FATCA stands for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. The law was established to help counter tax evasion in the US.

On an annual basis, Banks and other financial organisations will be required to report information on financial accounts held directly or indirectly by US persons. We will therefore be reviewing our existing client base to confirm FATCA status of our customers and where necessary we may contact our customers for further information and documentation.

FATCA legislation will affect both personal and business customers who are treated as a ‘US Person’ for US tax purposes. The FATCA legislation will also affect certain types of businesses with US owners.

The term ''United States person'' means:

• A citizen or resident of the United States
• A domestic partnership;
• A domestic corporation;
• Any estate other than a foreign estate;
• Any trust if:

  i. A court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust, and

  ii. One or more United States persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust

• Any other person that is not a foreign person.

For more information regarding FATCA, please visit the IRS website or contact your tax professional.

No. All Banks and other Financial Organisations will be affected by FATCA, however their approach to adopting FATCA may differ.

FATCA legislation will impact both personal and business customers who hold an account with FCM Bank. Please refer to the following question.

No. If a customer’s account holds any of the following indicia, FCM Bank Ltd may request further information/documentation to determine whether you are a US person under FATCA.

• US citizenship or US residence;
• US place of birth;
• US address including US PO boxes;
• US telephone number; 
• Repeating payment instructions to pay amounts to a US address or an account maintained in the US;
• Current Power of Attorney or signatory authority granted to a person with a US address;
• In Care of or Hold mail address which is the sole address for the account holder.

If you are considered a US Person, you may be asked to supply us with additional information/documentation. You may also wish to visit the IRS website to determine if you need to complete and submit any additional IRS forms.

FCM cannot offer any advice relating to FATCA and we recommend you contact a professional tax advisor to discuss your personal tax situation.

For most non-US FATCA will have no to little impact and there will be no action required. However, we may still contact you to confirm your status as a non-US person if we have reason to believe you are potentially a US person for FATCA purposes.