Being a QI and Responsible Officer is not just about signing a bit of paper and filing this away… it is an on-going and ever developing regime.

The ever-developing nature of the IRC Chapter 3 (QI regime), FATCA and now CRS & AEoI (informally know as GATCA) means that the Responsible Officer and their team need to be aware of their obligations and responsibilities. Here at TConsult we are able to help your company from the beginning, before being a QI. [So you think you know enough to be a QI? and US Tax Regulations – Chapter 3 & 4 Course Structure], through the process of becoming a QI, submitting the application, and most importantly, after obtaining your QI status (we have come across quite a few QIs that have signed up to be a QI because of pressure from their upstream counterparts but not fully understood their obligations).

Responsibilities

One of the “small” to do items once your company has registered for FATCA and become a QI is to keep your records and information up to date via the FATCA Online Registration System which requires timely updates to contact information for the Responsible Officer and Points of Contact to ensure that you and your company receives system notifications as well as keeping their e-Services Account up to date.

The other “small” (and I use the word small very loosely in this instance) obligation is for your company to have adequate resource. Your company must maintain, in essence, a library of documentation relating to the regulations in order to demonstrate that you are compliant and are meeting your obligations laid out in the QI agreement.

TConsult Ltd

We are currently working with an FFI (just one of our few clients) to understand their QI obligations and help them to produce a compliance program so that they are compliant, both within their processes and in meeting their QI obligations. The other reason for the compliance program is so that they remain compliant and also ensure that best practice is achieved for their business. We discuss with them the policies that are required, giving them their options allowing for them to compile the compliance program which is formed with corporate decisions on the various policies together with the process and procedure to implement the agreed policies.

These are just two of the items/obligations that you as a QI have to in order to be compliant with your signed QI agreement but we are not all serious, as can be seen by The QI Rap, however, it does have an underlying tone of how serious being a QI is. Once you have become a QI and established your policies and processes, you should rightly advertise and shout from the rooftops, not least because of the time, money and effort put in but because of the opportunities the QI status offers within the marketplace.

TConsult Ltd can help your company through a variety of methods, including consultancy, training and providing resource via our GATCA Library, please see our GATCA Library website for further details.

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