FACTA advice

[Gatehouse77]

Can anyone advise me whether beneficiaries of a family trust have to give information for FACTA reporting or if it is only the trustees?

Have a read of this.

It's long and tedious to wade through, so rather you than me(!).

Presumably you'll need to as a beneficiary give information to the trustees so they can know what regard they need to pay towards FATCA.

Collaborate - thank you. I have read that article (not sure how much I truly understood!) and can only see requests for trustees to supply information, not beneficiaries.

As beneficiaries, it isn't 'our' money, we have no legal right to demand it be given to us so am confused as to why we would need to give details. Apparently, it's a recent change but I cannot find anything online to confirm this. It could be I don't understand what I'm reading or I'm looking in the wrong place.

Much as I love Google, sometimes you have to almost know the answer to ask the right question!!

Fatca is seriously complex. It may depend on the type of trust and whether its assets are professionally managed. Assuming it is a discretionary trust, then the managers are probably under an obligation to confirm that you are not a US person if you receive a discretionary distribution. To be fair, this isn't espcially onerous and should only involve you giving details of your place of birth, nationality and tax status.

Hereward1332 thank you for your reply.

I think my suspicions are raised because it was the management company asking for the details and not the trustees. We have not received any distributions which is infant a sore point!

Have to admit the whole FACTA thing feels a bit too Big Brother for my liking

It is big brother - the US imposing extra-territorial obligations on financial institutions. However, it is a UK legal requirement for financial institutions to report any accounts held for US persons. As the Trust's assets seem to be professionally managed, the Trust itself is treated as a Financial Institution under FATCA, and has to gather and hold sufficient information to prove the beneficiaries are not US Persons, as defined by the Act. The Trust can avoid registering as an FI if it is 'sponsored' by the manager. This is presumably why the asset manager is asking you to prove you're not a US taxpayer.

It is a reciprocal arrangement but it still doesn't sit well.

And thicko here has realised I've been spelling it wrong - it's FATCA not FACTA!!