64
IGAs Published or in Effect
2
IGAs "agreed in substance" have been added this past week,
importantly Hong Kong, and to the chagrin of Turkish diplomats - Armenia.
The IGA with Gibraltar has also been released
and thus added to the published list. This brings the total IGAs published
and treated as in effect up to 64, comprised of 27 published Model 1, 5
published Model 2, while 30 Model 1 have been agreed in substance and 2 of
the Model 2 agreed.
Yet, the important US foreign direct investment jurisdictions
of China and Taiwan, as well as the Middle Eastern jurisdictions of United
Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, remain deafeningly absent from the list as of
May 9. Commentators do not think that Russia, given the geopolitical
tension over the Ukraine and Crimea, will enter the IGA list by the July
1 start of FATCA withholding.
148
IGAs still left to be agreed by Treasury?
The
USA recognizes 195 independent
states in the world, 67 dependencies
of states, and has contacts with Taiwan. But not each of these 67
dependencies requires an IGA.
Approximately
16 dependencies of the 67 have both local responsibility with regard to tax
policy and more than de minimis US source income exposure, such as investments
in US Treasuries, for the local authorities to seek an IGA. Such dependencies
include by example Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and Hong Kong. Taiwan has its
own peculiar status, claiming to represent the central government of greater
China (the US of course recognizes Beijing). Other dependencies, like the
French departments of French Guiana,
Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte and Reunion, do not have local responsibility
for fiscal policy and thus are protected within the IGA of the parent-state.
And a host of dependencies, such as Antarctica and various atolls, have
no (current) global economic relevance.
Thus, 195 recognized states and 16 economically relevant,
semi-autonomous dependencies form the pool of 212 states and jurisdictions that
probably could benefit from an IGA. As of May 9th, 64 have an IGA
recognized by US Treasury, leaving 148 without.
What
if these 148 Non-IGA countries agree an IGA after July 1?
FATCA Portal registration remains
open, but the formal IRS deadline for inclusion on the June 2nd GIIN list of
participating foreign financial institutions (“PFFI”) passed May 5th. See
my previous article about
the May 5th deadline and consequences of its passing that applied to all FFIs
in the non-IGA states and jurisdictions.
Did
all the FFIs that are in the 148 countries and jurisdictions that do not
have an IGA register for a GIIN?
There is not one reliable number of
how many financial entities in the world qualify as a financial institution
requiring FATCA registration. Industry experts have put forward a reasonable
range of 20,000 to 30,000 such entities that qualify as FFIs that still need to
register or complete registration for a GIIN, though figures as high as 80,000
have been suggested (probably such estimates include branches in the count of
financial institutions). The list of FFIs requiring registration includes
by example trusts companies, investment funds, and banks.
It
is possible that on July 1st an unregistered FFI is considered
non-participating (NPFFI) for purposes of FATCA withholding, but by example, on
August 1st its country agrees an IGA in substance that Treasury announces on
its FATCA site and the NPFFI goes back to FFI non-withholding status because of
the extension related to IGAs, at least until that final December 22 deadline
mentioned in Announcement 2014-1. Model 1 IGA FFIs with
a GIIN are classified as "Registered
Deemed-Compliant Foreign Financial Institutions" (RDCFFI) on the new W8-BEN-E (see previous article) instead
of as Participating Foreign Financial Institutions (PFFIs) pursuant to the
regular FATCA FFI agreement and Model 2 IGA.
Was
the May 5th Deadline a Hard Deadline?
Maybe Not.
The IRS states the following on its FATCA Registration Portal:
“the IRS believes it can ensure registering FFIs that their GIINs will be
included on the July 1 IRS FFI List if their registrations are finalized
by June 3, 2014.” (See Notice 2014-17, page 6: “FFIs that finalize their
registrations after May 5 or June 3 may still be included on
the June 2 or July 1 IRS FFI List, respectively; however, the IRS cannot
provide assurance that this will be the case. The IRS will continue processing
registrations in the order received; however, processing times may increase as
the May 5 and June 3 dates approach.”)
Moreover,
the IRS built in a 90 day safeguard for FFIs when a GIIN has been applied for
but not yet received:
§1.1471-3(e)(3) Participating FFIs and registered deemed-compliant FFIs—(i) In general. ... A payee whose registration with the IRS as a participating FFI or a registered deemed-compliant FFI is in process but has not yet received a GIIN may provide a withholding agent with a Form W-8 claiming the chapter 4 status it applied for and writing “applied for” in the box for the GIIN. In such case, the FFI will have 90 calendar days from the date of its claim to provide the withholding agent with its GIIN and the withholding agent will have 90 calendar days from the date it receives the GIIN to verify the accuracy of the GIIN against the published IRS FFI list before it has reason to know that the payee is not a participating FFI or registered deemed-compliant FFI. ... (emphasis added)
Do
FFIs in IGA countries have an extension until December 22 for FATCA
Registration?
Financial institutions (FFIs) in the 64 IGA countries have an
extension to register with the IRS in order to obtain a GIIN and thus appear on
the IRS' FATCA compliant list. FATCA 30% withholding for FFIs in these
Model 1 IGA countries and jurisdictions only begins January 1, 2015. See
Reg. § 1.1471-3(d)(4)(iv)(A):
§ 1.1471-3(d)(4)(iv) Exceptions for payments to reporting Model 1 FFIs.— (A) For payments made prior to January 1, 2015, a withholding agent may treat the payee as a reporting Model 1 FFI if it receives a withholding certificate from the payee indicating that the payee is a reporting Model 1 FFI and the country in which the payee is a reporting Model 1 FFI, regardless of whether the certificate contains a GIIN for the payee.
The
situation of the last list to be published for 2014 and, more importantly, the
last date to register as a Model 1 FFI to ensure being included on that list,
is somewhat fluid. In the past 18 months, the IRS has several times
amended its deadlines and its timelines for GIIN registration. Thus, it
is at least feasible that another registration or withholding start date
extension is granted before the end of 2014 (obviously Treasury will vehemently
deny any more extensions on the horizon, but last year it did not expect a
government shut down and this year it extended the registration date by at
least 10 days weeks before the deadline of April 25).
In
its January 6, 2014 Announcement 2014-1 (IRB
2014-2), the IRS stated:
Thus, while reporting Model 1 FIs will be able to register and obtain GIINs on or after January 1, 2014, they will not need to register or obtain GIINs until on or about December 22, 2014, to ensure inclusion on the IRS FFI list by January 1, 2015. (emphasis added)
However, at least one IGA country is suggesting an earlier
(perhaps more prudent) date than December 22, 2014 for GIIN registration in
order to be included on the IRS' last 2014 FATCA compliant list. The
United Kingdom's Law Society and Institute of Chartered Accountants in May 2014
published combined guidance to members stating:
To ensure that the registration has been processed in time for inclusion on that list the last practical date for registration is 25 October 2014.
The IRS will release its final 2014 list of FATCA compliant
financial institutions (thus not subject to FATCA 30% withholding on January 1,
2015 and onward) most likely on Wednesday, December 31, 2014 (according to the
United Kingdom guidance quoted above), albeit it seems just as reasonable for a
Friday, January 2 list to be released. Either way, the 90 day safeguard
mentioned above is in place.
What Deadlines has Treasury NOT moved?
For
“individual” held accounts, Treasury has neither provided an extension to the
FATCA compliance requirements, nor from withholding as of July 1st. Thus,
from July 1 these accounts must be characterized as “new” accounts for FATCA
diligence procedures to determine whether the beneficial owner is a US person.
For
accounts of ‘entities’ , while an FFI may still characterize accounts opened
until December 31 as “pre-existing” accounts, Treasury did not mention
extending the deadlines applicable for FATCA diligence procedures to
determine whether the entity’s beneficial owner is a US person.
The
pre-existing account due diligence analysis remains with three deadlines:
- December 31, 2014 for prima
facie FFI account holders,
- June 30, 2015 for high value
accounts, and
- June 30, 2016 for all remaining
accounts, such as “pre-existing” entity accounts).
Note
that FATCA withholding does not apply to all FATCA withholdable payments
immediately on July 1. FATCA has a phase-in period for withholding on
certain types of payments, see Ch 13: Withholdable Payments.
LIST OF IGAs as of May 11, 2014
Model
1 IGA = 30 (in
red added since my > last IGA update <
of May 6)
- Bahamas (4-17-2014)
- Brazil (4-2-2014)
- British Virgin Islands
(4-2-2014)
- Bulgaria (4-23-2014)
- Columbia (4-23-2014)
- Croatia (4-2-2014)
- CuraƧao (4-30-2014)
- Czech Republic (4-2-2014)
- Cyprus (4-22-2014)
- India (4-11-2014)
- Indonesia
(5-4-2014)
- Israel (4-28-2014)
- Kosovo (4-2-2014)
- Kuwait (5-1-2014)
- Latvia (4-2-2014)
- Liechtenstein
(4-2-2014)
- Lithuania
(4-2-2014)
- New Zealand
(4-2-2014)
- Panama
(5-1-2014)
- Peru (5-1-2014)
- Poland (4-2-2014)
- Portugal (4-2-2014)
- Qatar (4-2-2014)
- Singapore
(5-5-2014)
- Slovak Republic (4-11-2014)
- Slovenia (4-2-2014)
- South Africa (4-2-2014)
- South Korea (4-2-2014)
- Sweden (4-24-2014)
- Romania (4-2-2014)
Model 2 IGA = 2
- Armenia (5-8-2014) <— new
- Hong Kong (5-9-2014) <— new
jurisdiction that have signed and entered into a formal IGA
Model 1 IGA = 27
- Australia (4-28-2014)
- Belgium (4-23-2014)
- Canada
(2-5-2014)
- Cayman Islands (11-29-2013)
- Costa Rica (11-26-2013)
- Denmark (11-19-2012)
- Estonia (4-11-2014)
- Finland (3-5-2014)
- France (11-14-2013)
- Germany (5-31-2013)
- Gibraltar (5-8-2014) <— IGA published, moved from above
- Guernsey (12-13-2013)
- Hungary
(2-4-2014)
- Honduras (3-31-2014)
- Ireland (1-23-2013)
- Isle of Man (12-13-2013)
- Italy (1-10-2014)
- Jamaica (5-2-2014)
- Jersey (12-13-2013)
- Luxembourg (3-28-2014)
- Malta (12-16-2013)
- Mauritius (12-27-2013)
- Mexico (4-17-2014)
- Netherlands (12-18-2013)
- Norway (4-15-2013)
- Spain (5-14-2013)
- United Kingdom (9-12-2012)
Model 2 IGA = 5
The LexisNexis® Guide to FATCA Compliance (2nd Edition) comprises 34 Chapters grouped in three parts: compliance program (Chapters 1–4), analysis of FATCA regulations (Chapters 5–16) and analysis of Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs) and local law compliance requirements (Chapters 17–34), including information exchange protocols and systems.
If you are interested in discussing the online law degree in international taxation and financial services, then please call, skype, or email me. My office in San Diego at (619) 961-4211 or Skype with me “professorbyrnes”. Email: profbyrnes@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment