PwC launches Intergovernmental agreement monitor

The expected wave of intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) implementing the tax reporting and withholding procedures commonly associated with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has begun. This is not surprising considering the recent US Department of Treasury announcement that it is engaged with more than 50 countries and jurisdictions around the world to improve international tax compliance and implement FATCA.

Given the ever changing series of events, PwC has launched an IGA monitor to help those organisations affected by the legislation to keep up-to-date with the release of these IGAs and identify some of their unique differences by providing firms with: Potential actions to think about as they look at the impact of the IGAs on their FATCA program; a high-level overview of signed IGAs; and the latest intergovernmental developments.

The IGAs provide that the governments in each respective country will enact legislation or issue guidance on how foreign financial institutions (FFIs) can comply with the information reporting and withholding tax provisions commonly referred to as the FATCA regime. The details needed to implement changes to various processes such as account opening, customer onboarding, customer due diligence, documentation, and tax reporting and withholding will be derived from that guidance.

The IGA Monitor details the current state of play with FATCA and 50 countries/jurisdictions, in the following general status categories: Agreement signed and released; Agreement signed or initialed but text not officially released; Final negotiations underway; Actively engaged in a dialogue; Working to explore options

For more information on the IGA monitor, click here.