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What is FATCA ?
FATCA stands for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. It is a new piece of legislation to help counter tax evasion in the US. Introduced by the United States Department of Treasury (Treasury) and the US Internal Revenue Service(IRS), the purpose of FATCA is to encourage better tax compliance by preventing US persons (see glossary) from using brokers and other financial organisations to avoid US taxation on their income and assets.
A significant number of countries worldwide are expected to sign inter-governmental agreements (IGAs) relating to FATCA compliance with the United States government. These IGAs will result in the FATCA legislation becoming part of these countries’ local laws (please refer to the glossary for IGA definition).
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What is the impact of FATCA ?
On an annual basis, brokers and other financial organisations will be required to report information on financial accounts held directly or indirectly by US persons.
Tunisie Valeurs is committed to being fully FATCA compliant in all countries where we operate. We will therefore be reviewing our existing customer base to confirm the FATCA statuses of our customers and where necessary we may have to contact our customers for further information and documentation.
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How do I know if I am affected ?
FATCA legislation affects both personal and business customers who are treated as a US person (see glossary) for US tax purposes. The FATCA legislation also affects certain types of businesses withUS owners.
The term ‘US person’ includes the following (but is not limited to):
- a citizen of the US, including an individual born in the US but resident in another country (who has notgiven up their US citizenship)
- a person residing in the US, including US green card holders
- certain persons who spend a significant number of days in the US each year
- US corporations, US partnerships, US estates and US trusts. We will be reviewing the impact of the legislation for our customers, and will provide further information to affected customers in due course. For more information regarding FATCA, please visit the IRS website: External site: Link opens in an overlay or contact your tax professional.
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When will the FATCA legislation become effective ?
The FATCA legislation became effective on 1 July 2014.
Tunisie Valeurs is committed to being fully FATCA compliant in all countries where we operate, in accordance with the legislative timeline.
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Is Tunisie Valeurs the only broker to be affected by FATCA ?
No. All brokers and other financial organisations are affected by FATCA, however their approach to adopting FATCA may differ. Tunisie Valeurs is committed to being fully FATCA compliant in all countries where we operate.
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What does Tunisie Valeurs have to do to comply with FATCA ?
To comply with FATCA, Tunisie Valeurs will:
- Conduct a review of new and existing customers to identify those that are reportable under FATCA. Business customers will be classified according to the FATCA legislation (For example, a US persons, foreign financial institutions or non-financial foreign entities.)
- Report information to the IRS or local tax authority on all accounts held directly or indirectly by US persons. In addition, Tunisie Valeurs may also need to report information about customers who do not provide the required documentation to us. In certain circumstances and where customers fail to provide the appropriate documentation or when doing business with non-compliant entities, Tunisie Valeurs may be required to apply 30% US withholding tax on certain types of US income paid to such customers. (Please refer to the glossary for the definitions of US persons, foreign financial institutions, non-financial foreign entities and withholding tax.)