Treasury Offers IGA Countries More Favorable FATCA Reporting

July 29 — The Treasury Department has notified countries with early versions of agreements under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act that their banks can use the more favorable procedures for reporting new accounts available in later pacts.

Treasury said July 27 that it had sent letters to 40 countries informing them of the beneficial option. Practitioners welcomed the news July 29, saying it would not only offer conformity between intergovernmental agreements, but would ease the reporting requirements for banks in many nations.

“This is a favorable update to make sure that the earlier IGAs have the same beneficial treatment for new accounts as that in the later IGAs,” Alan Granwell, of counsel at Sharp Partners P.A. in Washington, told Bloomberg BNA. “This is in order to conform everything so that we don’t have differing provisions.”