Northern Trust found 55 percent of fund manager clients attending its Canary Wharf workshop cited their greatest challenge associated with FATCA as “uncertainty around requirements.”
“Non-US funds have never before undertaken withholding and reporting obligations to US tax authorities, and additional requirements such as W-8 forms (an Internal Revenue Service form that specifies an institution’s US tax status) will present an extra challenge for them,” said Kathy Dugan, FATCA product manager, Northern Trust.
Concerns were expressed around client confidentiality, which countries will be FATCA partners, and the tight timeline for implementation.
Of the fund managers surveyed, 66 percent were broadly aware of its implications, while only 20 percent were actively engaged with a project underway to manage the requirements ahead of the 1 July 2013 implementation.
