Tag Archive for FATCA Compliance

France Signs On To FATCA Compliance – Financial Institutions Still Not Prepared

France just hopped on the FATCA express November 14, becoming the 10th nation to sign an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the United States. FATCA, as the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act” is commonly called, was enacted in 2010, but has been implemented in stages. It has seen several delays and while many hold hope it will never be finally implemented, all indications are that FATCA’s momentum is unstoppable.

Generally, FATCA requires foreign (non-US) financial institutions (FFI) to sign an agreement with the US government to report information about accounts held by US persons or accounts held by foreign entities in which US persons have a substantial interest. If the FFI Read More

Written by | Posted in Europe, Middle East • FATCA

IRS Delays FATCA Registration For Six Months!

Fatca Flag[1]We posted on Wednesday, July 10, 2013 “FACTA Registration is Set To Begin in July!” which discusses that starting on July 15, 2013, the United States is scheduled to begin registering foreign financial firms with U.S. customers for a new anti-tax evasion law know as FATCA. Today the IRS issued Notice 2013-43, which provides Six-Month Extension for FATCA Withholding!  This notice provides a six-month extension for when withholding will begin (i.e., payments after June 30, 2014) and for implementing new account opening procedures as well as related requirements to comply with FATCA.

In the preamble to the final regulations, Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service announced their intent to create a FATCA registration website, which would serve as the primary way for FFIs to interact with the IRS to complete the required registration, agreements, and certifications. The preamble stated that the FATCA registration website would be accessible to FFIs no later than July 15, 2013.

After approval of its registration, each PFFI and registered deemed-compliant FFI would be assigned a global intermediary identification number (GIIN), which would be used both for reporting purposes and to identify the FFI’s status to withholding agents. The preamble provided that the IRS would electronically post the first list of PFFIs and registered deemed-compliant FFIs (IRS FFI List) on December 2, 2013, and would update the list on a monthly basis. To ensure inclusion on the December 2013 IRS FFI List, FFIs would need to register by October 25, 2013.   Read More

Written by | Posted in United States