In another last minute announcement, similar to the one issued just before Christmas, the Internal Revenue Service issued a 12-page determination the last working day of 2022. The ruling provides “temporary US Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) relief” for non-US banks and other foreign financial institutions within certain countries so they won’t be deemed to be significantly non-compliant with US tax evasion-prevention law because one or more of their American account holders is unable to provide a taxpayer identification number.
Formally, the notice provides temporary relief procedures for certain foreign financial institutions required to report US taxpayer identification numbers (U.S. TINs) for certain preexisting accounts as defined in an applicable Model 1 intergovernmental agreement (IGA).
If an FFI in an eligible Model 1 IGA jurisdiction (as further defined in section 3.05 of the notice) complies with the procedures described in this notice, then the US Competent Authority will not determine there is significant non-compliance (described in Article 5(2) or 5(3) of the relevant IGA) with the reporting Model 1 FFI’s obligations under the IGA solely as a result of its failure to report US TINs associated with its preexisting accounts.
This relief is limited to reporting on pre-existing accounts. It does not apply to U.S. reportable accounts opened after the determination date specified in the applicable Model 1 IGA (new accounts), including new accounts held by account holders of preexisting accounts.
For more details, see the official IRS Notice 2023-11 HERE.
