Articles
Gain deeper insight with articles that give our considered opinion and predictions of where the industry will go next.
Announcing the Tax Compliance Toolkit Training Academy
We are delighted to officially announce the launch of the Tax Compliance Toolkit Training Academy with our debut course: QI Essentials.
This course provides a foundation level understanding of the U.S. qualified intermediary regime and the role you play in helping your firm to be compliant with the terms of the QI Agreement. Find out how you can access the training...
The New QI Agreement 2023: What it means for you (Webinar Recording)
A new QI Agreement is due to be released in January 2023, including new obligations for qualified intermediaries that allow their clients to own interests in publicly traded partnerships.
We hosted a webinar on 8th December for financial institutions in Taiwan and Hong Kong to explain the implications of these proposed changes. Watch the recording now...
Saudi Arabia KYC Rule Approval: What it means for you (Webinar Recording)
Saudi Arabia’s KYC rules were approved by the IRS earlier this year, which means that all Saudi Arabian financial institutions are now eligible to apply for QI status.
We hosted a webinar on 30th November for financial institutions in Saudi Arabia to explain the benefits of becoming a QI. Watch the recording now...
Periodic Review and Certification: QIs in Taiwan Take Note
Many financial institutions in Taiwan became qualified intermediaries in 2018 and 2019 and are now approaching their first periodic review.
Find out what you need to consider when selecting a reviewer…
3 Big Problems with US Tax Regulations
We explore some of the problems we have encountered surrounding the use of Form W-8BEN-E by brokerages and issuers of equity linked instruments.
Benefits of Being a US Qualified Intermediary: Malta Stock Exchange
TConsult is delighted to announce that we have been invited to present a training course for the Malta Stock Exchange, where we will be delivering a two hour presentation discussing the benefits of being a US qualified intermediary at 9am on Monday 21st January 2019.
Nationality, domicile, residency, citizenship and beneficial ownership
We often find that linguistic issues can cause problems for firms looking to establish the correct withholding rate for their clients. In particular, we have seen the distinctions between nationality, citizenship, domicile, residency and beneficial ownership cause a degree of avoidable consternation. In this post, we present a quick reference guide.
Your ‘Bible’ to Compliance
The road to compliance is never ending and the IRS have certainly given us some interesting scenery to admire as we traverse the QI regulatory landscape.
In this post we discuss the importance of a living compliance program, and highlight some of the IRS announcements that need to be reflected in your policies and procedures if you want to remain fully compliant.
The Misuse of the W-8BEN-E
November 22, 2024By now you should be familiar with a form W-8BEN-E. You might have even filled one out in the past. […]Read more
The Multiple Withholding Agent Rule, and What It Means for You
November 15, 2024Recently we came across a rather interesting situation. We were approached by a non-qualified intermediary (or NQI) who claimed […]Read more
Exposure Maps – What They Are and Why You Need One
November 8, 2024As a financial institution you face a lot of challenges. Keeping up with the regulations demanded by the IRS, along […]Read more
Announcement from the Chairman
November 5, 2024I am delighted to announce that TConsult has opened its first branch outside the UK, in Malta. The UK parent […]Read more
QI身分 – 真的值得嗎?
October 24, 2024對於金融機構來說，這是一個老問題。您應該成為QI，還是維持NQI? 這是一個不容輕率做出的決定，但我們經常看到的情況是，公司的交易對手告訴他們必須成為QI才能開展業務 – 這並不是一個理想的情況!因此，在您開始踏上成為QI這條路之前，請務必瞭解成為QI的意義、它將如何影響您的公司，以及您需要投入多少資源才能達成目標是重要的。繼我們關於QI申報的非集合式和去集合式的文章之後，我們希望為可能考慮成為QI的金融機構提供一些見解。 QI vs NQIs 在您了解自己應該繼續當NQI還是躍進成為QI之前，您首先需要瞭解兩者的差異。 QI或合格中介機構(Qualified Intermediary)是與IRS簽訂QI協議的非美國金融機構。QI協議長達205頁，所以讀起來有點吃力，但核心訊息是QI必須同時遵守美國稅務法規以及我提到的那份205頁合約的條款。如果他們的客戶申請了美國預扣稅，他們也可以利用其QI身分來給予美國預扣稅的減稅率。他們可以在不向任何人(包括交易對手和IRS)透露客戶身分的情況下做到這一切。 NQI是代表客戶接收美國來源所得，但未簽訂QI協議的任何中介機構。其整體責任與QI相同，差別在於履行責任的方式。如果NQI想要享有雙重課稅協定的優惠，就必須向QI揭露客戶資訊。NQI的客戶也必須個別向IRS報告，而不是集合在一起。 為什麼要考慮成為 QI？ 商譽：2009年，美國政府明確表示，任何提供進入美國證券市場的非美國金融公司，如果沒有QI資格，將被視為「協助逃稅」。如果您的機構代表他人接收源自美國的所得，那麼您就是中介機構(根據美國的定義)。這表示對您來說考慮QI身分是毫無疑問的。事實上，大多數公司都不與NQI進行業務往來，或在進行業務往來時對NQI施加重大限制。因此，選擇QI身分通常最符合您的利益，尤其是如果您的客戶居住在與美國有雙重課稅協定的司法管轄區。 資料隱私權：當您的金融機構開始接收美國來源所得時，您就自動受到美國國內收入法(IRC)的規範 – 特別是您可能受到該法下列章節的規範： 第1章 […]Read more
QI Status – Is It Really Worth It?
October 24, 2024It’s an age-old question for financial institutions. Should you become a QI, or stay an NQI? This is a decision […]Read more
Operational Issues for QIs and NQIs
October 18, 2024The IRS has just published the very first list of qualified intermediaries and there are some interesting implications for clients […]Read more
非集合式與去集合式 – 有什麼差別，又有什麼問題?
October 17, 2024對於合格中機構(或稱QIs)而言，集合式是美國稅制的一項重要功能，他們應該好好利用。您可以看到，它賦予合格中介機構獨特的能力，將客戶的美國資產匯集在一起，以達到預扣稅和申報的目的。但在某些情況下，他們可能需要將客戶的資產去集合(de-pool)，這可能會產生各種問題和技術困難。這就是為什麼您必須知道集合和去集合之間的差別，以及如何運作。 什麼是集合式? 集合式預扣稅通常是指QI可以使用一個或多個綜合帳戶，將多個客戶的資產混合在一起。這可讓交易對手更容易申請預扣稅，而不需要知道相關客戶是誰。以申報為目的的集合僅適用於QI，而NQI只能使用集合方式持有資產以達到預扣稅的目的，但不能用於申報。 集合的意義何在? 集合的好處是，使用此方法時，QI不需要像NQI那樣，為每位直接客戶製作1042-S表單的收款人副本。但即使是QI，在向IRS申報時，也有某些類型的客戶不能與其他客戶匯集在一起。您不能集合式申報的主要客戶類別是任何提交W-8IMY的客戶。 舉例來說，如果您有100位客戶，其中有80位客戶給您W-8BEN或W-8BEN-E，那麼您在依據所得類型和稅率進行申報時，就可以將這些客戶集合在一起。這80位客戶會一併申報，不會向IRS或其他任何人透露個別身分。其餘20位給您的是W-8IMY。這表示您不能以任何方式將他們匯集在一起，而且您必須以單獨的1042-S向IRS申報每一個人。它們被歸類為「非集合(non-pooled)」，因此IRS知道您在每個案件中支付給誰。 很好，所以問題出在哪裡? 上面的例子非常簡單直接，但我們都知道，在稅務世界裡，事情並非簡單直接。因此，讓我們來看另一種情境。 您仍然有100位客戶，但他們都是直接的個人或實體。是的，您可以像以前一樣把他們集合起來預扣，也可以把他們集合起來報告，所以IRS應該不曾發現您的客戶是誰。但如果您對其中任何一位客戶課徵30%的稅額，而他們認為自己應該獲得退稅，您就會遇到問題。如果您不願意或不能夠使用任何QI退稅程序，那麼客戶可以而且可能會向您提出正式請求，要求收到特定給他們的1042-S收款人副本。問題是，您已經將該客戶的所得和預扣稅納入了向IRS提交的集合報告中。也可能發生如果您收到附有協定申請的W-8，但您沒有足夠的驗證流程，結果您以30%課稅卻誤以為這是正確的稅率。 這給您帶來一個問題。根據您簽署的QI協議，第8.02(P)條規定您必須滿足客戶對收款人副本的請求。為此，您需要取得原始申報文件並從集合式報告中取出總所得和預扣稅，以便為您的客戶建立僅包含他們的總額收款人副本。也稱為去集合化。但一旦您完成此操作，就會出現另一個問題 – 您原來的集合式1042-S報告現在不準確了，因為它之前全部都是集合式。因此，要解決此問題，您必須透過FIRE入口網站向IRS申報另一份1042-S提交文件和修訂後的1042-S。這將顯示更新後的集合值(已減去收款人副本的金額)，加上根據客戶請求產生的去集合式1042-S。這些表格的總和仍必須與您交易對手支付的總金額相符。現在您已向IRS提交了修訂後的提交資料，您可以向您的客戶發出收款人副本。 還不止這些… 雖然這一切已經夠煩人，但這還不是故事的結局！ 您的客戶現在使用您建立的收款人1042-S作為超額預扣稅的證據，直接向IRS 提出請求。這可以透過個人的1040-NR表單和實體的1120-F表單輕鬆完成。只要能連接各線索點，國稅局就會支付請求。 […]Read more
Non-Pooling and De-Pooling – What’s The Difference, And What’s The Problem?
October 17, 2024For qualified intermediaries (or QIs), pooling is an important feature of the US tax system that they should be taking […]Read more
Introducing the Tax Compliance Toolkit Training Academy
October 9, 2024Over the years all our experts and specialists have talked about barriers to effective tax compliance. What stops institutions being […]Read more
