FATCA Regulations in Ireland: What You Need to Know

Ireland and the United States have an information-sharing agreement under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which requires Irish financial institutions to report details of accounts held by US citizens and tax residents.

The FATCA Agreement

In 2012, both countries agreed to exchange financial account information supplied by Irish and US financial institutions. This means that:

US financial institutions must report details of accounts held by Irish tax residents
Irish financial institutions must report details of accounts held by US citizens and tax residents

When and How Information is Exchanged

Irish financial institutions are required to report the details of accounts annually to Revenue by June 30 for the previous calendar year. The information is then exchanged with the US by September 30 each year. The first exchange of information between the two countries took place in 2015.

Impact on Account Holders

For account holders, FATCA means that their financial institutions will report their details to Revenue, which will then share this information with the US authorities. This is an important aspect of transparency and compliance with international tax regulations.

Filing a FATCA Return

Financial institutions must register for the FATCA reporting obligation using the Revenue Online Service (ROS). If you are an agent representing a reporting entity, you can register your client through ROS. Once registered, FATCA returns can be sent to Revenue through ROS.

Legislation and Guidance

The legislation that implements FATCA in Ireland is contained in Section 891E of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and Regulations S.I. No. 292 of 2014, S.I. No. 501 of 2015, and S.I. No. 19 of 2018. Further details for financial institutions are available in Tax and Duty Manual Part 38-03-22, while further details for account holders can be found in Tax and Duty Manual Part 38-03-24.

Ireland has also implemented the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which is a global standard for the automatic exchange of financial account information. This will further enhance transparency and compliance with international tax regulations. We will have more on this in our next article.