IRS Reminds Foreign Financial Institutions that FATCA Registration Becomes Live on January 1

The IRS announced on Friday, December 13, that as scheduled, the IRS FATCA registration website will formally open on January 1, 2014. The website became operative on August 19, 2013 in order for Foreign Financial Institutions ("FFIs") to create accounts and enter registration information. Information entered into the website prior to January 1 is not considered final, and each FFI must re-visit the site after January 1 to finalize its registration and sign its FFI agreement if registering as a participating FFI.

The IRS also announced that it anticipated that the final FFI agreement will be published prior to January 1, 2014, with final qualified intermediary, withholding foreign partnership, and withholding foreign trust agreements published in early 2014.

The IRS still plans to electronically post the first FFI list by June 2, 2014, and any FFI seeking to be on that list should finalize its registration by April 25, 2014.

See: 2014-1 Announcement.