FATCA Responsible Officer Certification FAQ

In order to assist you with the upcoming FATCA Certifications, PEQ has prepared the PQS FATCA Responsible Officer Certification FAQ, in which we address the most frequently asked questions regarding the FATCA Certification that we have received. We strongly recommend that you read our FAQ carefully even if, or rather especially if, you think that you do not need to act. We have encountered a few pitfalls that can easily be avoided. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Please note that the QI Certification is NOT part of this FAQ. Please refer to our PQS QI Responsible Officer Certification FAQ for information about the QI Certification.

Our FAQ is mostly addressed to FATCA Responsible Officers of Financial Institutions that have an FFI Agreement in effect since 2014 and are required to perform a Periodic Certification and/or a Certification of Pre-Existing Accounts (COPA) under FATCA. This is mostly relevant for FFIs in a FATCA Model 2 or non-IGA jurisdiction, but may be relevant for other FFIs in other jurisdictions as well.

 The due dates of the certification (as published by the IRS on September 19, 2018) are the following:

• December 15, 2018: Periodic Certification by the FATCA Responsible Officer and One-time Certification of the Responsible Officer on the Completion of Due Diligence on Preexisting High-value Accounts and Anti-avoidance (COPA) for all registered FFIs that are NOT sponsoring entities or trustees of trustee-documented trusts. 

• March 31, 2019: Periodic Certification by FATCA Responsible Officer and One-time Certification of the Responsible Officer on the Completion of Due Diligence on Preexisting High-value Accounts and Anti-avoidance (COPA) for FFIs that are sponsoring entities and trustees of a trustee-documented trust.

Based on the registered FFIs country/jurisdiction of tax residence and your FATCA classification, the FATCA Online Registration System will determine whether or not you will have to certify. 

Please note that all registered FFIs, regardless whether they are required to make a certification or not, must log in and confirm their certification requirements and update their classification. Please refer to the FAQ for more information.

Please take note that failing to submit a certification when required is considered an event of default that could cause the termination of your FFI status as well as those of your associated entities and may result in removal from the next published FFI List.