U.S.A.: FATCA: Notice 2016-08: Amendments to Regulations under Chapters 3 and 4

On 19 January 2016, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2016-08 to announce their intention to amend certain regulations under Chapters 3 and 4 of the Internal Revenue Code as follows:

• Modify the date for submitting to the IRS the pre-existing account certifications required of certain foreign financial institutions (FFIs);
• Specify the period and date for submitting to the IRS the periodic certification of compliance described for a registered deemed compliant FFI;
• Modify the transitional information reporting rules for accounts of non-participating FFIs to eliminate the requirement to report on gross proceeds for the 2015 year; and
• Specify the circumstances under which a withholding agent may rely on electronically furnished Forms W-8 and W-9 collected by intermediaries and flow-through entities.

Taxpayers may rely upon the rules described in Notice 2016-08 prior to the issuance of these amended regulations.

We continue to monitor the implementation of FATCA and will provide more information as it becomes available.