SOI Tax Stats - Foreign Recipients of U.S. Income Statistics

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. Income
  2017PDF   2015PDF   2013PDF
  2012PDF   2011PDF   2010PDF   2009PDF   2008PDF  2007PDF   2005PDF   2000PDF   1998-1999PDF   1996-1997PDF   1995PDF
   
• Statistics of Income Studies of International Income and Taxes