The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in the US - Important Information and application form changes from 23 June 2014

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a piece of US legislation designed to tackle tax evasion using offshore accounts.

The legislation requires Banks and other Financial Organisations to collect information about the tax residency (and citizenship) of account holders. In some cases these organisations must report this information to HM Revenue & Customs (‘HMRC’), who will forward it to the appropriate tax authorities.

Originally a US initiative, there are now FATCA agreements in place between the UK, US, the Crown dependencies (including Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey), as well as the Overseas Territories (Gibraltar). A FATCA fact sheet providing an overview of this legislation is available and further information is available via HMRC's website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/fatca

Changes to application forms

In support of this legislation, additional sections have been added to the suite of Access Capitol Bank application forms.

The information collected within these sections will be a mandatory part of the account opening process commencing on 23 June 2014. It is important to note that any applications received on or after 23 June 2014 without the new sections completed will be rejected. Copies of the new Access Capitol Bank application forms are now available for download in addition to the FATCA fact sheet application addendum.