The IRS has released Publication 1187, “Specifications for Electronic Filing of Forms 1042-S, Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding.” The document provides electronic filing specifications and directions for Form 1042-S.
The publication has the following the changes to electronic filing direction:
- The IRS now states that the unique form identifier for a record cannot be all zeroes.
- The IRS now states not to use “UC” to indicate an unknown country, and that “UC” should only be used for Curacao,
- The IRS states withholding agents may need to provide 1042-S copies to disclosing Qis under sec. 1446(f), and
- For field positions 667-706 of the Q record, reporting payer’s name, the IRS has added a note stating that if the withholding agent is a nominee of a publicly traded partnership (PTP) subject to withholding under 1446(a), the PTP’s info must be provided as payer.
In addition, the publication has the following changes for filing direction:
- Parties filing ten or more information returns must now file electronically.
- The publication notes that 1042-S TCC issued prior to September 26, ’21 will remain valid until August 1, ’28 or when FIRE electronic system is decommissioned (subject to 1k file limit).
- The publication also notes that foreign parties may not be able to obtain a new TCC as they lack a domestic TIN.
There are no changes to the use of fields, their positions, or similar gross changes to the file specifications bar those discussed above.
To review Publication 1187, follow this link.
