TIN ComplianceA resource from TIN Comply
Backup withholding
No
Nonresident payments
Yes, 3%
State withholding

Rhode Island backup withholding and nonresident contractor withholding

Rhode Island’s rule is a tax security deposit rather than income withholding. R.I. Gen. Laws 44-1-6 requires any person doing business with a nonresident construction contractor to hold back 3 percent of the contract price until 30 days after the contract is complete, releasing it on a Certificate of No Tax Due or remitting it to the Division of Taxation. It secures the contractor’s sales, use and withholding taxes, produces no payee statement, and is listed here because AP teams meet it in the same place. Rhode Island has no backup withholding or entertainer rule.

State backup withholding not requiredNonresident non-wage withholding requiredSources checked November 1, 2026Updated November 1, 2026
In this guide
  1. Status
  2. Withholding on non-wage payments to nonresidents
  3. What Rhode Island does not require
  4. Pass-through entity withholding
  5. From the source
  6. What to confirm
  7. Sources

Status

State backup withholdingNot required (inferred)

Inferred: no provision found in the saved statute or guide

Non-wage payments to nonresidentsRequired

Primary source (statute, regulation or agency publication saved in full)

Federal backup withholding under IRC 3406 (24 percent on a missing or mismatched TIN) applies in Rhode Island exactly as everywhere else; this page covers only what the state adds. The 50-state tables put Rhode Island next to its neighbours, and the Rhode Island 1099 filing page covers whether the state wants its own copy of the 1099.

Withholding on non-wage payments to nonresidents

Applies to
Nonresident construction contractors (no regular place of business in RI): any person awarding a construction contract must hold back 3% of the contract price as security for the contractor's RI taxes (sales/use and withholding). This is a tax security deposit under the collection statute, not an income tax withholding on the contractor's income. No entertainer or general contractor income withholding.
Threshold
None stated
Rate
3% of the contract price
Statute
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-1-6; 280-RICR-20-70-54
Withholding return
Nonresident Contractor Deposit Form (remit to Division within 30 days after completion if no Certificate of No Tax Due)
Exemption certificate or waiver
Certificate of No Tax Due issued after the contractor's Nonresident Contractor Request for Audit
Payee statement
None
Due dates
Hold 3% until 30 days after contract completion; release on Certificate of No Tax Due or remit within 30 days after completion
Exceptions
Resident contractors (regular place of business in RI); release upon certificate

What Rhode Island does not require

State backup withholding

No state backup withholding: R.I. Gen. Laws 44-30-71 (withholding from wages); no backup-withholding provision

Basis: Inferred: no provision found in the saved statute or guide.

Pass-through entity withholding (out of scope)

Rhode Island requires pass-through entities to withhold for nonresident members (44-11-2.2; Form RI-1096PT). Entity-level withholding on distributions to nonresident owners is a duty of the entity, not of a payer, and is not covered on this page.

From the source

“an amount of three percent (3%) of the contract price until thirty (30) days after”

R.I. Gen. Laws 44-1-6, read November 1, 2026

What to confirm

  • The Division of Taxation’s nonresident contractor page was captured as extracted text; the statute was retrieved directly.

Sources

Each source below was read and saved on November 1, 2026; the page is built from the saved text. Statutes are cited to the section; department pages and publications to their title and, where shown, revision date.

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