FATCA | US-Ireland Intergovernmental Agreement signed |
Published January 2013
On 21 December 2012, Ireland and the United States signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to improve international tax compliance with respect to FATCA.
Click here to view the agreement.
The agreement is substantially similar to the United Kingdom agreement including reciprocal reporting obligations for the United States.
However, unlike the UK IGA and similar to the Mexican IGA, the US is committing to creating rules to require the collection and reporting of the Irish taxpayer identification number (TIN) for Ireland residents (along with other information) as opposed to the date of birth for UK residents.
Annex II of the Agreement identifies the Irish Government, the Central Bank of Ireland, certain International Organisations in Ireland, and certain Irish pension funds as exempt beneficial owners. The category of Deemed-Compliant entities under Annex II includes certain Non-Profit Organisations, certain Financial Institutions with an Irish client base, and certain Collective Investment Vehicles regulated under the laws of Ireland. Lastly, Annex II declares certain retirement accounts or products and certain tax-favoured accounts or products as exempt products.
Ireland is the fourth country to sign an IGA with the US after the UK signed in September and Denmark and Mexico signed in November, and further bolsters the US’s position to solve the global FATCA compliance problem using the IGA methodology. Ireland was also included in a recent list published by the US Treasury to be one of the countries it was actively negotiating with to conclude an IGA by year-end.
For more information please visit our FATCA homepage or contact a member of the FATCA team.
