Reporting Reminder 2016

Important changes in brief

Information about the Primary Withholding Agent

As a non-primary QI (i.e. your custodian withholds and pays taxes on your behalf to the IRS) you must provide the name and EIN of the primary withholding agent that withheld the taxes which you report on your form 1042-S. If you report the total amount of taxes withheld by several withholding agents on the same form 1042-S, you can indicate the name the withholding agents that withheld the taxes for you.

Changes to Income, Exemption and Status Codes

For the reporting this year, the Income, Exemption and Status Codes have been modified. As a QI you have to make sure you use the correct codes and you differentiate between Exemption and Status Codes as well as Reporting Pools for QI and FATCA purposes. This is particularly important as you are required to indicate your Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 Status Code on form 1042 regardless of whether you report payments for QI or FATCA purposes.

Reconciliation of U.S. source FDAP income

For reporting year 2015, you must reconcile the amount of U.S. source FDAP income reportable under FATCA and paid during 2015 with the total amount of U.S. source FDAP income reported on all forms 1042-S for 2015.

1042-S and 1042 Reporting

You must file your 1042 reporting with the IRS by March 15, 2016. You have the option to request an automatic extension of time to file (see below).

Filing Forms

You have to file forms 1042-S electronically as a .txt-file through the FIRE system. You can find the specifications for the electronic filing of forms 1042-S for tax year 2015 in Publication 1187.

Form 1042 must still be filed on paper. For filing form 1042 on paper, please use the following address:

Ogden Service Center
P.O. Box 409101
Ogden, UT 84409
USA  

Be sure to retain proof that you mailed the tax forms on time. By having proof of filing on time you can avoid late filing penalties. If you are using a private delivery service (e.g. DHL, FedEx etc.), you can use the following street address:

Ogden - Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center
1973 Rulon White Blvd. 
Ogden, UT 
84201
USA 

Should you seek assistance in generating the electronic file, please do not to hesitate to contact us.

Extension Requests

In order for the extension request to be accepted you must file it with the IRS by March 15, 2016.

For an automatic 30-day extension of time to file forms 1042-S, use form 8809.

For an automatic 6-month extension of time to file form 1042, use form 7004. Please note that by filing form 7004 you cannot extend the time to pay your taxes due. The deadline to pay your taxes remains unchanged.

You can complete and submit form 8809 and 7004 to the IRS online through the FIRE System.

1099 Reporting

We would like to remind you that Swiss Reporting Model 2 FFIs must continue to apply backup withholding on U.S. non-exempt recipients under chapter 61 on reportable payments, if required, for the period during which an account is treated as non-consenting U.S. account. As a result, you as QI, or your custodian, still have to make sure that the 1099 reporting for QI purposes is made.

• March 31, 2016 for filing your 1099 reporting electronically through the FIRE System; or

• February 29, 2016 for filing your 1099 reporting on paper

Please note that the 1099 reporting on paper cannot be performed using a downloadable PDF. You must file the original 1099 paper forms which you have to order from the IRS. Should you require original paper forms for the 1099 reporting, you can order them from us directly.

For a 30-day extension of time to file forms 1099, use form 8809. You must file form 8809 electronically through the FIRE system no later than February 29, 2016 (if you file forms 1099 on paper) or March 31, 2016 (if you file forms 1099 electronically).

Please remember that it is the primary responsibility of the QI to ensure that the 1099 reporting has been performed, even if the reporting has been delegated to a custodian. Should your custodian fail to report as required under the QI agreement, you must report your reportable payments to U.S. persons directly to the IRS.

8966 FATCA Reporting

• For the 8966 FATCA reporting for reporting year 2015, Swiss Reporting Model 2 FFIs have the following two deadlines: 

  • January 31, 2016 for the aggregate reporting of non-consenting accounts

  • March 31, 2016 for accounts with consent to report

  Please remember that it is the responsibility of the FFI to perform the 8966 FATCA reporting, and it cannot be delegated to a custodian.

Filing forms

• As a Swiss Reporting Model 2 FFI, you have to perform the 8966 FATCA reporting electronically through the International Data Exchange Service (IDES). We recommend that you look through the FATCA XML Schemas and Business Rules for Form 8966 and the publications contained therein in order to meet the FATCA reporting deadlines.

  Additionally, we would like to remind you that the aggregated reporting of non-consenting accounts may result in a group request from the U.S., which, in turn, requires you as a Reporting Swiss Financial Institution to transmit account data to the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA). The data and documentation you may need to send to the FTA additionally includes a SEI XML file and further documentation in pdf format. Further information can be found on website “administrative assistance according to the FATCA“ by the FTA.

Extension request

To request an automatic 90-day extension of time to file forms 8966 to report consenting accounts, use form 8809-I. Please note that Swiss Reporting Model 2 FFIs cannot request an extension of time to file form 8966 to report non-consenting accounts.