FATCA

FATCA overview

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a US law enacted in 2010 as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. It is aimed at foreign financial institutions (FFIs) and other financial intermediaries to prevent tax evasion by US citizens and residents through use of offshore accounts.

The purpose of the FATCA act is to detect and discourage abroad tax abuses through increased transparency, enhanced reporting, and strong sanctions.

Under FATCA, Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) are required to enter into disclosure compliance agreements with the U.S. Treasury and report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) information about financial accounts held by U.S. taxpayers, or held by foreign entities in which U.S. taxpayers hold a substantial ownership interest.

adopted the provisions of FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), which requires banks operating in Tunisia to report data on US citizens.
This commitment will be in the form of a bilateral agreement between the US administration and the Tunisian authorities (intergovernmental agreement "Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA 1)).

The Central Bank of Tunisia provided an update to financial institutions Note 2014-26 of December 5, 2014 instructing banks to directly communicate information on US account holders to the Ministry of Finance, which in turn will provide information to the IRS "Internal Revenue Service" by an automatic program of information exchange.

What is the impact of FATCA law on QNB customers?

The bank may request the customer to provide additional data and fill certain forms (W9, W8-BEN, W8-BEN-E) in case if there is any US indicators identified as per FATCA regulations as follows:

For Individuals:

• US citizen or resident
• US place of birth
• A current US residence address, mailing address, or a ‘hold-mail’ address
• A current US telephone number
• Standing instructions to pay amounts from the account to an account maintained in the US
• A current power of attorney or signatory authority granted to a person with a US address

For corporations:

• US institution / company
• Passive Non-Financial Foreign Entity with more than 10% US ownership

Form W9:

Is a form issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) used to obtain the information of the US citizen and disclose tax information to the IRS Department. The form includes other information such as the name, address and tax identification number of US citizens.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf

Form W8 - BEN:

Is a form issued by theInternal Revenue Services department used by non-US citizens who have indicators of being US citizens in order to confirm that they are non-US.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf

Form W8 - BEN - E:

Is a form issued by the Internal Revenue Services department used by foreign institutions to confirm their status under FATCA.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8bene.pdf

FATCA Declaration:

Is a form issued by QNB Tunisia used by clients to confirm their status under FATCA.

Note:

You are kindly requested to contact your nearest QNB Tunisia branch, Customer Service Officer or Relationship Manager, to provide the necessary information and documentation for the same purposes.

For more information on FATCA, see the section on FATCA act in the website of Internal Revenue Service (IRS), http://www.irs.gov.