Documents detailing answers to two sets of FAQs - frequently asked questions - have been posted by the US Internal Revenue Service as part of its ongoing work to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act - Fatca.
Documents detailing answers to two sets of FAQs – frequently asked questions – have been posted by the US Internal Revenue Service as part of its ongoing work to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act – Fatca.
The documents have been posted on www.irs.gov.
The first set of FAQs covers registration system questions. This includes linkes to information providing an overview of the system, as well as to resources intended to assist those engaged in the registration process.
An example of a FAQ is in the question “What languages will the registration system be available in?”.
The answer is: “The registration system will be in English only; however only certain special characters will be accepted (~ ! @ # % ^ * ( ) ? , . ).”
Arguably these characters may be well known to those who have already had difficulties with the registration process.
The second set of FAQs covers Fatca issues involving qualified intermediaries, and address issues involving registrations and IGAs (Intergovernmental Agreements). This includes answers to questions regarding the two different models that the US government has negotiated – and in many cases still is – with foreign governments to ensure reporting of tax related data from overseas.
However, it is important to understand the acronyms being used by the IRS, as the example suggests: “How do FIs that are currently QIs, WPs and WTs renew their agreements?”
Links to the FAQ documents are:
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Corporations/FAQsFATCARegistrationSystem
and
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Corporations/Frequently-Asked-Questions-FAQs-FATCA–Compliance-Legal
