Tax Withheld: U.S. Taxes for Noncitizens (2025 IRS Guide)

This guide covers “Tax Withheld” within u.s. taxes for noncitizens. The following material presents the IRS treatment of this topic, including the qualifications, exceptions, and examples in the source section. Read the rules alongside the facts of your own situation before deciding what to report, deduct, or document.

Adapted from Publication 519 (2025), U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens, published by the Internal Revenue Service. This guide retains the source edition’s years, amounts, deadlines, and examples. It is guidance for that edition, not a statement that the same figures apply to every tax year.

Context for these rules

You can claim some of the same credits that resident aliens can claim. You can also report certain taxes you paid, are considered to have paid, or that were withheld from your income.

Tax Withheld

You can claim the tax withheld during the year as a payment against your U.S. tax. You claim it on lines 25a through 25g of Form 1040-NR. The tax withheld reduces any tax you owe with Form 1040-NR.

Withholding from wages.

Any federal income tax withheld from your wages during the tax year while you were a nonresident alien is allowed as a payment against your U.S. income tax liability for the same year. You can claim the income tax withheld whether or not you were engaged in a trade or business in the United States during the year, and whether or not the wages (or any other income) were connected with a trade or business in the United States.

Excess social security tax withheld.

If you have two or more employers, you may be able to claim a credit against your U.S. income tax liability for social security tax withheld in excess of the maximum required. See Social Security and Medicare Taxes in chapter 8 for more information.

Additional Medicare Tax.

Your employer is responsible for withholding the 0.9% (0.009) Additional Medicare Tax on Medicare wages or Railroad Retirement Tax Act (RRTA) compensation it pays to you in excess of $200,000 in 2025. If you do not owe Additional Medicare Tax, you can claim a credit for any withheld Additional Medicare Tax against the total tax liability shown on your tax return by filing Form 8959.

Tax paid on undistributed long-term capital gains.

If you are a shareholder in a mutual fund (or other RIC) or REIT, you can claim a credit for your share of any taxes paid by the company on its undistributed long-term capital gains. You will receive information on Form 2439, which you must attach to your return.

Tax withheld at the source.

You can claim as a payment any tax withheld at the source on investment and other FDAP income paid to you. Fixed or determinable income includes interest, dividend, rental, and royalty income that you do not claim to be effectively connected income. Wage or salary payments can be fixed or determinable income to you, but are usually subject to withholding, as discussed above. Taxes on fixed or determinable income are withheld at a 30% rate or at a lower treaty rate.

Tax withheld on partnership income.

If you are a foreign partner in a partnership, the partnership will withhold tax on your share of ECTI from the partnership. The partnership will give you a statement on Form 8805 showing the tax withheld. A partnership that is publicly traded may withhold on your actual distributions of effectively connected income. In this case, the partnership will give you a statement on Form 1042-S. Claim the tax withheld as a payment on line 25e or 25g of Form 1040-NR, as appropriate.

Tax withheld on gain from the sale or exchange of certain partnership interests.

If you are a direct or indirect foreign partner in a U.S. or foreign partnership that is engaged (or is treated as engaged) in a trade or business within the United States and you directly or indirectly dispose of that interest for a gain, then for transfers occurring after 2017, the transferee will generally withhold and pay to the IRS on your behalf a tax equal to 10% of the amount realized on the sale. The rules for withholding and paying over this amount are similar to sales of U.S. real property interests. You will receive a Form 8288-A reflecting the amount withheld that you may then claim on line 25f of your Form 1040-NR as a credit against the tax you owe on the gain. You may be able to provide certain information to the transferee to reduce or eliminate withholding. For example, if a nonrecognition provision of the Internal Revenue Code applies to all of the gain realized on a transfer, the transferee does not need to withhold if you provide a notice describing the application of a nonrecognition provision. If you are a transferee that failed to withhold, under section 1446(f)(4), the partnership may withhold on distributions to you.

T.D. 9926 (85 FR 76910), available at IRS.gov/irb/2020-51_IRS#TD-9926, published on November 30, 2020 (as corrected at 86 FR 13191), contains final regulations (section 1446(f) regulations) relating to the withholding and reporting required under section 1446(f) on transfers of interests in certain partnership interests, which include withholding requirements that apply to brokers effecting transfers of interests in PTPs. While section 1446(f) withholding generally applies to transfers occurring on or after January 1, 2018, certain provisions of the section 1446(f) regulations apply to transfers on or after January 1, 2025. For more information, see Pub. 515.

For additional guidance on certain issues related to the section 1446(f) regulations, see Notice 2023-8.

Tax withheld on dispositions of U.S. real property interests.

You can claim as a payment any tax withheld with respect to a disposition of a U.S. real property interest (or income treated as derived from the disposition of a U.S. real property interest). See Real Property Gain or Loss in chapter 4. The buyer will give you a statement of the amount withheld on Form 8288-A. Claim the tax withheld as a payment on line 25f of Form 1040-NR.

Claiming tax withheld on your return.

When you fill out your tax return, take extra care to enter the correct amount of any tax withheld shown on your information documents. The following table lists some of the more common information documents and shows where to find the amount of tax withheld.

Using the guidance

Keep the documents that establish the dates, amounts, and circumstances described above. References to other chapters, forms, worksheets, or earlier and later sections refer to the linked IRS publication. Check the full publication and its updates before relying on a rule for a different tax year or a situation not addressed here.

Sources and further reading

• Publication 519 (2025), U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens: Figuring Your Tax — Tax Credits and Payments — Nonresident Aliens — Tax Withheld — Internal Revenue Service; 2025 edition.

The cited U.S. government text is in the public domain. Source accessed October 28, 2026. Fynoptic has organized this material for educational use and is independent of, and not endorsed by, the IRS.