FATCA / QI

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced in its Qualified Intermediaries Newsletter of 22 February 2018 that the QI/WP/WT Application and Account Management System for filing Qualified Intermediary (QI) certification, Withholding Foreign Partnership (WP) certification and Withholding Foreign Trust (WT) certification will be available in early April 2018.

The IRS announcement also contains information on the due dates for submitting the certification:

• The respective certification due date depends on which year the QI/WP/WT has selected for the Periodic Review.
• QIs/WPs/WTs that selected 2015 or 2016 as the audit year for the Periodic Review or that are exempt from the requirement to conduct the Periodic Review and whose certification period ends on 31 December 2017 must submit their certification by 1 July 2018. For these QIs/WPs/WTs, the IRS will grant an extension of the submission deadline for certification until 1 September 2018.
• The deadline for certification of QIs/WPs/WTs whose certification period ends on 31 December 2017 and which selected 2017 for Periodic Review is 31 December 2018. However, the IRS will allow an extension of the deadline to 01 March 2019.

All QIs/WPs/WTs will shortly receive an announcement on their message board that the QI/WP/WT Account Management System will be available for certification submissions in early April.

In preparation for the upcoming certification deadlines, QIs/WPs/WTs should check that their account credentials are up to date. For this, the IRS recommends checking the FAQs on the QI/WP/WT system in case of difficulties with the login:

• “QI/WP/WT System Self-Help” on the IRS page

Similarly, ensure that all tax returns to be filed – including Forms 1042, 1042-S, 945 and 1099 – and all related payments are up to date.

The Qualified Intermediaries News of the IRS dated 22 February 2018 - Issue Number 2018-01 can be found here.

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