IRS Extends Deadline for IGAs to Be Signed

The IRS and U.S. Treasury Department ("Treasury") announced that any jurisdiction that had agreed in substance to the terms of an Intergovernmental Agreement ("IGA") with the United States on or before June 30, 2014, but that has not signed such agreement, will be treated as if it had such IGA in effect beyond December 31, 2014, so long as the jurisdiction continues to demonstrate a firm resolve to sign the IGA as soon as possible.

The IRS had previously stated, in Announcement 2014-17, that any IGA not signed by December 31, 2014 would cease to be considered in effect after that date. In Announcement 2014-38, the IRS said that after December 31, 2014 it will review the status of each jurisdiction having an agreement in substance on a monthly basis to assess whether it should continue to be treated as having an IGA in place or whether it should be removed from the list of IGA jurisdictions. Such determination will be based on, among other factors, the responsiveness of a jurisdiction to communications from the United States regarding the IGA and whether the jurisdiction has raised concerns regarding its ability to sign or bring into force the text of the agreement agreed to in substance.

The IRS and Treasury also announced that certain jurisdictions that had not reached an agreement in substance with the United States as to the terms of an IGA on or before June 30, 2014, but that had subsequently reached such an agreement will also be considered to have an IGA in place as of November 30, 2014, pending final execution and implementation of such IGA. These countries are Angola, Cambodia, Greece, the Holy See, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Montserrat, the Philippines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Tunisia (all Model 1 type IGAs). In addition, as of November 30, 2014, Macao will be treated as if it had a Model 2 IGA in effect.

See: IRS Announcement 2014-38.See also: FATCA Specialty Page (available to Cabinet subscribers only).