Form 8813 due dates fall on the 15th day of the 4th, 6th, 9th, and 12th months of the partnership’s tax year. For a calendar-year partnership, that works out to April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year.1Internal Revenue Service. Reporting and Paying Tax on Partnership Withholding A separate Form 8813 voucher accompanies each of the four payments, which remit Section 1446 withholding on effectively connected income allocated to foreign partners.2Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8813, Partnership Withholding Tax Payment Voucher (Section 1446) Miss one and the penalty hits the partnership, not the foreign partner.
The Four Quarterly Deadlines
For a calendar-year partnership, the installment schedule is:
- 1st installment: April 15
- 2nd installment: June 15
- 3rd installment: September 15
- 4th installment: January 15 of the following year
When a due date lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. The January 15 payment closes out the prior year’s estimated withholding, but it is not a final settlement. The partnership still owes a separate annual return (Form 8804) by the 15th day of the 3rd month after year-end, with per-partner Forms 8805 attached.1Internal Revenue Service. Reporting and Paying Tax on Partnership Withholding
Fiscal-Year Partnerships
The schedule tracks the partnership’s own tax year, not the calendar. The formula is always the 15th day of the 4th, 6th, 9th, and 12th months of whatever tax year you use. A partnership with a fiscal year ending June 30, for example, counts from July 1 and owes installments on October 15, December 15, March 15, and June 15.1Internal Revenue Service. Reporting and Paying Tax on Partnership Withholding
Section 1446 tax is paid in installments across the tax year, and a Form 8813 voucher must accompany each payment.3eCFR. 26 CFR 1.1446-3 – Time and Manner of Calculating and Paying Over the 1446 Tax
How to Pay on Time
The IRS prefers electronic payment through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), a free Treasury service that provides immediate confirmation. EFTPS payments must be initiated at least one business day before the due date to post on time. If your partnership has not enrolled, allow several days to set up the account before you need to make a payment.
You can also mail a completed Form 8813 with a check or money order payable to “United States Treasury.” Write the partnership’s EIN, name, address, tax year, and “Form 8813” on the check. A mailed payment must be postmarked by the quarterly deadline to count as timely.
Which Partnerships Owe These Payments
Section 1446 requires any partnership with effectively connected taxable income (ECTI) to withhold on the share allocated to foreign partners.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 1446 – Withholding of Tax on Foreign Partners’ Share of Effectively Connected Income It applies whether the partnership itself is domestic or foreign, and it reaches LLCs taxed as partnerships. If the income is tied to a U.S. trade or business and any share flows to a foreign partner, the quarterly Form 8813 schedule applies.5Internal Revenue Service. Partnership Withholding
A foreign partner is anyone who is not a U.S. person: nonresident alien individuals, foreign corporations, foreign partnerships, foreign trusts, and foreign estates.6Internal Revenue Service. Who Must Withhold on Partnership Withholding The partnership determines status by collecting a Form W-8BEN from individual foreign partners or Form W-8BEN-E from foreign entity partners. Without valid documentation, the partnership treats the partner as foreign and withholds anyway.
Each quarter, the partnership estimates ECTI for the period, allocates it among foreign partners, applies the statutory maximum rate (21% for corporate foreign partners, 37% for noncorporate), and remits the total with Form 8813.6Internal Revenue Service. Who Must Withhold on Partnership Withholding
Penalties for Missing a Due Date
A partnership that fails to deposit Section 1446 tax by the quarterly deadline owes a tiered penalty under Section 6656, calculated as a percentage of the underpaid amount:7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6656 – Failure to Make Deposit of Taxes
- 1 to 5 days late: 2% of the underpayment
- 6 to 15 days late: 5% of the underpayment
- More than 15 days late: 10% of the underpayment
- Still unpaid 10 days after the first IRS delinquency notice: 15% of the underpayment
The penalty is charged to the partnership, not the foreign partner. On top of the deposit penalty, the IRS charges interest on any late amount from the due date until payment. The underpayment interest rate equals the federal short-term rate plus three percentage points and is recalculated each quarter.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6621 – Determination of Rate of Interest
Underpaying a required installment during the year can also trigger an addition to tax under Section 6655, which functions like an interest charge running from each installment’s due date until the earlier of the annual return due date or the date the shortfall is paid.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6655 – Failure by Corporation to Pay Estimated Income Tax That charge applies even when the annual Form 8804 ultimately shows the correct total, because the installments themselves were late.
Reasonable-Cause Relief
The IRS evaluates penalty relief case by case. The partnership must show it exercised ordinary care and was still unable to pay on time, and the analysis focuses on the person with authority to submit the deposit.10Internal Revenue Service. Penalty Relief for Reasonable Cause
Circumstances the IRS generally accepts include fires or natural disasters, inability to access records, serious illness or death of the responsible person, and system failures that blocked a timely electronic payment. Circumstances that generally do not qualify include lack of knowledge of the filing requirement, reliance on a tax professional, and simple oversight.10Internal Revenue Service. Penalty Relief for Reasonable Cause “We didn’t know about Section 1446” is not a defense the IRS tends to accept, so partnerships with foreign partners should put all four dates on the compliance calendar from the start.
Publicly Traded Partnerships Follow a Different Schedule
If you hold units in a publicly traded partnership as a foreign investor, this quarterly schedule does not apply. A publicly traded partnership withholds on actual distributions when they are paid, not on allocable ECTI quarterly, and it reports on Forms 1042 and 1042-S rather than Forms 8804, 8805, and 8813.11eCFR. 26 CFR 1.1446-4 – Publicly Traded Partnerships The withholding rates (21% or 37%) are the same, but the timing is tied to distributions.