Withholding of Tax on Certain U.S. Source Income Paid to Foreign Persons, Information Reporting and Backup Withholding on Payments Made to Certain U.S. Persons, and Portfolio Interest Treatment

This document contains final and temporary regulations that revise certain provisions of the final regulations regarding withholding of tax on certain U.S. source income paid to foreign persons, information reporting and backup withholding with respect to payments made to certain U.S. persons, portfolio interest paid to nonresident alien individuals and foreign corporations, and the associated requirements governing collection, refunds, and credits of withheld amounts under these rules. The revisions are necessary to coordinate these regulations with the documentation, withholding, and reporting provisions included in regulations regarding information reporting by foreign financial institutions (FFIs) with respect to U.S. accounts and withholding on certain payments to FFIs and other foreign entities under chapter 4 of Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). The temporary regulations also revise certain provisions of the final regulations relating to the statutory exemption for portfolio interest in light of amendments to the statute. Moreover, these temporary regulations remove certain transitional documentation rules from the regulations relating to withholding of tax on certain U.S. source income paid to foreign persons. These temporary regulations affect persons making payments of U.S. source income to foreign persons, persons making payments to certain U.S. persons subject to reporting, and foreign persons making claims for refund or credit of income tax withheld or claiming the exclusion from tax provided for portfolio interest. The text of these temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations (REG-134361-12) set forth in the Proposed Rules section in this issue of the Federal Register.