What is the Foreign Recipients of U.S. Income Study? Withholding Agents who pay U.S.-source income to nonresident aliens and other foreign persons are required to report this income on Form 1042-S, Foreign Persons' U.S.-Source Income Subject to Withholding. This income is subject to a flat, statutory tax rate of 30 percent. However, this rate is frequently reduced or eliminated by an income tax treaty or statutory exemption. Income that is exempt from taxation because of a tax treaty or certain other exemptions must still be reported. U.S. individuals, corporations, or other entities paying U.S.-source income to foreign persons are required to withhold taxes on this income (except where statutory or treaty exemptions apply) or to appoint a withholding agent (normally a U.S. financial institution) to do so. Foreign financial institutions that enter into an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service, known as qualified intermediaries (QIs), may also serve as withholding agents. A withholding agent or qualified intermediary is fully liable for all taxes owed by a foreign beneficial owner and also reports the income paid to each recipient on a Form 1042S. Without this withholding requirement, there would be no effective way to enforce taxpayer compliance because foreign recipients are generally not required to file U.S. tax returns to report this income. For information about selected terms and concepts and a description of the data sources and limitations, please visit Foreign Recipients of U.S. Income Metadata. Statistical Tables Forms 1042-S: Number, Total U.S.-Source Income, and U.S. Tax Withheld Shown by tax treaty countries and total non-tax treaty countries. Forms 1042-S: Number, U.S. Tax Withheld, and U.S.-Source Income Shown by principal type of income, selected recipient type, and selected country of recipient. Forms 1042-S (includes only returns withheld pursuant to Chapter 4): Number, Total U.S.-Source Income, and U.S. Tax Withheld Shown by selected income types Forms 8288-A: Number, Sales Price, and U.S. Tax Withheld Shown by selected country of the seller. SOI Bulletin Articles The following are available as PDF files. A free Adobe® reader is available for download, if needed. Foreign Recipients of U.S. Income2017PDF 2015PDF 2013PDF2012PDF 2011PDF 2010PDF 2009PDF 2008PDF 2007PDF 2005PDF 2000PDF 1998-1999PDF 1996-1997PDF 1995PDF Statistics of Income Studies of International Income and Taxes