The Internal Revenue Service recently released an online tool to help U.S. withholding agents comply with withholding and reporting obligations on IRS Form 1042-S, Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding. Forms 1042-S are issued by withholding agents to non-U.S. beneficial owners of U.S. source FDAP income under Chapter 3 and to non-U.S. payees who receive U.S. source withholdable payments under Chapter 4. Given the complexity of the Form 1042-S, this tool provides withholding agents with an opportunity to screen their draft Forms 1042-S for errors prior to filing. The Form 1042-S Data Integrity Tool performs a quality review of data before IRS submission at no cost to the user.
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Form 1042-S
IRS Proposes Regulations under Section 1446(f) — Reporting Requirements and the “Backstop Withholding” Rules (Post 3 of 3)
In our first post regarding the proposed section 1446(f) regulations, we addressed the rules regarding which party is the withholding agent for purposes of section 1446(f). Sections 864(c)(8) and 1446(f) were adopted as part of tax reform. Section 864(c)(8) was enacted to reverse the holding of the Tax Court in Grecian Magnesite Mining v. Commissioner, which was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. In our second post, we addressed the amount required to be withheld. In this post, we discuss the general reporting requirements for the transferor, the transferee, and the partnership. Further, we provide an overview of the new “backstop withholding” rules that will end the suspension of the partnership withholding requirement under section 1446(f)(4). The IRS suspended partnership withholding under section 1446(f)(4) under Notice 2018-29.
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IRS Warns Withholding Agents to Consider FPP Correction Program to Avoid Penalties
Last week, Kimberly Schoenbacher, the Acting Director of Field Operations for the LB&I Foreign Payments Practice (“FPP”), sent a message to taxpayers who may be noncompliant with Chapter 3 and FATCA withholding and reporting: the IRS is actively honing in on Form 1042 nonfilers, Form 1042 failures, and Forms 1042 and 1042-S that do not reconcile. Schoenbacher remarked at the International Tax Withholding and Information Reporting Conference in New York that the IRS has sent letters to thousands of taxpayers across the country regarding compliance failures related to Forms 1042 (Annual Withholding Tax Return for U.S. Source Income of Foreign Persons) and 1042-S (Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding). The letters were issued under the Form 1042/1042-S compliance campaign announced by LB&I in 2018. The campaign seeks to address withholding, deposit, and reporting noncompliance on the part of withholding agents making payments of U.S.-source income to foreign persons.
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IRS Issues Practice Unit on Traditional Automatic Information Exchange
On March 15, 2019, the IRS released a new practice unit entitled “Introduction to Traditional Automatic Exchange of Information.” The practice unit provides a summary of the procedures for the IRS Automatic Exchange of Information or AEOI Program, which administers the regular and automatic exchange of taxpayer information required by tax treaties and Tax Information Exchange Agreements or TIEAs between the United States and foreign governments. Such “traditional” exchanges can be contrasted with the exchange of information under newer programs like FATCA or the OECD’s BEPS project.
As explained on the IRS website, practice units provide a general discussion regarding concepts, processes, or transactions and serve as a means to collaborate and share information and knowledge for employees of the IRS. Practice units are not official guidance, are not official pronouncements of law or directives, and cannot be cited or relied upon as legal authority. They merely provide useful context and practical information for taxpayers, and taxpayers should independently confirm information provided in practice units with applicable legal authorities before relying on information found in the practice units.Continue Reading IRS Issues Practice Unit on Traditional Automatic Information Exchange
Regulations Limiting Refunds and Credits for Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 Withholding Due Soon
John Sweeney, Branch 8 Chief in the IRS Office of Associate Chief Counsel International, said on June 2 that proposed and temporary regulations limiting refunds and credits claimed by nonresident alien individuals and foreign corporations for taxes withheld under Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 of the Code will be released…
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