Model Intergovernmental Agreement for Implementing FATCA

The U.S. Department of the Treasury published on July 26th, a model intergovernmental agreement (model agreement) to implement the information reporting and withholding tax provisions commonly known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Enacted by Congress in 2010, these provisions target non-compliance by U.S. taxpayers using foreign accounts. The model agreement announced today was developed in consultation with France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom and marks an important step in establishing a common approach to combatting tax evasion based on the automatic exchange of information.  These five countries, along with the United States, will, in close cooperation with other partner countries, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and, when appropriate, the European Commission, work towards common reporting and due diligence standards in support of a more global approach to effectively combatting tax evasion while minimizing compliance burdens.