FATCA - Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act

FATCA: A New Disclosure and Withholding Regime

(Source: Deloitte Website 01-17-2011)

Under newly proposed U.S. Treasury Code Sections 1471 through 1474, effective for payments after December 31, 2012, all foreign financial institutions (FFIs) will be required to enter into disclosure compliance agreements with the U.S. Treasury, and all non-financial foreign entities (NFFEs) must report and/or certify their ownership or be subject to the same 30 percent withholding. This new reporting and withholding regime will ultimately impact current account opening processes, transaction processing systems and “know your customer” procedures utilized by foreign banks. Chief compliance officers, tax reporting heads and other key players within your organization will need to evaluate the potential impact of these regulations and develop a plan for managing and remediating any potential risk associated with Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) non-compliance.

Relevance and Impact

The legislative intent of FATCA is to ensure there is no gap in the ability of the U.S. government to determine the ownership of U.S. assets in foreign accounts. As such, this revenue raising provision, which was originally enacted as a part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act (Pub. L. No. 111-147), is expected to significantly impact the systems and operations of both U.S. and non-U.S. companies. While the regulations have not been finalized to date, companies will likely need to make modifications to their internal systems, control frameworks, processes and procedures for timely compliance with these regulations on or before their effective date of January 1, 2013.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act 2013年上路

(閱讀完整新聞: 01-18-2011 聯合新聞網)

      美國要求各國金融業者於2013年起，依照「外國帳戶稅收遵從法」（FATCA，Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act）向美國國稅局 (IRS)揭露美籍客戶帳戶資訊。要求全球金融機構簽屬「外國金融機構協定」（FFI，Foreign Financial Institutions Agreement）並提供具美國籍身分客戶的帳戶資料，揭露其收入、所得、資本利得，否則將對金融機構在美國資本利得強制扣繳30%的稅。此舉不僅衝擊台灣的個人資料保護法，對美籍或非美籍公司之內部控制系統及運作也將有重大影響，金融業的開戶流程及了解客戶 (KYC, Know Your Customer) 程序也將有變化。