IGA List Expands To 55 (And Mexico IGA Revised)

60 days remain until the July 1st deadline that FATCA’s 30% withholding applies to payments from US sources.

But of immediate importance is the 4 days remaining for foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to register by May 5 with the IRS to obtain a GIIN and to be included on the IRS’ list of participating FFIs in order to avoid the attracting the 30% withholding by US withholding agents.  Yet, as of April 30th, the list of IGAs now to be treated in effect is only, including 28 that have been signed and 27 that have only been agreed in substance.  Firms in the other 100 jurisdictions, many who expected last minute relief, are now in a panic. Read More

Australia’s Treasurer Joe Hockey announced on Tuesday that Australia and the United States “…signed an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) to reduce the burden on Australian financial institutions in complying with the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).”

The treasurer commented that the agreement would assist Australian financial institutions to comply with FATCA and minimise the costs of doing so. He also mentioned that “…it broadens arrangements between the Australian Taxation Office and the US Internal Revenue Service” and that it “…will also improve existing tax information-sharing arrangements between Australia and the United States, for the purpose of presenting tax evasion.” Read More

On Friday, April 18, 2014, we posted “FATCA Picking Up Momentum And U.S. Gives Foreign Banks More Time to Register”, where we discussed the Internal Revenue Service’s Announcement 2014-17 which provides that countries that have FATCA agreements “in substance” with the United States will be seen as complying with the law, even if the agreements are not finalized by December 31, 2014.

This announcement increased to 48 from 26 the number of countries that have “intergovernmental agreements” (IGAs) with the United States, which allow a country’s financial institutions to comply with FATCA via their domestic regulators. This would include Brazil, South Korea and South Africa, among other countries, who are in the process of negotiating IGA with the US. Read More

FATCA and the Nominee –

Part I of this post can be found here.

By brief background, under FATCA, foreign financial institutions (FFIs) must agree to verification and due diligence procedures – meaning they must be on the look-out for customers, owners or beneficiaries evidencing any “US indicia”. They must identify and report information on US account holders/owners directly to the Internal Revenue Service or to their own government via an intergovernmental agreement (IGA). They must look through their customers and counterparties’ ownership to find “substantial US owners” (generally, more than 10% ownership) of any entities holding accounts at the financial institution. Read More

Foreign financial institutions (FFIs) and US withholding agents (USWAs) have presented compliance concerns to Treasury and the IRS about the status of FFIs in jurisdictions that are known to be in an advanced stage of concluding an IGA, but have not yet signed such agreement.  Treasury has signed IGAs with 26 jurisdictions and has reached agreements in substance or is in advanced discussions with many others.

Treasury and the IRS have on April 2, 2014 issued Announcement 2014-17 to provide some level of comfort to FFIs in such jurisdictions that already have reached an IGA in substance and to USWAs paying agents.

Moreover, the IRS has also granted an extension of 10 (ten) days, previously April 25 but Read More

The U.S. and Italy have signed an intergovernmental Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Italy to Improve International Tax Compliance and to Implement FATCA.

The U.S. Treasury Department on January10, 2014 said it signed an anti-tax evasion pact with Italy, which became the 13th country to sign such a deal with the United States.

“Today’s announcement is another important step forward in the fight against international tax evasion, and underscores FATCA’s growing momentum and international support,” Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs Robert B. Stack said in a January 10, 2014 statement. Read More

A report published by the China Post in Taiwan on Sunday, hinted that another six-month delay may be likely in implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”). If the report is correct, this would be the third delay in rolling out what has been described by many as the most over-reaching and egregious US legislation to come down the pike. In October 2012 and again in July of 2013, the US announced six-month delays in implementing FATCA due to the practical difficulties in setting up the measures required to have foreign financial institutions around the world reporting about their United States customers.

If the latest report is true, it would be the third time that the US has delayed implementing FATCA. Perhaps, third time, the charm? Read More

The Internal Revenue Service has just issued Revenue Procedure 2014-10 which provides guidance to foreign financial institutions (FFIs) entering into an FFI agreement with the IRS for FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) purposes. The final version of the FFI agreement is set forth in meticulous detail in the Revenue Procedure. The final FFI agreement contained in the Revenue Procedure contains a number of changes to provisions of the draft FFI agreement set out in an earlier IRS Notice (Notice 2013-69 2013-46 I.R.B. 503), on October 29, 2013.

Who Should Sign the FFI Agreement?

FFIs signing the FFI agreement will be treated as “participating FFIs”. Generally, these are Read More

Foreign Financial Institutions are not getting the best of Christmas presents this year. Instead of getting sugar plums in their stockings, they are getting FATCA and GIIN!

By brief background, under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, (FATCA), foreign financial institutions (FFIs) and non-financial foreign entities (NFFEs) must agree to verification and due diligence procedures – meaning they must be on the look-out for customers, owners or beneficiaries evidencing any “US indicia”. They must identify and report directly to the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or their own government via an intergovernmental agreement (IGA), information on US account holders/owners. They must look through their customers and counterparties’ ownership to find “substantial United States owners” (generally, more than 10 percent ownership). Read More

In his contribution to the House of Assembly, on August 12, 2013, Minister of Financial Services Ryan Pinder said that the Bahamas Government has agreed that the country will achieve compliance under the United States Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) by negotiating and entering into a Model 1 Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the United States Department of the Treasury.

Minister Pinder said: “The Government of The Bahamas has also agreed to the establishment of an inter-Ministerial committee on FATCA under the leadership of the Ministry of Financial Services be established with the following mandate: to prepare an implementation strategy for FATCA, inclusive of the draft FATCA Agreement; to prepare and Read More

The United States Department of the Treasury announced today that the United States has signed an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with France to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Enacted in 2010, FATCA aims to curtail offshore tax evasion by facilitating the exchange of tax information.

With today’s agreement, 10 FATCA IGAs have been signed to date.

“France has been an enthusiastic supporter of our effort to promote global tax transparency and critical to drafting a model of FATCA implementation,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs Robert B. Stack. “This agreement demonstrates the growing global momentum behind FATCA and strong support from the world’s most important Read More

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