- Home
- /
- Our Business
- /
- Wealth Management
- /
- Customer Services
- /
- FAQ
- /
FATCA stands for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (a chapter of the Internal Revenue Code).
FATCA is a new US tax regulation introduced by the United States Department of the Treasury and the US tax authority, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). The regulation is intended to increase transparency and reporting of financial details of US persons; also it is designed to prevent US taxpayers from avoiding tax by investing through non-US financial institutions and offshore investment vehicles and concealing their assets from the IRS. FATCA requires financial institutions, such as HTISG, to identify US persons and report some information on these accounts to the IRS.
More information is available here: http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Corporations/Foreign-Account-Tax-Compliance-Act-FATCA.
Form W-8BEN:
Form W-8BEN is issued by the IRS (the US tax authority) and is titled “Certification of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting (Individuals)”. In general, an individual providing this form is to (1) establish that he/she is not a US person, (2) claim that he/she is the beneficial owner of the income, and (3) claim a reduced rate of, or exemption from, withholding as a resident of a foreign country with which the US has an income tax treaty.
In general, IRS Tax Form W-8BEN (revision date 2014) is for use solely by individuals; and entities must use Form W-8BEN-E.
The IRS provides instructions as to how to fill in a Tax Form W-8BEN and when it is relevant. Such guidance can be accessed via the following link: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw8ben.pdf.
Form W-9:
This form is issued by the IRS (the US tax authority) and is titled “Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification”. The person providing this form certifies his or her status as a US tax resident (including individual or entity).
If you need further guidance or advice, you may consult with your legal and/or tax advisors.
The IRS provides instructions as to how to fill in a Tax Form W-9 and when it is relevant. Such guidance can be accessed via the following link: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf.
HTISG is committed to complying with FATCA, which requires us to collect information on the US tax status of our customers in certain cases.
These forms as well as instructions for filling them in can be found on the following website: http://www.irs.gov/Forms-&-Pubs.
Form W-8BEN:
Generally, a Form W-8BEN will remain in effect for the purposes of establishing foreign status for a period starting on the date the form is signed and ending on the last day of the third succeeding calendar year. For example, a Form W-8BEN signed on 30 September 2015 remains valid through 31 December 2018.
Form W-9:
IRS Tax Form W-9 generally has an indefinite validity period until there arise any changes in circumstances.
Joint individual account:
Each of the joint account holders is responsible for signing his or her own IRS Tax Form W-8BEN or W-9 according to his or her own personal circumstances. It is possible for two joint account holders to sign different types of forms if their individual circumstances are different.
Entity account:
The IRS Tax Form W-8BEN / W-9 may be signed by any person authorized to sign a declaration under penalty of perjury on behalf of the person whose name is on the certificate or written statement. A person authorized to sign an IRS Tax Form W-8BEN / W-9 includes an officer or director of a corporation, a partner of a partnership, a trustee of a trust, an executor of an estate, any foreign equivalent of the former titles, and any other person that has been provided written authorization by the individual or entity named on the IRS Tax Form W-8BEN / W-9 Form to sign documentation on behalf of such an individual or entity.
For new accounts:
We will not be able to open your account until we have received all the requested mandatory information from you. As a US tax withholding certificate is mandatory, please send us a valid certificate as soon as possible so that we can proceed with the opening of your account.
For an existing account where no withholding certificate has been collected previously:
We are required to collect a withholding certificate appropriate to your circumstances within 30 days from the date such a request is made.
For an account where a withholding certificate has been collected but the customer notifies us of any subsequent change in circumstances:
You are required to provide us with a new valid withholding certificate within 30 days of any change in circumstance.
You may refer to the IRS website for detailed instructions and forms: http://www.irs.gov.com
If the information provided on the IRS website is insufficient, you may obtain independent tax advice as we are unable to recommend any tax advisors for this purpose.+
We are unable to recommend any tax advisors for this purpose.
You may refer to the IRS website for detailed instructions and forms: http://www.irs.gov.com
You may obtain independent tax advice as we are unable to recommend any tax advisors for this purpose.
We are unable to recommend any tax advisors for this purpose.
In general, HTISG is responsible for reporting US accounts, accounts held by non-participating foreign financial institutions (“FFIs”), accounts held by US-owned foreign entities, accounts held by owner-documented FFIs, or accounts held by recalcitrant account holders that shall be required to report such account information for each calendar year. With respect to the above accounts, HTISG must report the information of account holders to the IRS, including the name, address, taxpayer identification number or global intermediary identification number, account balance or value, and payments made with respect to the accounts.
If you do not provide us with the necessary documentation, HTISG may be required in some circumstances, to report to the IRS the account information and/ or withhold 30% of any US source withholdable payments or gross proceeds.
FATCA requires financial institutions to identify accounts that are directly or individual held by US person, therefore we will request the relevant US person to provide additional document by sending letters or other methods. If clients are not US person, we will not request them for providing additional document.
Contact Us
Email: [email protected]
Enquiry Form: Please click below Enquiry Form
Hotlines
- Customer Service Hotline: (852) 3583 3388
- 400 001 1822
- Complaint Hotline: (852) 2801 6128
Letter
Write to us by mail or fax to our
Customer Service Department
15/F, One Island South, 2 Heung Yip Road
Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong
Fax: (852) 2530 1689
View the address of Customer Services Centre and Macau Office >>