Qualified Intermediary (QI)
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced to enhance the QI regime and to strengthen the regulations for qualified intermediaries. Given the recent developments, strict compliance with the tightening obligations is becoming more and more important.
A failure to comply with obligations under the QI Agreement can result in substantial financial costs for a QI. For example, if documentation fails to support the reduced level of withholding tax applied, the QI can be obliged to pay restitution to the IRS to compensate any shortfall. In addition, the IRS may levy penalties or terminate the QI Agreement depending on the degree of non-compliance, which in addition would affect the reputation of a QI.
We provide QI services to financial institutions all over Switzerland and are an integral part of our global QI Centre of Excellence. We support you with:
- Tax Health Checks - We are taking a risk-based approach of reviewing, testing and reporting on QI's compliance with the QI Agreement, in particular:
- Adequacy of processes and internal controls
- Client documentation (KYC)
- Tax withholding and reporting
- Reporting
- Knowledge management and transfer
- Agreed-Upon Procedures QI Audits - We are a global specialist team utilising local resources, where appropriate.
- Technology - We support and implement technology automation solutions that mitigate the risk of non-compliance with U.S. withholding documentation requirements.
- Organisational Support - Assistance in building up reliable and efficient internal controls of QI operations.
- Hotline Support - Fast and reliable answers to tax queries.
