{"id":3254,"date":"2026-02-23T04:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T10:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/?p=3254"},"modified":"2026-03-30T07:43:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T12:43:03","slug":"form-1042-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/form-1042-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Form 1042-S"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what-is-irs-form-1042-s\"><\/span>What Is IRS Form 1042-S?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Form 1042-S is a Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service form titled <em>Foreign Person\u2019s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding. <\/em>Typically, non-citizens of the United States are subject to tax on any income derived from U.S. sources. Therefore, Form 1042-S is commonly used to report any amount paid to foreign persons by a U.S.-based business or institution.<\/p>\n<p>Form 1042-S applies to foreign partnerships, foreign estates, foreign trusts, and resident aliens that are subject to income tax withholding. Each type of income requires a separate 1042-S form. Here\u2019s a shortlist of common income that requires reporting:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Royalties<\/li>\n<li>Scholarships<\/li>\n<li>Pension income<\/li>\n<li>Deposit interest<\/li>\n<li>Gambling winnings<\/li>\n<li>Insurance premiums<\/li>\n<li>American corporation dividend payments<\/li>\n<li>Personal service compensation performed in the U.S.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"who-must-file-1042-s\"><\/span>Who Must File 1042-S?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Employers who employ non-resident aliens like foreign workers or international students need to file IRS Form 1042-S for <em>every<\/em> non-resident alien employed. They must also send a completed copy of said form to the non-resident alien employed.<\/p>\n<p>Forms 1042 and 1042-S are due by March 15th of year following that in which the income was paid. Some years, like 2020 and 2021, this filing date was extended.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes Form 1042-S gets distributed for informational purposes. In this case, you don\u2019t need to include it with your return. One way to know if it\u2019s for informational purposes is if Box 7 and 10 are both zero. If they\u2019re not, then it needs reporting. It\u2019s also worth noting that Form 1042-S should always be filed with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/forms-pubs\/about-form-1042-t\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">1042-T<\/a>. Form 1042 is the only form in this series that can be filed by itself.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what-is-the-difference-between-form-1042-and-1042-s\"><\/span>What Is the Difference Between Form 1042 and 1042-S?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The two forms are similar but not identical and should be filed separately. IRS Form 1042 determines how much income is withheld, while Form 1042-S reports payments made to foreign persons.<\/p>\n<p>Answers to questions like \u201cwhat is form 1042 S?\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/pub\/irs-pdf\/f1042s.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">where can I get a copy?<\/a>\u201d are easily found on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/individuals\/international-taxpayers\/discussion-of-form-1042-and-form-1042s-and-form-1042t\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">IRS website<\/a>. When in doubt, it\u2019s best to get legal and accounting advice from professionals. Tax laws are complex for U.S. citizens and can be even more confusing to non-residents.<\/p>\n<article class=\"blg-post-item\">\n<div class=\"article-body\">\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>******<\/p>\n<p><em>See our full list of over 50 Small Business Terms\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/small-business-glossary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Is IRS Form 1042-S? Form 1042-S is a Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service form titled Foreign Person\u2019s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding. Typically, non-citizens of the United States are subject to tax on any income derived from U.S. sources. Therefore, Form 1042-S is commonly used to report any amount paid to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Understanding Form 1042-S<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about Form 1042-S and its relevance to foreign partnerships, estates, trusts, and resident aliens subject to income tax withholding.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/form-1042-s\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Understanding Form 1042-S\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn about Form 1042-S and its relevance to foreign partnerships, estates, trusts, and resident aliens subject to income tax withholding.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/form-1042-s\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zoomshift\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-23T10:28:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-30T12:43:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ZoomShift\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ZoomShift\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/form-1042-s\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/form-1042-s\/\",\"name\":\"Understanding Form 1042-S\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-23T10:28:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-30T12:43:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9ba35c556ffdf9d8dab06992b17a4b0d\"},\"description\":\"Learn about Form 1042-S and its relevance to foreign partnerships, estates, trusts, and resident aliens subject to income tax withholding.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/form-1042-s\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/form-1042-s\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/form-1042-s\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Form 1042-S\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Zoomshift\",\"description\":\"SMB Management Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9ba35c556ffdf9d8dab06992b17a4b0d\",\"name\":\"ZoomShift\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05af010fb3485fa8095793cfff89a5e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05af010fb3485fa8095793cfff89a5e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ZoomShift\"},\"description\":\"The leading scheduling software designed for hourly employees. 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