Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)

In 2010, the USA established the provisions for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). According to these provisions, persons who are liable for US income tax and hold assets in financial institutions of countries other than the USA may need to submit tax forms and to be taxed in the USA.

Who is affected

You may be liable for tax and may need to submit tax forms to the USA if you are a US citizen or permanent resident. This includes those with dual citizenship who have income even from activities that take place outside of the USA.

What it includes

Law 4493/2017 on Foreign Account Tax Compliance ratifies the memorandum of understanding, the agreement between Greece and the USA for improving international tax compliance and implementing FATCA, the agreement of the competent authorities and the relevant provisions for implementation.

According to FATCA, the financial institutions outside the USA:

Must report to the US tax authority the assets of their clients who are tax residents of the USA.
May be required to withhold and pay 30% tax to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on certain payments and transactions if the clients do not comply.

Implementation of framework

The financial institutions must:

Collect specific information about their clients who are tax residents of the USA.
Report this information to the Greek Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IARP) every year.

The IARP then forwards the information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the US tax authority.

Information to the IRS

The IARP forwards to the IRS information about you, including:

Full name / Corporate name
Address
Tax identification number (TIN)
Account details and balance
Interest
Dividends

Tax regime

To determine the tax regime for the purposes of FATCA, we may ask you to fill in the relevant IRS documents and submit them along with the necessary supporting documents:

The W-9 form.
The W-8BEN form if you are a natural person.
The W-8BEN-E form if you are a legal person.

Read the personal data notification.

Additional information about FATCA

Given that we cannot offer tax advice, you can get more information on FATCA and the information you must declare from:

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Your accountant.

Get answers to the most frequently asked questions about the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).