Intergovernmental agreements (FATCA)

IGA
Agreement with	Signed on	In force with effect from
United Kingdom [390kb] United Kingdom - Annex II and III update [175kb]	22 October 2013	29 July 2014
USA [389kb] USA Competent Authority Arrangement [632kb]	13 December 2013 9 & 14 October 2015	26 August 2015

United Kingdom Agreement updates

Guernsey is committed to the adoption of the global Common Reporting Standard on Automatic Exchange of Information ("the CRS") with effect from 1 January 2016, with first reporting taking place in 2017. Guernsey is one of approximately 60 jurisdictions working to this implementation timetable, including all EU Member States (with the exception of Austria, which will have an extra year before implementation of the CRS).

The UK has indicated that it would wish to move from the existing intergovernmental agreement ("the UK IGA") that it has with Guernsey (and the other Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories) to the CRS, as from 1 January 2016.

A number of options exist for how the transition could be achieved, to satisfy the UK's wish to ensure that no "gaps" occurred in the data that would have been reported under the UK IGA for 2016 but which may not be reported under the CRS until 2018. After consultation with Guernsey Financial Institutions, it has been agreed with the UK that for 2016 the CRS reporting requirements should be supplemented by the provision of information on pre-existing individual low value accounts and pre-existing entity accounts in respect of UK residents. This means that the UK can receive 2016 calendar year information in 2017 solely under the CRS, thus avoiding any need for Guernsey Financial Institutions having to make separate (and possibly duplicate) returns under both the UK IGA and the CRS. I should make it clear that the intention is that due diligence already undertaken on UK reportable accounts for the purposes of the UK IGA will not need to be repeated for the CRS.

The CRS does not provide for any special arrangements, such as the Alternative Reporting Regime ("the ARR", for "Non-Doms") which exists under the IGA. As a result of the adoption of the CRS from 1 January 2016, reporting of 2016 data for all relevant UK accounts will be required in 2017 including all UK non-domiciled account holders. The ARR will therefore be available only under the UK IGA, and for 2014 and 2015 only.

We will be consulting with our legal advisers regarding the steps required to achieve this transition. Further guidance will be issued, as necessary.

United States of America Agreement updates

Please see the media release dated 12 June 2014 regarding notification of effective dates for the US Agreement.

An agreement between the Competent Authorities was signed on 9 October 2015 (by Guernsey) and 14 October 2015 (by the USA).

General updates

Registration for reporting obligations under the UK-Guernsey IGA is now live on IGOR. This relates to both standard reporting under Article 2 of the UK-Guernsey IGA and also under the Alternative Reporting Regime.

Resources

A new tool has been created by Digimap in order to help technical personnel quickly understand the technical requirements of FATCA XML reporting. This is now available at:

https://fatcabuilder.digimap.gg/

Intergovernmental Agreements (FATCA) - Guidance Notes

Notes
Guidance Notes v.1 (31 January 2014) [1000kb]
Guidance Notes v.2 (1 April 2014) [1Mb]	Guidance Notes v.2 (tracked) [1Mb]
Guidance Notes v.3 (28 July 2014) [1Mb]	Guidance Notes v.3 (tracked) [1Mb]
Guidance Notes v.4 (15 December 2014) [1Mb]	Guidance Notes v.4 (tracked) [1Mb]
Guidance Notes v.5 (30 April 2015) [1Mb]	Guidance Notes V.5 (tracked) [1Mb]