FATCA news and updates

Compliance with FATCA missing TIN rules

The ATO monitors Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) reports to ensure Australian Financial Institutions correctly report missing United States (US) taxpayer identification number (TIN) codes for certain pre-existing accounts. This is outlined in the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Notice 2023–11 (PDF, 101KB)This link will download a file.

To avoid receiving a notice of non-compliance from the US IRS, you should report certain pre-existing accounts with missing TINs. See Reporting Question 6External Link under FATCA FAQ for more information. For updated TIN codes and descriptions see Updated TIN Codes for 2022, 2023, 2024.

We encourage Australian Financial Institutions not to discriminate against US citizens, and to encourage US citizens to provide US TINs. Customers with questions on FATCA or Common Reporting Standard (CRS) can be referred to Foreign tax resident reporting.

Updated TIN Codes for 2022, 2023 and 2024

In January 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published a list of taxpayer identification number (TIN) codes. These codes should be used to better understand why a Foreign Financial Institution (FFI) in a United States (US) Model 1 Intergovernmental Agreement (Model 1 IGA) jurisdiction may not have been able to obtain a US TIN as part of the relief provided in Notice 2023-11.

The updated TIN codes and descriptions are as follows:

• 222222222 – Pre-existing individual account with only US indicia being a US place of birth, other than an account reported under code 000222111. This code takes precedence if any other code (other than 000222111) could also be applicable.
• 000222111 – Pre-existing depository individual account with only US indicia being a US place of birth. Additionally, FFI must determine that the account holder is a resident of the jurisdiction where the account is maintained for AML and tax purposes. For reference, “depository account” has the meaning defined in the applicable Model 1 Intergovernmental Agreement (Model 1 IGA). This code takes precedence if any other code could also be applicable.
• 333333333 – New individual account that:
  • has indicia of a US place of birth, and
  • either:
    • has a change in circumstances causing the self-certification originally obtained at account opening to be incorrect or unreliable, and a new self-certification has not been obtained, or
    • was below the threshold for documenting and reporting the account at the time of account opening and subsequently exceeded the threshold, and a self-certification has not been obtained.
• 444444444 – Pre-existing individual or entity account that:
  • has US indicia other than a US place of birth, and
  • either:
    • has a change in circumstances that either results in one or more US indicia being associated with the account or causes a self-certification or other documentation originally obtained to be incorrect or unreliable, and a valid self-certification or other documentation has not been obtained subsequent to the change in circumstances, or
    • was below the threshold for documenting and reporting the account on the determination date provided in the applicable Model 1 IGA and subsequently exceeded the threshold, and a self-certification or other documentation has not been obtained.
• 555555555 – New individual or entity account that:
  • has a US indicia other than a US place of birth, and
  • either:
    • has a change in circumstances causing the self-certification or other documentation originally obtained to be incorrect or unreliable, and a new self-certification or other documentation has not been obtained, or
    • was below the threshold for documenting and reporting the account at the time of account opening and subsequently exceeded the threshold, and a self-certification or other documentation has not been obtained.
• 666666666 – Pre-existing entity account held by a passive NFFE with one or more controlling persons with respect to which self-certifications have not been obtained, and no US indicia have been identified in relation to any controlling persons.
• 777777777 – Dormant Accounts. For pre-existing accounts where there is no TIN available and the account has been dormant or inactive, but remains above the reporting threshold, also known as a 'dormant account'. A 'dormant account' is one that meets the definition set out in US Treasury Regulations §1.1471-4(d)(6)(ii)External Link and had had no financial activity for three years, except for the posting of interest. If an account could be classified into multiple TIN codes, the other code takes precedence.
• 999999999 – Any account for which the FFI cannot obtain a TIN and none of the other TIN codes would be applicable. The use of this code indicates that an FFI has completed its review of accounts without US TINs and has in good faith applied TIN codes to records when applicable.

For more details, see ReportingExternal Link under FATCA FAQ.

Reporting account holders US TINs for 2023

On 30 December 2022 the IRS published Notice 2023–11 (PDF, 101KB)This link will download a file. This notice provides concessional relief to Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) who report missing US TINs.

In accordance with this notice, Australian Financial Institutions will not be treated as non-compliant if they fail to report a US TIN on a pre-existing account and meet certain requirements.

An FFI is eligible for the relief of each US reportable account with a missing US TIN, if they:

• obtain and report the birth date of each account holder that is an individual and controlling person whose US TIN is not reported
• starting in calendar year 2023, annually request any missing US TINs from each account holder (further solicitation requirements are listed below)
• starting in calendar year 2023, annually search the electronic data maintained by reporting Australian financial institutions for any missing US TINs, and
• report an accurate TIN Code for each account missing a required US TIN.

Reporting for calendar year 2022, you can use either:

• TIN Codes issued by the IRS in May 2021 (see below)
• updated TIN Codes to be issued by the IRS in early 2023.

Reporting for calendar years 2023 and 2024, you must use the most recent TIN Codes issued by the IRS.

Solicitation requirements

To satisfy the requirement of solicitation, FFIs must communicate using the method they determine is most likely to reach each account holder. The communication must also include either:

• the web addressExternal Link of the State Department’s Joint FATCA frequently asked questions (FAQs), or
• a copy of the FAQs and either a copy of the relief procedures provided by the IRS for certain former citizens or the web addressExternal Link for such procedures.

To establish requirement compliance, FFIs must retain the following until the end of calendar year 2028:

• records of the policies and procedures adopted to satisfy this requirement
• documentation that proves those policies and procedures were followed.

The notice does not prevent the IRS FFI from finding significant non-compliance for failure to satisfy any other Model 1 intergovernmental agreement (IGA) obligations.

We are currently in the process of updating our validation rules for FATCA lodgments. We will provide an update in due course.

Self-review guide and toolkit

The provides Reporting Financial Institutions (RFI) with practical information about how to conduct a self-review of your governance, due diligence, data and reporting systems for Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) obligations, including FATCA and the Common Reporting Standard.

Use the guide and toolkit to:

• prepare for a AEOI review if you are an Australian RFI
• review the design and operation of your AEOI framework as part of your AEOI obligations
• undertake a review of your AEOI reporting systems and data testing to ensure your business systems are accurately recording and reporting information for AEOI purposes.

Reporting of TINs for non-US entities

For non-US entity account holders with US substantial owners, you may include the relevant country code in the ‘TIN Issued by’ element and the characters ‘NA’ in the taxpayer identification number (TIN) when reporting for the non-US entity. You must still provide TINs for any US substantial owners.

Reporting account holder US TINs for 2020

If you are an Australian financial institution with reporting obligations for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), you must meet the reporting requirements relating to account holder United States of America (US) taxpayer identification numbers (TINs).

For all reports submitted for the 2020 calendar year onwards, it is a US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirement that you provide a US TIN for each account holder reported.

Failure to provide a valid TIN will result in an error notification from the IRS. The error notification is classed as an Administrative or Other Minor Error (Article 5 of the Australia/USA FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement (PDF, 223KB)This link will download a file and Paragraph 4 of the Australia/USA Competent Authority Arrangement). FATCA reports with valid US TINs should be resubmitted in 120 days.

2020–year reports without account holder US TINs

To better understand why a Foreign Financial Institution (FFI) in a US Model 1 IGA jurisdiction may not have been able to obtain a US TIN, the IRS has developed a series of codes that may be used by an FFI to populate the TIN field where the TIN is not available, as an alternative to using 9 As (AAAAAAAAA).

Using these codes are optional and it does not mean an FFI will not be at risk of being found significantly non-compliant due to a failure to report each required US TIN.

The IRS will consider the facts and circumstances leading to the absence of the US TIN, such as:

• the reasons why the TIN could not be obtained
• whether the FFI has adequate procedures in place to obtain TINs
• the efforts made by the FFI to obtain TINs.

The codes are as follows:

• 222222222 – Pre-existing individual account with only US indicia being a US place of birth.
• 333333333 – New individual account that has indicia of a US place of birth, and either    
  • has a change in circumstances causing the self-certification originally obtained at account opening to be incorrect or unreliable, and a new self-certification has not been obtained
  • was below the threshold for documenting and reporting the account at the time of account opening and subsequently exceeded the threshold, and a self-certification has not been obtained.
• 444444444 – Pre-existing individual and entity account that has US indicia other than a US place of birth, and either    
  • has a change in circumstances, causing the self-certification or other documentation originally obtained to be incorrect or unreliable, and a new self-certification or other documentation has not been obtained
  • was below the threshold for documenting and reporting the account at the time of account opening and subsequently exceeded the threshold, and a self-certification or other documentation has not been obtained.
• 555555555 – New individual and entity account that has US indicia other than a US place of birth, and either    
  • has a change in circumstances causing the self-certification or other documentation originally obtained to be incorrect or unreliable, and a new self-certification or other documentation has not been obtained
  • was below the threshold for documenting and reporting the account at the time of account opening and subsequently exceeded the threshold, and a self-certification or other documentation has not been obtained.
• 666666666 – Pre-existing entity account with account balance exceeding $1,000,000 held by a passive NFFE with respect to which no self-certifications have been obtained, and no US. indicia has been identified in relation to its controlling persons.
• 777777777 – For pre-existing accounts where there is no TIN available and the account has been dormant or inactive, but remains above the reporting threshold, also known as a ‘dormant account’. Further information on what constitutes a ‘dormant account’ can be found in US Treasury Regulations §1.1471-4(d)(6)(ii)External Link.

If an account holder US TIN is not known at the time of reporting, the account must be reported by supplying 9 As or one of the codes above in the account holder US TIN field. Reports without the account holder US TIN field populated will not be accepted. This requirement applies for all account holder types:

• individuals
• organisations
• substantial owners or controlling persons.

Extension to the deadline for 2020–year reports

To allow reporters more time to obtain missing TINs from account holders, and also to modify systems to enable reporting of codes, we have extended the deadline for submitting 2020 reporting year FATCA reports to 31 August 2021. This extension does not apply for the submission of CRS reports.

We have changed the timing of our transmission of FATCA reports to the IRS. We usually send reports to the IRS as we receive them. We will send 2020 reporting year reports to the IRS in September 2021.

Reporting account holder US TINs 2017–19

The US will accept reporting of accounts without a TIN through to the 2019 reporting period, but only if strict conditions are met. One of these conditions is that a date of birth must be provided in the absence of a US TIN. For more information, see the due diligence actions below.

Due diligence actions if missing US TIN

If the US TIN is not held for a pre-existing account holder that is an individual, reporting Australian financial institutions must comply with the required due diligence actions. These are outlined in Notice 2017-46 (PDF, 57.30KB)This link will download a file and are summarised as follows.

Reporting Australian financial institutions must:

• obtain and report the date of birth of each account holder and controlling person whose US TIN is not reported
• request any missing US TINs from each account holder annually
• search electronically searchable data maintained by the reporting institution for any missing US TINs before reporting each year.

If due diligence actions are taken, the IRS will not determine that there is significant non-compliance for the calendar years 2017, 2018 and 2019.

How to report missing US TINs

The US requirements for missing TINs differ for the 2017 reporting year and prior years. If, after due diligence actions have been undertaken, you have not been able to obtain US TINs for your clients:

• for the 2017 and prior year reports, you must use 9 zeros (000000000) to populate the US TIN data element
• for the 2018 reporting year and subsequent years, you must use 9 capital As (AAAAAAAAA) to populate the US TIN data element.

Your system may require changes to allow entering alpha-type characters in the US TIN data element.

Some other countries may not be using 9 As. This may affect reporting from or for branches in other countries.

FATCA small reporter tool (SRT)

We have developed the ATO Small Reporter Tool (XLSM, 5.8MB)This link will download a file for FATCA reporters with up to 50 reportable individual accounts and up to 50 reportable organisation accounts.

FATCA reporters with no reportable accounts can also use the SRT to lodge a nil report.

The FATCA SRT allows reporters to enter information into an Excel spreadsheet and convert the data into an XML file.

FATCA SRT users must download a new SRT every year. If preparing reports for more than one financial institution in a year, a new, separate SRT must be downloaded for each report. If this is not done, additional reports with the single SRT will be generated with duplicate MessageRefIDs and DocRefIDs. Files received with duplicate MessageRefIDs and DocRefIDs will create errors when we receive them.

For how to use the SRT, see FATCA – Small Reporter Tool user guide.

Providing your Australian business number (ABN)

An RFI or sponsor must use the global intermediary identification number (GIIN) received from the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at registration.

Supply the GIIN at the Reporting FI element and at the Sponsor taxpayer identification number (TIN) element (if a sponsor is reporting).

We recommend a reporting FI and sponsor supplies both their ABN and GIIN. The IRS issued Reporting FI TIN element is mandatory and must be included in your report (trustee documented trusts are excluded – see below).

Providing your ABN helps us to record your lodgment and reduces the need for us to contact you.

Reporting sponsor GIIN correctly

The GIIN value of a sponsoring entity is the GIIN issued to the entity when it is acting in its capacity as a sponsor. Sponsors have 'SP' in their GIIN in the following format: xxxxxx.xxxxx.SP.xxx

If you have more than one GIIN, ensure they are provided correctly.

Ensure the sponsor GIIN appears in the Sponsor element. The ReportingFI GIIN should appear at the ReportingFI TIN element. The ReportingFI TIN is the GIIN issued to the entity when it registers as a ReportingFI.

Trustee documented trusts (TDTs)

When reporting for TDTs, the trustee is reporting on behalf of the trust and is therefore required to register and obtain a GIIN. The trust itself is not required to obtain a GIIN.

The trustee GIIN is reported in the Sponsor data element. The trustee’s GIIN should not be reported in the ReportingFI element.

The details of the trust are reported in the ReportingFI element.

For TDTs, the IRS FATCA XML User Guide (PDF, 1.15MB)This link will download a file advises to leave the ReportingFI TIN field blank. This means the TIN field in the ReportingFI element should be removed completely.

In the Small Reporter Tool (SRT), the TIN cell is left blank. Refer to the SRT guide.

Also note that:

• the Sponsor element must be present and completed
• DocRefIds should all begin with the Sponsor GIIN
• the Sponsor FilerCategory code must be ‘FATCA609’.

Consider when to archive your reports

FATCA reports received from Australian reporters are normally passed on to the US IRS immediately after lodgment. If the IRS advises of any errors that require correction, we will contact reporters to fix them.

For 2020 reporting year reports, we will send reports in September 2021.

Consider the timing for archiving your FATCA reports to allow any necessary corrections.

Wrapper headers

From 1 January 2019, all FATCA reports must be lodged with wrapper header information.

For more information, visit Software developers – FATCAExternal Link.

Single file limitation

Under the system implemented on 1 January 2018, the lodgment of FATCA files allows only a single report per file. That report should contain all an entity's reportable accounts.

The bulk data exchange (BDE) FATCA functionality which enabled the submission of a file for more than one reporting institution was decommissioned in December 2018.

Subscribe to FATCA news and updates

To receive the latest FATCA news and updates:

• email us at ato-dmi@ato.gov.au
• subscribe to the IRS FATCA News and Information ListExternal Link.