The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act - Q&A

What is FATCA?

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), is a US law that came into effect on 1 July 2014. FATCA requires financial institutions worldwide to perform due diligence and report information to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (U.S. IRS) about financial accounts held by U.S. tax residents, to prevent tax evasion by U.S. Individuals/Entities through investment accounts at non-U.S. financial institutions. FATCA imposes obligations on Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) to identify and report the identity and Financial Account details of U.S. persons, certain non-U.S. entities owned or controlled by U.S. persons, and non-compliant customers on their books.
The Government of Vietnam has signed the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) Model 1B with the Government of the US on compliance with FATCA on 01 April 2016, which is enforced on 07 July 2016.

What is FATCA requirements for TCB?

Upon the enforcement of FATCA IGA 1B, Vietnamese financial institutions, including TCB, are considered as Reporting Financial Institutions of Vietnam and are required to comply with FATCA. Under the FATCA provisions, we are required to collect documentation from our clients, in order to establish their FATCA tax status. TCB will report annually on financial accounts held directly or indirectly by US tax residents. TCB will also perform due diligence to our current customer database to determine the client’s FATCA status for reporting purposes, and when necessary we will contact the customers to obtain more information and documents.

Which customers are affected by FATCA?

FATCA regulations may affect individual and corporate customers who have accounts, contracts or agreements with TCB.

How to know if I am affected by FATCA?

If you are a new corporate customer and fall into one of these below types, upon opening an account at TCB, you will be requested to provide information and documents that needs for FATCA purposes. Documentation may include US tax forms (i.e. forms W-9, W-8BEN-E or other form according to IRS) or Self-Certification of FATCA status.
Corporate types that needs to declare FATCA status:

A US Person/ Corporate;
A financial institution;
An Non-Foreign Financial Entity (NFEE – other than US corporate) has UBO are U.S. Persons

What do I need to do?

TCB may contact you to request information about your FATCA status. Information to be provided includes:

Basic information (e.g. full name, place of birth, residential address, phone number)
The country in which you are tax resident.
Taxpayer identification number - often called a TIN code.

How do I determine my FATCA status?

To better understand your FATCA status, you should consult: - IRS website: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/internationaltaxpayers/substantial-presence-test, where the US tax residency status requirements are listed; or - A professional tax consultant.

I have an account at TCB. What happens if I do not provide additional information/documents as requested by TCB for FATCA purposes?

If you do not respond to our request for your self-certification, or do not provide additional information to prove your FATCA status upon our request, TCB will treat you as a Reportable US Person and will report your information to the State Bank of Vietnam based on your information available to us. Further, TCB may not open a new account for you or refuse to provide you any other products and services.