Articles

In the last eighteen months we’ve conducted compliance reviews in five countries on twelve Tier 2 and Tier 3 financial institutions. In this post, we unpick the strategies we have seen firms use to approach their QI and FATCA obligations, and highlight the problems we have observed when firms fail to take a holistic approach to compliance.Read more

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.Read more

We are often asked what constitutes a consequential or an inconsequential error when validating a W-8 form. Some errors are obviously consequential, but what happens if an error appears relatively trivial, such as an incorrect date format? In this post, we explore how you can assess the risks involved and make a judgement about whether to reject or validate a W-8 form.Read more

Acronyms have two main uses: to facilitate efficient communication between professionals within a given discipline where the long form of technical terms would be unwieldy, and to create a barrier to communication - a secret language that you can only understand if you are within the profession. In this post, Ross McGill gives a quick guide to the acronyms of FATCA.Read more

TConsult's subject matter experts Ross McGill, Chris Haye and Stuart Lipo have written a new book providing a practical guide to global anti-tax evasion frameworks. In this post, Stuart describes the context for the book...Read more

Like Don Quixote, FATCA’s dissenters may have misidentified their enemy. So what is the problem with FATCA and what might happen if the anti-FATCA movement succeed in getting it repealed?Read more

The global anti-tax evasion frameworks that comprise GATCA have as many commonalities as they have differences, so it makes sense to approach regulatory compliance in a holistic fashion. In this post, we explore how smaller firms are responding to the pressures of compliance...Read more

For some within the industry, the mere mention of ‘FATCA’ is enough to spark compliance-nightmare flashbacks. The ever unpopular FATCA regulations have now been with us for seven years. But, despite its relative longevity, there are a surprising number of misconceptions surrounding FATCA....Read more

What are the data security risks associated with the AEoI framework? In this post, Ross McGill explores some of the risks and issues a stark warning to the financial services industry.Read more

QIs and NQIs face a rare opportunity to dramatically increase their W-8 compliance rate by re-papering all existing clients using the IRS' new W-8 forms. Find out how such a project could benefit your firm and why it could be worth it in the long run.Read more