself. Statements may be furnished electronically only to a recipient who has affirmatively consented in a way that shows they can access the format, after the disclosures in Pub 1099 part M, and must stay posted through October 15. Copy B may show a truncated TIN (xxx-xx-1234); the IRS copy never may.
Corrections and state copies
A wrong amount, code or checkbox is a Type 1 correction: one corrected return with the CORRECTED box checked. A wrong or missing payee TIN, a wrong payee name, or the wrong form type is a Type 2 correction: a zeroed-out copy of the original plus a new original, in that order. Publication 1099 also says you are not required to file a correction for a missing or incorrect TIN if you meet the reasonable-cause standard, only to use the right TIN on the next return, although the IRS encourages the correction. Details and the paper error charts are on the 1099 corrections page.
Form 1042-S is not in the Combined Federal/State Filing program, so any state that requires it must receive it directly. Requirements by state are on the state pages.
Questions people ask about Form 1042-S
Do we file a 1099-NEC or a 1042-S for a foreign contractor?
1042-S if the services were performed in the United States (U.S.-source) and the contractor is documented on a W-8; nothing at all for services performed entirely outside the United States, which are foreign-source. A 1099-NEC is for U.S. persons.
Is there an extension?
Yes: Form 8809 for the IRS copy and Form 15397 for recipient statements, each 30 days. Form 1042 itself is extended on Form 7004.
What happens if we should have withheld and did not?
The withholding agent is liable for the tax under section 1461, plus interest and penalties, whether or not the payee eventually pays.
Other federal forms
1097-BTC · 1098 · 1098-C · 1098-E · 1098-F · 1098-Q · 1098-T · 1098-VLI · 1099-A · 1099-B · 1099-C · 1099-CAP · 1099-DIV · 1099-G · 1099-INT · 1099-K · 1099-LS · 1099-LTC · 1099-MISC · 1099-NEC · 1099-OID · 1099-PATR · 1099-Q · 1099-QA · 1099-R · 1099-S · 1099-SA · 1099-SB · 3921 · 3922 · 5498 · 5498-ESA · 5498-SA · W-2G · 1099-DA · Comparison table
Sources: IRS Publication 1099 (2026), General Instructions for Certain Information Returns, which replaced the separate General Instructions starting with tax year 2026; Instructions for Form 1042-S (2026); Pub 1099 (2026) parts B, S and Guide to Information Returns; Publication 515; IRC 1441, 1442, 1471 to 1474. Threshold amounts are indexed for inflation from calendar year 2027; check IRS.gov/InflationAdjustment for the current year.