File reports on financial account information under the FATCA agreement
Source: BUS Rheinland-PfalzThe FATCA agreement requires financial institutions (e.g. banks or insurance companies) to report financial account information with the aim of improving the completeness and accuracy of the tax bases of investment income. The information required to be reported includes, but is not limited to:
- Name and address of the account holder
- US tax identification number
- Address
- Date of birth
- Account number
- Account Balance
- Income
- Name and identification number of the reporting German financial institution
Financial institutions are required to comply with certain due diligence requirements to identify financial accounts subject to reporting requirements. This includes obtaining self-disclosure information. By obtaining a self-disclosure, financial institutions want to determine the tax residency of their customers. Account holders must complete and sign the self-assessment form and send it to their financial institution. If the financial institution has possible indications of a reportable account and the customer does not provide the necessary information after the request for a self-disclosure, the financial institution should also report this data.
The financial institutions report annually in electronic form the accounts identified as reportable to the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt). An online form or a mass data interface is available for the transmission of the data. The transmission can also be carried out by a service provider.
The data collected is exchanged between the United States of America (USA) and Germany. In Germany, the BZSt is responsible for receiving and forwarding the financial account data. The data collected from German financial institutions subject to reporting requirements is sent directly to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by the BZSt.