FATCA – Do you have your FATCA deadlines under control?

During the spring of 2020, the IRS published a series of new FATCA FAQs on its  FATCA – FAQs General  page. Not much of substance has changed, and the new FAQs mainly dealt with deadline extensions in light of the COVID-19 situation. There are different deadlines you need to keep check of.

Reporting

Reporting Q4 sets out that an extension to file a FATCA Report (Form 8966) to the IRS for Reporting Model 2 FFI and Participating FFIs will due to the COVID-19 virus be granted until July 15, 2020. No application for extension of time must be filed in this case. If you have not yet filed your FATCA returns for Model 2 FFIs and Participating FFIs, now is the time to start acting [NR1] [LS2] as the extended deadline approaches.

There is also an extension granted for Model 1 IGA jurisdictions to file their FATCA data for tax year 2019 until December 31, 2020, as seen under Reporting Q5. Please however note that this deadline refers to when the authorities in the IGA 1 jurisdictions must have transferred the data to the IRS, and not the reporting deadlines for FFIs to file their FATCA returns in the respective IGA 1 jurisdictions. We are keeping track of country specific deadlines in a dedicated blog post "the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on CRS and FATCA reporting deadlines".

FATCA Certifications

Under FATCA Certifications Q21, the question “Due to the COVID-19 virus, will an entity with a FATCA certification due date of July 1, 2020 be granted an automatic extension of time to submit the certification to the IRS?” is answered with a “Yes”. The deadline for FTACA certifications that are due  July 1, 2020 has been extended to December 15, 2020. The new due date will automatically show on the FATCA registration system, and there is no need to file for an extension.

Registration Update

Apart from this, Registration Update Q18 is dealing with terminated agreements. If the IRS has determined a problem with your agreement, your registration status will be “Agreement Terminated”. You should have received a message on your message board explaining the issue with your registration.

Please note, if you have registered for a Global Intermediary Identification Number (“GIIN”), the FI will be removed from the Foreign Financial Institution (“FFI”) List due to non-compliance with the FATCA certification requirement. If you require a GIIN, you must contact the IRS Foreign Payment Practice by email in order to apply for reinstatement. Please follow  the Procedures for FATCA Certification Event of Default Notices .