# FATCA forms



## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

I happened across this site earlier :
https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Corporations/FATCA-Related-Forms

For starters I thought it odd that all the forms are in English.

My understanding - and I am far from an expert - is that the individual foreign banks/financial institutions have to provide their treasuries with figures for the US account holders and it is those treasuries which must interface with the US Treasury - probably in some sort of batch manner. Do I have that right ?

So - is it Form 8966 that our Mexican bank is going to submit to the Mexican treasury ? If so I thought of asking the bank for a copy. I'm sure the figures I'm reporting on my tax forms / FBARs are going to be different from those reported on form 8966. For one thing there is no indication of currency nor exchange rate.

Thank you.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

It really depends. Apparently the actual law makes the requirement for the banks to report whatever to the IRS - however, many countries have negotiated "bi-lateral agreements" on the FATCA reporting issue. These agreements spell out the nitty gritty of how banks in each country will report (usually to the national banking authority) and just what and how the information will ultimately be transferred to the US authorities.

See here: https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Corporations/FATCA-Governments and follow some of the links to find copies of the model agreements, and various lists of the countries that have such agreements.

What's interesting is to see which banks are specifically exempted from reporting at all, and what accounts are exempted from reporting.
Cheers,
Bev


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

You are a very smart person. Possibly 90 % of our Mexican funds are in Mexican government CDs (like) - and the institution where those funds sit is 'non-reporting' ! Now I don't doubt that my wife and I are the only US people in Mexico that have our funds there. I just happened upon it actually. It is where the banks go to buy, at auction, the CDs they will sell to their clients. We purchase at the exact same price as the biggest bank - which will add as much as 1% mark-up to (by dropping the interest rate) their clients. Btw = those CDs are now paying more than 4% - before Mexican taxes.


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## ForeignBody (Oct 20, 2011)

chuck846 said:


> I happened across this site earlier :
> https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Corporations/FATCA-Related-Forms
> 
> For starters I thought it odd that all the forms are in English.
> ...


Why is it odd that IRS forms are in English?

You are correct. The FATCA treaties involve government to government exchange of data. There is no way that involves individual forms for each taxpayer. It is a batch exchange of data.

FATCA has no bearing on your obligations as a taxpayer. You do what you have to do as an individual taxpayer and the financial institutions do what they have to do according to the treaties. I would not waste one second wondering how the IRS is going to match what I send them with what the foreign government sends to them.


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

ForeignBody said:


> Why is it odd that IRS forms are in English?


We have been here a while now and I will venture that less than 5% of the people we have interfaced with speak English - even the most educated.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

chuck846 said:


> We have been here a while now and I will venture that less than 5% of the people we have interfaced with speak English - even the most educated.


But the site you referenced was the IRS site - which is pretty much all in English.
Cheers,
Bev


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

Bevdeforges said:


> But the site you referenced was the IRS site - which is pretty much all in English.
> Cheers,
> Bev


But isn't that where my Mexican bank is going to go for the forms the IRS requires ?


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## byline (Dec 5, 2011)

chuck846 said:


> But isn't that where my Mexican bank is going to go for the forms the IRS requires ?


True. I guess English as a second language is also a requirement for complying with U.S. tax law (unless someone knows of a site with multilingual IRS forms).


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

byline said:


> True. I guess English as a second language is also a requirement for complying with U.S. tax law (unless someone knows of a site with multilingual IRS forms).


I do know I was able to locate a Spanish language w9 at one point.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

There are a number of tax forms for individuals available in Spanish. But I'd be very surprised if any "business" (i.e. corporate) forms are available in anything other than English. And most of the FATCA stuff is government to government at this point - and I think they just transfer computer data files in the rawest form. At least nothing that would be available from the IRS website.
Cheers,
Bev


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

And if you're a financial institution that does zero business in the United States then you wouldn't have FATCA withholding in the United States. On the other hand, if you do business in the U.S. it's entirely reasonable to assume you'll conduct at least some of your business in English.

English is not an unreasonable burden here.


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

BBCWatcher said:


> And if you're a financial institution that does zero business in the United States then you wouldn't have FATCA withholding in the United States. On the other hand, if you do business in the U.S. it's entirely reasonable to assume you'll conduct at least some of your business in English.
> 
> English is not an unreasonable burden here.


So let me get this clear. A US citizen living abroad has the 'burden' of reporting all their foreign holdings, etc. - but those same institutions do NOT if they have no business in the US ? Does that mean they have no affiliations to US banks eg Banamex/Citigroup. ? Is this a possible reason why it seems that foreign 'national-entities' seem to be exempt from FATCA requirements ? They don't do business in the US - so we don't care ?

Or perhaps we are not on the same page.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

chuck846 said:


> A US citizen living abroad has the 'burden' of reporting all their foreign holdings, etc. - but those same institutions do NOT if they have no business in the US ?


Correct.



> Does that mean they have no affiliations to US banks eg Banamex/Citigroup. ?


Correct. They must have no affiliations. Exactly the same as U.S. persons. A U.S. person is "incorporated" (as it were) in the U.S. A U.S. person has the option to "unincorporate" in/from the United States.

A financial institution that has _zero_ U.S. affiliations or business affairs isn't likely to be all that successful or large. Wall Street is rather important in the financial world. As a simple example, if your customers' ATM/debit cards don't work in the United States, you might not be such a popular bank with your customers.

_Every_ country has regulations and laws that apply to both foreign and domestic companies that want to have business dealings in or with that country and its entities. Those regulations and laws are almost always exclusively in the local language. If you don't want to have any business dealings with the Netherlands, for example, no problem: don't. Then you won't have to comply with regulations and laws published in the Dutch language. However, the United States is too big and too important (and too profitable) in the financial world for most banks to avoid.

And we happen to be talking about English here, the language of international business. If you want to cross a border in business you're probably going to have to use some English.


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