Articles
Gain deeper insight with articles that give our considered opinion and predictions of where the industry will go next.
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.
CorpActions2018 (London)
TConsult's chairman, Ross McGill, will be appearing as a panelist at CorpActions2018 in London on Wednesday 3rd October alongside Mariano Giralt from BNY Mellon and Paola Deantoni from SG Securities Services to discuss tax and reporting, including inefficient withholding tax collection procedures, communication flow issues across cross-border capital markets, tax evasion regulation, where the responsibility for failures lies, and entitlements.
Tax Congress for Financial Institutions (London)
TConsult's chairman, Ross McGill, will be appearing as a panelist at the Tax Congress for Financial Institutions in London on Wednesday 19th September alongside Peter Grant from KPMG and Kevin Custis from Rathbones to discuss KYC, AML, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion in the Digital Age.
FATCA Failures: Holistic compliance or just full of holes?
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.
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.
Validating W-8 Forms: Cultivating an Eye for Detail
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.
I speak English, French and FATCA
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.
GATCA: A Practical Guide to Global Anti-Tax Evasion Frameworks
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...
Are FATCA’s Dissenters Tilting at Windmills?
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?
Will AEoI be the new Equifax?
September 19, 2017What 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
Why W8? – Start re-papering over the cracks now!
September 13, 2017QIs 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
3 Things To Annoy You About W-8s and 3 Things You’ll Love
July 31, 2017The IRS just made three HUGE changes to W-8 series of self certification forms used by almost every financial institution across the globe to categorise their non-US customers, and there's a lot to love...Read more
Remember your New Reporting Obligations Under AEoI / CRS
May 31, 2017You're just getting over the initial FATCA and QI reporting, submitted all of your 1042-S forms, and now you're looking ahead to September and the deadline for all those 1042 forms. However, you may need to report under AEoI/CRS at the same time. Are you planning ahead to avoid this headache?Read more
Publication 5262 – QI Portal
February 8, 2017Continuing the burst of activity, what better way to start a new year, than with a new QI, WP & WT portal and its bed time reading material, Publication 5262, which of course goes hand in hand with the new QI Agreement,Revenue Procedure 2017-15.Read more