United States Withholding tax rates
United States Withholding tax rates: no single figure applies. The 4 withholding taxes held run from 30%, cited to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C.), sections 871(a), 881(a), 1441 and 1442: 'there is hereby imposed for each taxable year a tax of 30 percent of the amount received from sources within the United States by a nonresident alien individual as, in force since 13 Nov 1966. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
Official source: Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C.), sections 871(a), 881(a), 1441 and 1442 · Last checked 2026-08-10 · source fingerprint
The withholding taxes the United States levies on US-source payments to non-resident aliens and foreign corporations - dividends, interest and royalties (FDAP income) - each at its domestic statutory rate before any tax-treaty relief. Imposed by the Internal Revenue Code and collected by withholding at source; administered by the IRS.
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| Current value | 30% across 4 withholding taxes — no single rate |
|---|---|
| In force from | 1966-11-13 |
| Official source | Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C.), sections 871(a), 881(a), 1441 and 1442: 'there is hereby imposed for each taxable year a tax of 30 percent of the amount received from sources within the United States by a nonresident alien individual as - (A) interest..., dividends, rents... and other fixed or determinable annual or periodical gains, profits, and income' (s.871(a)(1)); mirrored for foreign corporations in s.881(a) |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
THERE IS NO SINGLE WITHHOLDING TAX RATE, WHICH IS WHY value IS NULL. The United States uses one headline statutory rate - 30% - across dividends, interest and royalties paid to foreign persons (FDAP income), but the heads carry materially different statutory exemptions (most importantly the portfolio-interest exemption, which takes most cross-border loan and bond interest to 0%), so a caller must name the payment type and read withholding_rates rather than expecting one number to apply. ALL RATES ARE DOMESTIC STATUTORY RATES, BEFORE TREATY RELIEF. A US income-tax treaty can reduce any of them, often substantially (dividends commonly to 15%/5%, interest and royalties often to 0%), and relief depends on the recipient's residence, beneficial ownership, limitation-on-benefits qualification and documentation (Form W-8BEN/W-8BEN-E). We do NOT serve treaty rates: they are bilateral and applying one is a legal determination rather than a lookup. The tax is imposed on the foreign recipient by IRC ss.871(a) (non-resident alien individuals) and 881(a) (foreign corporations); the payer's obligation to withhold the same 30% at source comes from ss.1441 (individuals) and 1442 (corporations). It applies only to income NOT effectively connected with a US trade or business - effectively connected income is instead taxed on a net basis by return. The 30% rate has been unchanged since the Foreign Investors Tax Act of 1966.
Get it programmatically
curl https://usaref.dev/v1/us/withholding-tax
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://usaref.dev/v1/us/withholding-tax/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://usaref.dev/provenance/us/withholding-taxOther United States series: Federal funds target range (upper bound) · Value added tax · VAT registration threshold · State general sales tax rate · Federal minimum wage (FLSA) · Federal public holidays 2026 · Consumer Price Index (CPI-U), 12-month change · Federal corporate income tax rate · Federal post-judgment interest rate (28 U.S.C. § 1961) · Federal individual income tax brackets (single filer, tax year 2026) · Statutory social-insurance contributions · Federal Reserve H.10 foreign exchange reference rates
The same figure elsewhere: Canada · Costa Rica · Dominican Republic · El Salvador · Guatemala · all 10