FATCA

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a unilateral US law to combat tax evasion. It obliges financial institutions outside the United States (Foreign Financial Institutions, FFIs) to pass on US client data to the US tax authorities.

With the Liechtenstein Declaration of 2009, Liechtenstein and its banks expressly committed themselves to implementing the global standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes developed by the OECD and to strengthening their participation in international efforts to combat non-compliance with foreign tax laws. Alongside many other countries, Liechtenstein signed a FATCA Model 1 intergovernmental agreement (Model 1 IGA) and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States on 16 May 2014. This means that Liechtenstein financial institutions must provide the United States with information on US clients. On the basis of this agreement, Liechtenstein adopted a Law on Implementation of the FATCA Agreement between the Principality of Liechtenstein and the United States of America (FATCA Act). This Act entered into force on 22 January 2015.

Factsheet FATCA: https://www.bankenverband.li/themen/steuern

FATCA provides for self-certification for tax purposes by legal entities using the following documents:

You do not wish to buy/hold U.S. securities

• Declaration of legal entity status for FATCA

You wish to buy/hold U.S. securities

• W-9 for US-Entity
• W-8BEN-E (e.g. for Corporations, Complex Trusts)
• W-8IMY for Flow-Through Entities (e.g. for Foreign Simple/Grantpr Trusts)

a) without controlling U.S. person / beneficial owners

• W-8IMY for the entitiy
• W-8BEN to be completed for each controlling U.S. person / beneficial owner
• Withholding Statement required in case of a Nonwithholding foreign partnership, Nonwithholding foreign simple trust, Nonwithholding foreign grantor trust

b) with controlling U.S. person / beneficial owners

• W-8IMY for the entitiy
• W-9 to be completed for each controlling person / beneficial owner

If you are uncertain as to the appropriate form or to your status under U.S. tax law, please consult a U.S. tax expert. If you do not have a tax expert at your disposal, we can make our network of tax law specialists available to you and help establish contacts.