HMRC has confirmed UK Ministers' response to IRS Notice 2014-33. The announcement confirmed that there would be no 6 month delay for UK Financial Institutions regarding the FATCA onboarding obligations for new entity account holders.
The UK will not adopt the proposed delay to the requirements for onboarding of new entity accounts. UK Financial Institutions will consequently be required to obtain self-certifications from new customers (both Entities and Individuals) from 1 July 2014.
It is the Ministers' view that this will maintain consistency between Entity and Individual on-boarding processes, as well as between the due diligence obligations for UK Financial Institutions under both the US and Crown Dependencies/Overseas Territories reporting regimes.
HMRC has also confirmed that the delay to the commencement of withholding announced by the US will still apply to UK Financial Institutions. This is relevant for those insitutions which act as intermediaries for US source payments to Nonparticipating Financial Institutions.
It is understood that 1 July 2014 implementation date in respect of UK FATCA will remain in place for Financial Institutions located in the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories. However, those jurisdictions should be able to choose to implement the 6 month delay in respect of entity onboarding for US FATCA only.
UK Financial Institutions must ensure that they have properly considered the onboarding requirements and are prepared to comply from 1 July 2014.
Should you have any questions please contact me or visit our website at www.deloitte.co.uk/FATCA.
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