This article provides a nuanced understanding of the working of FATCA, a U.S.legislation and its domestic and international impact. The article discusses the working of FATCA, its compliance measures, and the challenges faced by the legislation on its way of attaining its said objective.
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act or FATCA, colloquially refers to Chapter 4 of the US Internal Revenue Code, which was enacted by the US legislature as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment ("HIRE") Act on March 18,2010. The regulations for FATCA have undergone revision since 2010 and the final regulations make the FATCA provisions effective from July 01, 2014.
The Act is essentially a measure aimed at identifying those US persons who may be evading tax through use of offshore investment vehicles and gather information on them that ensures the US Internal Revenue Services ("IRS") can collect the appropriate amount of tax from all US persons. US congress estimates that tax evasion by US persons equates to losses for the US Treasury of up to $100 billion annually.
To achieve this goal, FATCA requires Foreign Financial Institutions ("FFIs")and Non-Financial Foreign Entities ("NFFEs") to identify and disclose their US account holders and members or become subject to a new 30% U.S. withholding tax ("Withholdable Payments") on any payment of US source investment income such as interest, dividends, rents, salaries ("FDAP Income") and gross proceeds from the sale or disposition of US stocks and securities.
The overall purpose is to detect, deter and discourage offshore tax abuses through increased transparency, enhanced reporting and strong sanctions.
FATCA also contains other provisions related to US tax compliance that directly impact US taxpayers, which are not discussed herein.
Firstly, FATCA requires FFIs to provide documentation on their US account holders to IRS. If they choose to do so, they are "Participating FFIs" and the FFIs who do not provide documentation to the IRS are "Non-participating FFIs".
Equally, FATCA requires the Account Holders to provide information to Participating FFIs to establish their status as "US or non-US entity ". If they fail to do so they are labeled "Recalcitrant Account Holders" and there are certain indicators (US Indicia) to determine that an account may be a "US Account" or held by a "US Person".
FATCA also requires US payers or "Withholding Agents"to withhold a 30% tax on payments to Non-Participating FFIs or NFFEs. These payments are called "Withholdable Payments".
On the other hand, as an incentive to the Participating FFIs, FATCA authorizes them to withhold 30% on payments that fall within the definition of Withholdable Payments when made to Non-Participating FFIs or NFFEs and Recalcitrant Account Holders. These payments are called "Foreign Passthru Payments".
Therefore, under FATCA, FFIs wear two hats with distinct responsibilities - as the payor(Withholding Agent) of WithholdablePayments and as the payee (recipient) of WithholdablePayments.
The definition of an FFI is very broad and is expected to encompass a number of entities generally not considered to be Financial Institutions (FIs). An FFI is any foreign entity that:
Thus, it should be noted that all structures by which investments are made into India from the US such as investment funds, professional fund manager entities, banks, wealth planning trusts, foundation structures, etc. would typically constitute FFIs owing to the large scope of this definition.
In Notice 2010-60 and Notice 2011-34 US Treasury and the IRS identified certain types of entities as excluded from the definition of an FFI or known as Deemed Compliant.
Such entities include:
However, to obtain a Deemed Compliant status, eligible FFIs must apply to the IRS, obtain an FFI Identification Number (FFI-EIN) and certify every three years to the IRS that it meets the requirements for such treatment.
An NFFE is any foreign entity that does not meet the definition of an FFI. It generally includes any foreign entity that is not engaged in the banking or investment management business. Accordingly, NFFEs include all foreign entities that are not FFIs in which there is a US substantial ownership i.e., a Specified US Person that owns more than 10% of the foreign entity.
Certain NFFEs are excepted from FATCA and thus are accepted NFFEs. Accepted NFFEs in this regard include:
FATCA provides for FFIs in India to register with the US IRS, obtain a Global Intermediary Identification Number (GIIN) and enter into an agreement (FFI Agreement) with US IRS to report US accounts.
Alternatively, to avoid entering into an agreement and direct reporting by individual FFIs to the US IRS, there is a provision for Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between a Partner Government and US Government.
The US Treasury had released two formats of the IGA - Model 1 and Model 2.
Under Model 1 IGA says the FFIs will report information on certain account holders to their national tax authorities, which in turn will provide such information to the United States under an automatic exchange of information. In Model 2, FFIs will report information directly to the US IRS rather than their local jurisdictions.
Government of India (GoI), has advised that India and US have reached an agreement 'in substance' on the terms of an IGA Model 1 to implement FATCA and India is now treated as having an IGA 'in effect' from April 11, 2014.
The US IRS website has also reported that the jurisdictions that have reached agreements 'in substance' with the United States on the terms of IGAs can be treated as having agreements 'in effect' until the end of 2014 and India has consented to disclose this status. Therefore, we are mainly focused on Model 1 IGA and its impact.
The IGA arrangement provides for all FFIs that are resident in / organized in the jurisdiction of India to identify US accounts and report them through the Indian government to US IRS.
The major provisions of the Model I IGA that deviate from the proposed FATCA regulations are as follows :
FFIs in India would be required to report all FATCA related information to Indian governmental agencies, which would then report these information to US IRS. Some Model 1 IGAs have also provision for reciprocity, requiring the US to provide certain information about residents of the Model 1 country to the Model 1 country in exchange for the information that country provides to the US. Since India has entered into an agreement under Model 1, Indian FIs do not need to sign an FFI Agreement but register directly with the IRS. Information is delivered through Central Board of Direct Tax (CBDT).
The Model 1 IGAs does not require signatory country FIs to withhold on gross proceeds or Passthru Payments to (and close the accounts of) Recalcitrant Account Holders that fail to provide the required information to the FIs. Instead, penalties may be imposed on FIs that fail to comply.
Indian FIs are automatically deemed compliant and will not be subject to US Withholding of 30% on US sourced payments as long as they fulfill their obligation.
In case of NFFEs, for compliance under an IGA, the substantial owner test would be the controlling test, entailing that the ownership threshold would be 25%, as opposed to 10%, under FATCA.
The Model 1 IGAs permit signatory country FIs to comply with FATCA even if their affiliates or branches outside of the signatory country are prohibited by local law from complying, subject to certain requirements are met. The proposed regulations followed an all-or-none rule (subject to temporary limited exceptions) in which, in general, all members of an affiliated group must comply with FATCA.
An IGA would directly address legal impediments to implementation of FATCA such as data privacy laws, banking secrecy laws, etc.
Till now, USA has concluded Model 1 IGA with 34 countries including United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Cayman Islands, Italy, Mauritius and Model 2 IGA with 5 countries Austria, Bermuda, Chile, Japan and Switzerland. Also, there are 54 jurisdictions that have reached agreements in substance with USA including India, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, UAE. The entire list can be accessed at -
Regarded as one of the most controversial extra-territorial tax legislations, FATCA is likely to impact various types of FIs in India. As FATCA will require Indian FIs to submit detailed information on their US customers, there is significant pressure on the financial services sector to get their compliance and IT systems in place so that they can be FATCA Compliant.
FATCA will have wide implications on FFI with regard to the reporting requirements, which will require major changes in the system to generate the information as required by the IRS. For the FFI groups, this would involve identifying US accounts, complying with due diligence procedures and reporting annually for US account; providing any further information upon request, withholding on any Passthru Payments to Recalcitrant Account Holders or Non-Participating FFIs.
Financial Implications -
Because of FATCA, participating FFIs will need to invest in three key areas :
FFIs will be required to carry out major technological changes in their existing systems to comply with reporting requirement under FATCA. Numerous unrelated systems must be addressed and modified to enable newly sought information on reporting and withholding.
There would be customer implications on account of sharing sensitive information and the onus is on the banks to close the customer's accounts in case they do not permit reporting of accounts in jurisdictions where confidentiality norms are applicable.
There is limited l awareness about FATCA, its requirements and its resulting impact on businesses, which will necessitate early, senior-level commitment and communication. If employees fail to comply with FATCA, there could be penalties for the FFI.
FATCA is not just another tax issue that affects aspects of compliance, rather, it touches the entire value chain and requires an overhaul on information and reporting systems. Therefore, FFIs need to put together a process to meet the FATCA implementation deadline and fast. .
However, IGA would be signed only after the approval of the cabinet, and it will be desirable if the entities initiate the process to sensitize their staff, dealing with NRI/PIO accounts to obtain -
Incidentally, G20 in their meeting held on September 06, 2013 endorsed an accord for exchange of information regarding the accounts opened by citizens of one member country in another member country within the G20, to which India is also a signatory. A Common Reporting Standard on Automatic Exchange of Information was further endorsed by G20 Finance Ministers' in their February, 2014 meeting. It was also decided that to adopt rules for exchange of information by entering into Competent Authority Agreement (CAA) between the G20 member states. This arrangement was be made effective in 2015 and would be broadly in the lines of FATCA.
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