IRIS 1042-S CSV template and checker
Form 1042-S, Foreign Person's U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding, can be filed in the IRIS Taxpayer Portal with a CSV upload. Its template has 109 columns, 23 of them required, including 43 form box columns. Drop your file below to check it against every IRS rule, or read the column list further down.
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Built from the IRS TY2025 Template Formatting Guidelines, the latest posted. IRIS checks the header row against the template you download inside the portal, so upload with that one. Columns marked required are starred in the IRS guidelines. Many 1042-S columns are required only in certain situations, as the rules column explains.
Upload limits for every IRIS CSV
- Up to 250 records per file, header not counted, and files of 100KB or less.
- One form type and one tax year per file.
- Save as CSV UTF-8, and do not reopen and re-save the file in Excel.
- Leave money cells empty instead of 0.00, and enter Y or N in every checkbox column.
All 109 columns
| Col. | Field | Required | Example | Formatting rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Form Type | 1042-S | ||
| B | Tax Year | 2025 | ||
| C | Withholding agent TIN Type | Yes | EIN | Must be entered as "EIN" |
| D | Withholding agent EIN | Yes | 12-2121212 | Digits and dashes only Business TINs (EIN) must be in XX-XXXXXXX format |
| E | Ch. 3 status code | Yes | 22 | Should be one of the following: 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, or 41 |
| F | Ch. 4 status code | Yes | 50 | Should be one of the following: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, or 50 |
| G | Withholding agent Name Type | Yes | B | Should be "B" for Business Name or "I" for Individual Name. |
| H | Withholding agent Business or Entity Name Line 1 | Johns Pet Store | Required if Name Type = "B" Length: Max 40 characters May only contain alphabet letters, numbers, blank space (), and the following special characters: hyphen (-), pound (#), parentheses (), ampersand (&), and apostrophe (') May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| I | Withholding agent Business or Entity Name Line 2 | Length: Max 40 characters May only contain alphabet letters, numbers, blank space (), and the following special characters: hyphen (-), pound (#), parentheses (), ampersand (&), apostrophe ('), slash (/), and percent (%) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | ||
| J | Withholding agent First Name | John | Required if Name Type = "I" Required if Last Name is filled out Length: Max 20 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| K | Withholding agent Middle Name | James | Length: Max 20 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| L | Withholding agent Last Name (Surname) | Finch | Required if Name Type = "I" Required if First Name is filled out Length: Max 20 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| M | Withholding agent Suffix | Sr. | Length: Max 20 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| N | Additional Withholding agent Name | J Finch | Should be a maximum of 75 characters. Should only include the following characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, hash, hyphen, parentheses, ampersand, apostrophe and may not include leading space, trailing space, adjacent spaces, and other symbols. | |
| O | Withholding agent’s global intermediary identification number (GIIN) | 123456.12345 .12.12.123 | Should be a maximum of 19 characters. Should only include alphanumeric values and certain special characters and may not include leading or trailing spaces, or more than 1 space in a row. Allowed special characters include the following: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < > = ? @ { | } ~ £ § Á É Í Ñ Ó × Ú Ü á é í ñ ó ú ü | |
| P | Withholding agent's Country code | Yes | US | This country code is used for tax purposes Must be entered according to their designated country abbreviation Link to country abbreviations: https://www.irs.gov/e-file- providers/foreign-country-code-listing-for-modernized-e-file |
| Q | Foreign tax identification number, if any | AUS1432-554 | Should be a maximum of 50 characters. Should only include alphanumeric values and certain special characters and may not include leading or trailing spaces, or more than 1 space in a row. Allowed special characters include the following: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < > = ? @ { | } ~ £ § Á É Í Ñ Ó × Ú Ü á é í ñ ó ú ü | |
| R | Withholding agent Address (number and street) | Yes | 1234 Midway Rd | Length: Max 35 characters May only be alpha-numeric characters and the following special characters: hyphen ( - ) slash ( / ) space ( ) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces |
| S | [Domestic] [Withholding agent] City/Town [Foreign] [Withholding agent] City/Town | Yes | Dallas | Length: Max 40 characters May only be alphabet characters and the following special characters: space ( ) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces |
| T | [Domestic] [Withholding agent] State/Territory [Foreign] [Withholding agent] State/Province/Territory | Yes | TX | [Domestic] Must be entered as their 2 letter abbreviation Link to 2 letter abbreviation: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs- utl/zip code and state abbreviations.pdf _ _ _ _ [Foreign] Length: Max 17 characters Alpha-numeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) and spaces only May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces |
| U | Withholding agent Country | Yes | US | This country code is used for address purposes Must be entered according to their designated country abbreviation Link to country abbreviations: https://www.irs.gov/e-file- providers/foreign-country-code-listing-for-modernized-e-file |
| V | [Domestic] [Withholding agent] ZIP/Postal Code [Foreign] · [Withholding agent] ZIP/Postal Code | Yes | 12309 | [Domestic] Length: Exactly 5, 9 or 12 characters Digits only [Foreign] Length: Max 9 characters Alpha-numeric characters only (A-Z, 0-9) |
| W | Unique Form Identifier | Yes | 1111111111 | Must be exactly 10 digits. Must not contain all zeroes. Must be digits only. |
| X | Box 13a - Recipient Name Type | Yes | B | Should be "B" for Business Name or "I" for Individual Name. |
| Y | Recipient Business or Entity Name Line 1 | Johns Pet Store | Required if Name Type = "B" Length: Max 40 characters May only contain alphabet letters, numbers, blank space (), and the following special characters: hyphen (-), pound (#), parentheses (), ampersand (&), and apostrophe (') May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| Z | Recipient Business or Entity Name Line 2 | Length: Max 40 characters May only contain alphabet letters, numbers, blank space (), and the following special characters: hyphen (-), pound (#), parentheses (), ampersand (&), apostrophe ('), slash (/), and percent (%) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | ||
| AA | Recipient First Name | John | Required if Name Type = "I" Required if Last Name is filled out Length: Max 20 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| AB | Recipient Middle Name | James | Length: Max 20 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| AC | Recipient Last Name (Surname) | Finch | Required if Name Type = "I" Required if First Name is filled out Length: Max 20 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| AD | Recipient Suffix | Sr. | Length: Max 20 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| AE | Additional Recipient Name | J Finch | Should be a maximum of 75 characters. Should only include the following characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, hash, hyphen, parentheses, ampersand, apostrophe and may not include leading space, trailing space, adjacent spaces, and other symbols. | |
| AF | Box 13b - Recipient’s country code | US | This country code is used for tax purposes Must be entered according to their designated country abbreviation Link to country abbreviations: https://www.irs.gov/e-file- providers/foreign-country-code-listing-for-modernized-e-file | |
| AG | Box 13c - Recipient Address (number and street) | 1234 Midway Rd | Length: Max 35 characters May only be alpha-numeric characters and the following special characters: hyphen ( - ) slash ( / ) space ( ) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| AH | [Domestic] [Recipient] City/Town [Foreign] [Recipient] City/Town | Yes | Dallas | Length: Max 40 characters May only be alphabet characters and the following special characters: space ( ) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces |
| AI | [Domestic] [Recipient] State/Territory [Foreign] [Recipient] State/Province/Territory | Yes | TX | [Domestic] Must be entered as their 2 letter abbreviation Link to 2 letter abbreviation: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs- utl/zip code and state abbreviations.pdf _ _ _ _ [Foreign] Length: Max 17 characters Alpha-numeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) and spaces only May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces |
| AJ | Recipient Country | US | This country code is used for address purposes Must be entered according to their designated country abbreviation Link to country abbreviations: https://www.irs.gov/e-file- providers/foreign-country-code-listing-for-modernized-e-file | |
| AK | [Domestic] [Recipient] ZIP/Postal Code [Foreign] · [Recipient] ZIP/Postal Code | Yes | 12309 | [Domestic] Length: Exactly 5, 9 or 12 characters Digits only [Foreign] Length: Max 9 characters Alpha-numeric characters only (A-Z, 0-9) |
| AL | Recipient TIN Type | SSN | Length: Max 6 characters Must be entered as "SSN", "EIN", "ATIN", "ITIN", "QI-EIN", or "UND". | |
| AM | Box 13e - Recipient’s U.S. TIN, if any | 345-678-0987 | Length: Exactly 9 characters Digits and dashes only Business TINs (EIN, QI-EIN) must be in XX-XXXXXXX format. Individual TINs (SSN, ITIN, ATIN) must be in XXX-XX-XXXX format. Undeterminable TINs (UND) must be in XXXXXXXXX format. | |
| AN | Box 13f - Ch. 3 status code | 22 | Should be one of the following: 00, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, or 41 | |
| AO | Box 13g - Ch. 4 status code | 50 | Should be one of the following: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, or 50 | |
| AP | Box 13h - Recipient’s GIIN | 123456.12345 .12.12.123 | Should be a maximum of 19 characters. Should only include alphanumeric values and certain special characters and may not include leading or trailing spaces, or more than 1 space in a row. Allowed special characters include the following: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < > = ? @ { | } ~ £ § Á É Í Ñ Ó × Ú Ü á é í ñ ó ú ü | |
| AQ | Box 13i - Recipient’s foreign tax identification number, if any | AUS1432-554 | Should be a maximum of 50 characters. Should only include alphanumeric values and certain special characters and may not include leading or trailing spaces, or more than 1 space in a row. Allowed special characters include the following: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < > = ? @ { | } ~ £ § Á É Í Ñ Ó × Ú Ü á é í ñ ó ú ü | |
| AR | Box 13j - LOB code | 02 | Should be one of the following: 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, or 12. | |
| AS | Box 13k - Recipient’s account number | GH9076 | Should be a maximum of 30 characters. Should only include alphanumeric values and certain special characters and may not include leading or trailing spaces, or more than 1 space in a row. Allowed special characters include the following: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < > = ? @ { | } ~ £ § Á É Í Ñ Ó × Ú Ü á é í ñ ó ú ü | |
| AT | Box 13l - Recipient’s date of birth | 37238 | Length: Max 8 characters Digits only Date field must be in MM/DD/YYYY date format | |
| AU | Box 1 - Income code Enter the appropriate two-digit income code | Yes | 11 | Should be one of the following: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, or 61. |
| AV | Box 2 - Gross income | Yes | 2400 | $0 to $999,999,999,999,999 Cannot be negative Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. |
| AW | Box 3 - Chapter indicator | Yes | 3 | Must be either "3" or "4" |
| AX | Box 3a - Exemption code | 0 | Is required if Chapter Indicator = 3. Should be one of the following: 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 10, 11, 12, 22, 23, or 24. | |
| AY | Box 3b - Tax Rate | 0.02 | Is required if Chapter 3 Exemption Code is entered. Should be one of the following: 0000 (00.00%) or .0200 (02.00%) or .0400 (04.00%) or .0490 (04.90%) or .0495 (04.95%) or .0500 (05.00%) or .0700 (07.00%) or .0800 (08.00%) or .1000 (10.00%) or .1200 (12.00%) or .1250 (12.50%) or .1400 (14.00%) or .1500 (15.00%) or .1750 (17.50%) or .2000 (20.00%) or .2100 (21.00%) or .2400 (24.00%) or .2500 (25.00%) or .2750 (27.50%) or .2800 (28.00%) or .3000 (30.00%) or .3700 (37.00%). | |
| AZ | Box 4a - Exemption code | Yes | 13 | Should be one of the following: 00, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, or 21. |
| BA | Box 4b - Tax rate | Yes | 0.3 | Should be one of the following: .0000 (00.00%) or .3000 (30.00%) |
| BB | Box 5 - Withholding Allowance | 5000 | $0 to $999,999,999,999,999 Cannot be negative Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. | |
| BC | Box 6 - Net income | 5000 | $0 to $999,999,999,999,999 Cannot be negative Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. | |
| BD | Box 7a - Federal tax withheld | Yes | 5000 | $0 to $999,999,999,999,999 Cannot be negative Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. |
| BE | Box 7b - Check if federal tax withheld was not deposited with the IRS because escrow procedures were applied | Y | Length: Max 1 character Must be entered as "Y" for Yes or "N" for No | |
| BF | Box 7c - Check if withholding occurred in subsequent year with respect to a partnership interest | Y | Length: Max 1 character Must be entered as "Y" for Yes or "N" for No | |
| BG | Box 7d - Check if you are a qualified intermediary, withholding foreign partnership, or withholding foreign trust revising its reporting on Form 1042-S to report to a specific recipient | Y | Length: Max 1 character Must be entered as "Y" for Yes or "N" for No | |
| BH | Box 8 - Tax withheld by other agents | Yes | 5000 | $0 to $999,999,999,999,999 Cannot be negative Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. |
| BI | Box 9 - Overwithheld tax repaid to recipient pursuant to adjustment procedures | 5000 | $0 to $999,999,999,999,999 Cannot be negative Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. | |
| BJ | Box 11 - Tax paid by withholding agent (amounts not withheld) | $0 to $999,999,999,999,999 Cannot be negative Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. | ||
| BK | Box 14a - Primary withholding agent’s name (if applicable) | Johns Ralph Company | Length: Max 40 characters May only contain alphabet letters, numbers, blank space (), and the following special characters: hyphen (-), pound (#), parentheses (), ampersand (&), and apostrophe (') May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| BL | Box 14b - Primary withholding agent’s EIN | 12-2121212 | Digits and dashes only Business TINs (EIN) must be in XX-XXXXXXX format | |
| BM | Additional Primary withholding agent’s Name | John and Dave | Should be a maximum of 75 characters. Should only include the following characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, hash, hyphen, parentheses, ampersand, apostrophe and may not include leading space, trailing space, adjacent spaces, and other symbols. | |
| BN | Box 15 - Check if pro- rata basis reporting | Y | Length: Max 1 character Must be entered as "Y" for Yes or "N" for No | |
| BO | Box 15a - Intermediary or flow-through entity’s EIN, if any | 12-2121212 | Digits and dashes only Business TINs (EIN) must be in XX-XXXXXXX format | |
| BP | Box 15b - Ch. 3 status code | 22 | Should be one of the following: 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, or 41 | |
| BQ | Box 15c - Ch. 4 status code | 50 | Should be one of the following: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, or 50 | |
| BR | Box 15d - Intermediary or flow-through entity’s name | B | Should be "B" for Business Name or "I" for Individual Name. | |
| BS | Intermediary or flow- through entity’s Business or Entity Name Line 1 | Johns Pet Store | Required if Name Type = "B" Length: Max 40 characters May only contain alphabet letters, numbers, blank space (), and the following special characters: hyphen (-), pound (#), parentheses (), ampersand (&), and apostrophe (') May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| BT | Intermediary or flow- through entity’s Business or Entity Name Line 2 | Length: Max 40 characters May only contain alphabet letters, numbers, blank space (), and the following special characters: hyphen (-), pound (#), parentheses (), ampersand (&), apostrophe ('), slash (/), and percent (%) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | ||
| BU | Intermediary or flow- through entity’s First Name | John | Required if Name Type = "I" Required if Last Name is filled out Length: Max 10 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| BV | Intermediary or flow- through entity’s Middle Name | James | Length: Max 10 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| BW | Intermediary or flow- through entity’s Last Name (Surname) | Finch | Required if Name Type = "I" Required if First Name is filled out Length: Max 10 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| BX | Intermediary or flow- through entity’s Suffix | Sr. | Length: Max 5 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| BY | Additional Intermediary or flow-through entity’s Name | John and Dave | Should be a maximum of 75 characters. Should only include the following characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, hash, hyphen, parentheses, ampersand, apostrophe and may not include leading space, trailing space, adjacent spaces, and other symbols. | |
| BZ | Box 15e - Intermediary or flow-through entity’s GIIN | 123456.12345 .12.12.123 | Should be a maximum of 19 characters. Should only include alphanumeric values and certain special characters and may not include leading or trailing spaces, or more than 1 space in a row. Allowed special characters include the following: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < > = ? @ { | } ~ £ § Á É Í Ñ Ó × Ú Ü á é í ñ ó ú ü | |
| CA | Box 15f - Intermediary or flow-through entity’s Country code | US | This country code is used for tax purposes Must be entered according to their designated country abbreviation Link to country abbreviations: https://www.irs.gov/e-file- providers/foreign-country-code-listing-for-modernized-e-file | |
| CB | Box 15g - Foreign tax identification number, if any | AUS1432-554 | Should be a maximum of 50 characters. Should only include alphanumeric values and certain special characters and may not include leading or trailing spaces, or more than 1 space in a row. Allowed special characters include the following: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < > = ? @ { | } ~ £ § Á É Í Ñ Ó × Ú Ü á é í ñ ó ú ü | |
| CC | Box 15h - Intermediary or flow-through entity Address (number and street) | 1234 Midway Rd | Length: Max 35 characters May only be alpha-numeric characters and the following special characters: hyphen ( - ) slash ( / ) space ( ) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| CD | [Domestic] [Intermediary or flow- through entity] City/Town [Foreign] [Intermediary or flow- through entity] City/Town | Dallas | Length: Max 40 characters May only be alphabet characters and the following special characters: space ( ) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| CE | [Domestic] [Intermediary or flow- through entity] State/Territory [Foreign] [Intermediary or flow- through entity] State/Province/Territory | TX | [Domestic] Must be entered as their 2 letter abbreviation Link to 2 letter abbreviation: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs- utl/zip code and state abbreviations.pdf _ _ _ _ [Foreign] Length: Max 17 characters Alpha-numeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) and spaces only May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| CF | Intermediary or flow- through entity’s Country | US | This country code is used for address purposes Must be entered according to their designated country abbreviation Link to country abbreviations: https://www.irs.gov/e-file- providers/foreign-country-code-listing-for-modernized-e-file | |
| CG | [Domestic] [Intermediary or flow- through entity] ZIP/Postal Code [Foreign] · [Intermediary or flow- through entity] ZIP/Postal Code | 12309 | [Domestic] Length: Exactly 5, 9 or 12 characters Digits only [Foreign] Length: Max 9 characters Alpha-numeric characters only (A-Z, 0-9) | |
| CH | Box 16a - Payer’s name | B | Should be "B" for Business Name or "I" for Individual Name. | |
| CI | Payer’s Business or Entity Name Line 1 | Johns Pet Store | Required if Name Type = "B" Length: Max 40 characters May only contain alphabet letters, numbers, blank space (), and the following special characters: hyphen (-), pound (#), parentheses (), ampersand (&), and apostrophe (') May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| CJ | Payer’s Business or Entity Name Line 2 | Length: Max 40 characters May only contain alphabet letters, numbers, blank space (), and the following special characters: hyphen (-), pound (#), parentheses (), ampersand (&), apostrophe ('), slash (/), and percent (%) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | ||
| CK | Payer’s First Name | John | Required if Name Type = "I" Required if Last Name is filled out Length: Max 10 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| CL | Payer’s Middle Name | James | Length: Max 10 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| CM | Payer’s Last Name (Surname) | Finch | Required if Name Type = "I" Required if First Name is filled out Length: Max 10 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| CN | Payer’s Suffix | Sr. | Length: Max 5 characters May only contain alphabet letters, blanks ( ) and hyphens (-) May not contain leading, trailing, and adjacent spaces | |
| CO | Additional Payer’s Name | John and Dave | Should be a maximum of 75 characters. Should only include the following characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, hash, hyphen, parentheses, ampersand, apostrophe and may not include leading space, trailing space, adjacent spaces, and other symbols. | |
| CP | Box 16b - Payer’s TIN | 123-231234 | Digits and dashes only Business TINs (EIN) must be in XX-XXXXXXX format | |
| CQ | Box 16c - Payer’s GIIN (?) | 123456.12345 .12.12.123 | Should be a maximum of 19 characters. Should only include alphanumeric values and certain special characters and may not include leading or trailing spaces, or more than 1 space in a row. Allowed special characters include the following: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < > = ? @ { | } ~ £ § Á É Í Ñ Ó × Ú Ü á é í ñ ó ú ü | |
| CR | Box 16d - Ch. 3 status code | 22 | Should be one of the following: 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, or 41 | |
| CS | Box 16e - Ch. 4 status code | 50 | Should be one of the following: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, or 50 | |
| CT | State 1 - Box 17c - Select the state that applies to this payer. | AL | State 1 is required if one or more fields in that section are filled in. State 1's state, territory, province, and military equivalents should be entered as their 2 letter abbreviation Link to 2 letter abbreviation: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs- utl/zip code and state abbreviations.pdf _ _ _ _ | |
| CU | State 1 - Box 17a - State income tax withheld | 100 | Should be between $0 and $999,999,999,999,999. Cannot be negative Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed One or more payment amounts must be entered if State 1 is selected. Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. | |
| CV | State 1 - Box 17b - State/Payer’s State Number | AL100200300 | Should be a maximum of 24 characters. May not include spaces() or special characters (such as @, %, ^, etc.). Must be alpha-numeric characters. | |
| CW | State 1 - State Income | 1200 | Should be between $0 and $999,999,999,999,999. Cannot be negative Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. | |
| CX | State 1 - Local income tax withheld | 250 | Should be between $0 and $999,999,999,999,999. Cannot be negative Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. | |
| CY | State 1 - Special Data Entries | Example Comment | Length: Max 60 characters Should only include alphanumeric values and certain special characters and may not include leading or trailing spaces, or more than 1 space in a row. Allowed special characters include the following: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < > = ? @ { | } ~ £ § Á É Í Ñ Ó × Ú Ü á é í ñ ó ú ü | |
| CZ | State 2 - Select the state that applies to this payer. | AL | State 2 is required if one or more fields in that section are filled in. State 2's state, territory, province, and military equivalents should be entered as their 2 letter abbreviation Link to 2 letter abbreviation: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs- utl/zip code and state abbreviations.pdf _ _ _ _ | |
| DA | State 2 - State Tax Withheld | 100 | Should be between $0 and $999,999,999,999,999. Cannot be negative One or more payment amounts must be entered if State 2 is selected. Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. | |
| DB | State 2 - State/Payer state number | AL100200300 | Should be a maximum of 24 characters. May not include spaces() or special characters (such as @, %, ^, etc.). Must be alpha-numeric characters. | |
| DC | State 2 - State income | 1200 | Should be between $0 and $999,999,999,999,999. Cannot be negative Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. | |
| DD | State 2 - Local income tax withheld | 250 | Should be between $0 and $999,999,999,999,999. Cannot be negative Digits only except 1 decimal is allowed Must have no more than two digits after the decimal. Check for long numbers in money amount fields that may have been formatted in scientific notation. For example: 1.045E+5. | |
| DE | State 2 - Special Data Entries | Example Comment | Length: Max 60 characters Should only include alphanumeric values and certain special characters and may not include leading or trailing spaces, or more than 1 space in a row. Allowed special characters include the following: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < > = ? @ { | } ~ £ § Á É Í Ñ Ó × Ú Ü á é í ñ ó ú ü |
What the checker does
- Header: reports missing, extra or reordered columns compared with the 1042-S template.
- Safe fixes: trims stray spaces, writes amounts as plain numbers, leaves $0 cells empty, fills empty Y/N boxes with N, adds dashes to TINs from the TIN type, restores ZIP leading zeros, converts state names to codes and rewrites dates.
- Errors to fix yourself: required columns left empty, values over the length limit, codes that are not in the allowed list, invalid TINs, ZIP codes and dates.
- Split: writes files of up to 250 records and under 100KB, keeping your header row.
Date columns: the IRS guidelines ask for MM/DD/YYYY but also say "Max 8 characters, Digits only". The checker accepts both MM/DD/YYYY and MMDDYYYY. If the portal rejects one, try the other.
For 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC, the main IRIS CSV tool goes further: it builds the template from QuickBooks, Excel or FIRE files.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I download the official 1042-S CSV template?
Sign in to the IRIS Taxpayer Portal, open Upload CSV with Form Data, choose 1042-S and the tax year, and select Download. The formatting guidelines are linked in the FAQ box on the same page.
How many 1042-S records can one CSV hold?
Up to 250 records per file, not counting the header, and the file must be 100KB or less. The portal then submits at most 100 forms at a time.
What does "required" mean here?
The IRS guidelines mark these columns with an asterisk. Other columns can still become required by a rule, for example a TIN type when a TIN is entered.
Sources
- IRS: TY2025 IRIS CSV Template Formatting Guidelines (ZIP)
- IRS Publication 5717, IRIS Taxpayer Portal User Guide (Rev. 9-2026)
Last reviewed November 1, 2026.